h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

As anyone who's been here knows, my kitchen benches are comfortable, but hard to get onto because of the table leg.

Since the legs are attached separately from below (it's just an IKEA tabletop and legs) I've unscrewed that one leg and moved it in by about 20cm. No more problem.

It's only taken me nearly two years to think of this solution, and another month to implement it

I blame western society and its bias toward symmetrical furniture.

You're giving me a hard time trying to imagine what sort of table you're talking about. It's been years since I've seen an Ikea catalogue, let alone gone to Ikea.

People just think too square thoughts.

Hati, I wonder whether it's one of these tables which are fixed to the wall and supported by one leg or two when popped up?

I've been to your place twice and never noticed that it was a huge problem... mostly because I just grabbed the most convenient chair then started eating everything in sight!

Excellent. Not enough people are happy to chop, change and customize furniture - or anything else, really. From tables to clothes to food, there's not enough customization going on!

Yesterday, I finally put knobs on the closet doors in my bedrroom, but I only took a year to do it! (IKEA too btw)

No, not a folding table, B'el - You buy the tabletop and legs separately, so you can combine whichever you like, and then use metal brackets to screw them to the underside of the table - with no pre-drilled holes, meaning they could go anywhere I wanted right from the start!

In my own defence, it was my second desk where I lived before - now I have a much bigger computer desk, which consists of an old door and two sawhorses

Oh, I see. Sounds interesting.

Now to refinish the tabletop - it's become hopelessly scarred from years of model-building, and was only white chipboard to begin with

Anyone have any ideas what I could use to paint it? I can't sand much of the veneer off, because the table is hollow and I'm not sure how thick the top layer is

I'm not at all handy, so I'm useless for painting advice. But I'm impressed by the speed with which you remedied the inconvenience. You're almost as quick as me with these things. I've needed four replacement ceramic tiles for the bathroom floor for two years.

That's the patience of a saint.

It's just that I keep forgetting (read: am too lazy) to go to the tile store.

I hope they still make them. Otherwise, get something that *really* contrasts

Ah, they're just little white squares in a (hopefully) standard size. I should plan a trip down to the store soon- one of our favorite restaurants is right down the street. I'm just soooo lazy!

Unfortunately, they might be a whiter shade of pale than you think Can you take one along, to compare?

If you don't find any matching tiles to replace the old ones, you could always move to a new place. STRANGELY STRANGE might offer you his place http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F19585?thread=5268781 :-) Y.

I can't move *that* far.

Mala, I can take the old ones with me to match them up. If they're a little "off", my plan is to lift a few from way back under/behind the tub and put the newer ones back there where they're less visible, then the other old ones in the spot where the loose ones went missing.