The concept of self-assembly furniture is one that we’re all familiar with these days and no doubt most of us have spent time battling with a furniture kit that has a missing screw or that comes with instructions that are challenging to understand.
But this doesn’t have to be your experience of building your own furniture. In fact, if you choose the right online wardrobe design tool and get your wardrobes designed and manufactured by Tomeasure, you will find that assembling them is straightforward – no missing screws or confusing instructions!
While each installation will be slightly different because our wardrobes are manufactured to suit your specifications, there are some common steps you’ll need to follow, as well as a few tools that will be useful.
Before you rush in, take the time to ensure you have all the tools you need. Your wardrobe will arrive in various pieces, all of which are numbered, so lay them out in groups according to their number to make the assembly process as smooth as possible.
The tools you need to have to hand include a screwdriver (with a PZ2 bit) – a cordless electric screwdriver is the best option if you have one available – a mallet or hammer and a spirit level. It’s worth noting that a PZ screwdriver or drill bit is slightly different to a PH bit, even though they both have a cross-head design.
You’ll also want a pencil and compass, as well as a jigsaw or chopsaw so that you can put the finishing touches to your wardrobe.
If possible, keep the room in which you are assembling your wardrobe empty so that you have space to build each section and put it in position.
You also want to have a second person with you as there will be some parts of the process that require a second pair of hands, or simply someone else to ensure you can maneuver the wardrobe into place.
The beauty of our wardrobes is that they are designed to be simple to build. Because you can specify how many shelves, rails and drawers you want when you design your wardrobe, all the pieces will come with pre-drilled holes to make assembly a breeze.
Begin by putting together the wardrobe carcass – we recommend that you start by screwing on the bottom of the wardrobe to one of the sides. From there, you can add the back panel, the other side and then the top. Our wardrobes come with pre-fitted raffix connectors, which slot into place and simply need to be screwed together.
Raffix connectors can only work one way too, so there’s no danger of you screwing together your wardrobe with any of the pieces facing the wrong way. Once you have the outer pieces of the wardrobe in place, you can insert the feet into the bottom.
Simply use your mallet or hammer to put the feet in place. Don’t worry about how these look as they will be hidden by the outer panel that surrounds the wardrobe once you’ve finished.
Next, you can fix your shelves and rails in place. If you’ve included drawers in your wardrobe design, assembly will vary depending on whether they are internal – as in they will be hidden behind your wardrobe doors – or external.
Internal drawer units will come pre-assembled and can simply be slotted into position, with a surround to hide the fixings from view. If you’ve chosen external drawers, you’ll first need to fix the draw runners in place – but there will be pre-drilled holes so you can see exactly where they need to go.
Then you can assemble each drawer and slide it into place, attaching the drawer front last.
Once you’ve assembled each section of your wardrobe, you can stand them up where you want them in your room. Now it’s time to make them look like fitted wardrobes! Take the side panel that will sit flush with your wall. Stand it up next to your wardrobe and, using your compass and pencil, draw a line from the floor to the ceiling to indicate where you need to cut it.
Using your jigsaw, carefully follow the pencil line to create a panel that fits around your skirting board and sits flush to your wall. You can screw this in place and then do the same with the panels at the top and bottom of the wardrobe.
Finally, you can fit your hinges and your doors, again using the pre-drilled holes within the wardrobe sides to make this as easy as possible.
To give the whole wardrobe a smooth finish, use decorators’ caulk around the edges of the panels next to the wall to ensure your wardrobe blends seamlessly into the room.
