IKEA may have just cured our furniture-building anxieties for good

IKEA is well-known for its inexpensive-but-stylish furniture that you can take home in a box. It’s also well-known for the headache of actually putting IKEA furniture together once you get it home. 

However, the Swedish furniture company may have just invented the answer to our prayers – IKEA furniture that snaps together without screws or frustrating tools.

The nifty invention is called a “wedge dowel,” invented by three engineers at the IKEA prototype lab in Sweden. The dowel is a small piece of plastic with milled grooves all around, which allows it to click and lock into pre-drilled holes without screws.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOq3Bgln_K0?feature=oembed

According to a blog post from IKEA, the wedge dowel will cut down furniture assembly time in half. HALF! Where do we sign up?

"The first wedge dowel was born 10 years ago, when our prototype engineers made a trestle with less fittings and better stability than the existing ones," wrote former IKEA project leader Christer Collin in the blog post. "But nothing happened until we found somebody who believed in the idea."

IKEA says it plans to launch the new assembly system in all of its furniture, so start planning your shopping trip!