Quick Fix

This pictogram is definitely in the running for my favorite Ikea furniture assembly instruction ever. For those of you not well versed in Ikea pictograms, the image on the left depicts a a piece of furniture. The exclamation point circumscribed by the triangle is a warning. The circled area of warning indicates that the anti-topple device must be used with this piece of furniture. Without the anti-topple device in place, the pictogram on the right could result. A blocky, humanoid line drawing could climb on your furniture and pull it over onto itself.

I think of myself as a practical sort. However, I have never installed an anti-topple device on anything. Especially not the devices that come with Ikea shelves. A webbed nylon strap that is supposed be screwed to the unit on one end and attached to the wall at the other end does not fill me with confidence that said anchored strap will support the weight of my books - we're talking hundreds of pounds on a single bookshelf - let alone the weight of a blocky humanoid. Be warned people, if you ever come over to my house do not climb the bookshelves as if they were ladders, tempting as it may be.

That said, the (temporary) shelves I installed last week to transform the big room storage unit to a half unpacked, livable space needed some finagling. The shelves consist of three uprights, each of which has 2 adjustable feet, and a set of shelves that clip onto the uprights at adjustable heights. It's a simple, practical design, but it's also 15 year old Ikea furniture that has now been moved to it's 7th home. Despite adjusting the feet to level the shelves from side to side and make them lean slightly back towards the wall, it was dangerously wobbly.  

Here's my MacGyvered anti-toppple device. A clamp typically used to anchor plumbing pipes, drywall screws, and plastic drywall anchors.

One clamp to hold the center upright to the wall and one clamp to hold the right side upright was all it took to stabilize the unit. A not a single nylon strap or blocky humanoid in sight.