If the thought of flat pack furniture fills you with dread, I hear you. I’ve put together countless pieces of it in my lifetime, and not always to great success. Experience with a lack of spare time meant I invested in furniture for my mother’s new Living room which claims to be ‘partially built’.
I’ll admit to not checking what the term actually means because I ordered things on my mobile late one night, so when the furniture boxes arrived, I was surprised to see they clearly looked like flat packs.
Sensing fraud, I opened the box to find what I would refer to as a flat pack inside – but with a twist. The pieces included fixings from a brand called OVVO which I hadn’t seen before. Could this be the key to mending my relationship with Flat Pack, or will we remain necessary acquaintances rather than friends?
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What is Ovvo?
So what exactly? OVVO Connectors? Essentially, they are small plastic fittings that are included in the furniture production stage, and are designed to replace the need to use lots of tools and various fixings.
One part of the furniture has the receiver section, the other part has a small plastic strip that slots into the receiver. The idea is that you insert one into the other and click the location.
It sounds simple, but was it easy to use?
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My experiences in building furniture with OVVO connectors
OVVO fixings were incorporated into four different items of furniture. It was from all of them The next Malvern Oak effect series And that includes Coffee table, TV units, Side table with storage And A Large shelf unit With cupboards and drawers.
I undertook the first three items alone as the size was manageable as a single job. And, I will confirm that assembling them saw me singing the connectors’ praises in team meetings, and saying how I would never build another piece of flat pack that didn’t have them.
The need for that was not far away DIY toolsor different Types of screwdriver headsEspecially on items that have more design details and features like drawers, compartments and cupboards (or at least it wasn’t with the furniture pieces I made), but there’s no doubt that it improves the overall process.
In fact, on simpler items like the side table, it went together in quick time and without any issues, which convinced me that it was going to revolutionize flat packs.
But, as there is always risk in things designed to be put together at home, things don’t always go as planned. There is a clear warning on the instructions that once the OVVO is fixed it is permanent and this is very true – as I found out the hard way.
There is no margin for human error
When it came to assembling the largest and final piece of furniture, the large shelving unit, I knew it would be a two-person job and one more complicated. The quantity of extra screws, fixings and components in the packaging made it clear that I was right – as per the instructions.
It all started well, and I got to work before help arrived, working on the first steps I thought I could do alone. And then disaster struck, when assembling two pieces with two OVVO fixings, I accidentally pushed one piece too hard to one side.
The fixings are so strong that instead of breaking, or pieces of furniture coming apart, the fixings push through the wood and tear off a small section of the laminate. This meant that the fixings were still in place, but the furniture section was now attached with only one OVVO fixing instead of two, and a section of laminate was missing.
And therein lies part of the problem. While with most flatpack fixings you can remove them and solve the problem, in this case I couldn’t. Thankfully it’s in a place where there are other fixings around it, and the broken piece is inside the cupboard. If it had been anywhere else, I would have likely needed to buy a new piece of furniture, and dispose of the entire unused unit which would have been a terrible waste – especially if New rules around bins and recycling which are coming to the place.
Thankfully I was able to continue assembling the unit, and added some additional fixings to the rear to ensure it was fully secured. But, I have to use some glue and wood filler to attach the broken section to the fixings inside the cupboard (where the damaged fixings are) and hide my mistake.
Shop for essential DIY flat pack tools
Bosch
Bosch Compact Cordless Screwdriver
Fit up to 190 on a single charge with this compact cordless screwdriver
OX equipment
Ox Pro White Rubber Mallet
This handy rubber mallet is non-marking which makes it ideal for making flat packs or woodworking
Mulwork
Mulwark 17pcs Folding Allen Wrench Set with Grip
Never lose an Allen key again with this dual pack of folding Allen key sets
Is OVVO the only way or only some ways?
Having now tested OVVO fixing on four different pieces of furniture, I’m not as excited as I was when I first tried it. It certainly made it easier to fix simple pieces together, but in my experience, once you get beyond a piece of furniture that has more than sides, a top, a base, and a few shelves, it takes away only a small part of the process.
Yes, this helps, but there is room for error when making a flat pack, whether it’s not following the instructions correctly, using the wrong fixings, or in my case, physical error, it means you have to be in full control of the process.
Would I buy such furniture again? Yes, anything that sees me using one less Allen key is always a bonus, but I will be extremely vigilant in terms of following every single step of the letter process.
And, I would make sure there was plenty of room to make things up and remind myself not to make the final connection until I was absolutely sure it was right.
For more DIY advice from the pros, make sure you check out these others DIY mistakes, And if you’re thinking of setting up your kitchen yourself (another place where flat pack style items exist), find out what our interior experts learned when she and her partner Kitchen installed from Vicks.
