Aparment Move-In Tips:

1) Building IKEA furniture by yourself is not recommended unless that object is a small to medium-sized lamp.

2) Do not build furniture during the following times: after a hard day's work, when you are in a rush, when you are in a bad mood, when you lack the proper tools or tool-substitutes, late at night if you have to wake up early the next day, when you really would rather do anything else than build furniture.

3) Avoid allowing either yourself or your building partner to do most of the work. It will lead to an un-fun mixture of resentment and guilt. Better both your backs hurt and you both get back rubs than a one-way exchange.

4) Follow the instructions to the best of your ability, but don't get bogged down when you/IKEA f's up every now and then. It happens. As long as your furniture can still do it's job, you're good.

5) And this is the most important: make it fun. Make fun of the weird Swedish omni-sexual people on the instructions. Make fun of the fact that there are no words to go with the instructions. Try to think of everyday metaphors that you can equate to building in an entertaining way (i.e. sexual innuendo!). Think of it as time to chat with a good friend or a good upper-body workout or even just one of the few times in your life when you're building something that you will use everyday. Hey, that's neat.

Happy building, everyone, and let me know if you need an extra lamp... I may have one or two too many.