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Argos Maine Small Extra Deep Oak Effect Bookcase
by sara66
***
As my bookcases were stocked with books, my files and dvds were splayed across the floor and tea table, I therefore decided to purchase another bookcase specifically for these items. The area in which I intended to place said bookcase, meant that I needed one that stood alone, did not have a groove at the back where it ... would sit against a skirting board and did not have to be nailed to the wall. Ikea had supplied me with my first two bookcases, but they did not have a bookcase that met my requirements this time around. I therefore turned to Argos, where I came across the Maine series, which while perfect for my requirements, did not have the right colour. I therefore decided to purchase what I thought my be the best match for my other two bookcases, and went for the Beech effect.
I purchased the bookcase directly from the store. It came compact in a long rectangular box. I needed help carrying it as I am fairly small, so it is a bit awkward to carry, it is also a bit heavy, at a push I would probably have been able to carry it myself, but as I had the help I decided to take it!
The pack contained all the wooden planks, screws, nails etc that were needed, also included were the instructions which were very straightforward to follow. All you need is a hammer, and you are ready to build the bookcase. My only difficulty was figuring out which piece of wood was which according to the instructions, where they just show you the pictures, so sometimes it can be slightly confusing. Once you have figured out all the pieces, it is easy to put together. Building this myself took me around an hour and a half.
Once I had put everything together apart from the backing, I found that the case when laid on its side was quite wobbly, and it worried me that even with the backing it might not be stable. I continued to nail in the back, which was quite a flimsy piece of wood, and while the bookcase was more stable, when it is stood up properly it can still be ever so slightly wobbly, which gives me the feeling that this bookcase will become rickety within the next year, but hopefully still stable enough to use.
At the moment I am able to put all my dvds', files, and even some books in the shelves. As it is quite deep, it does hold a lot. I even have a small, light tv on the top of the bookcase.
The Beech effect wood, was a bit of a disappointment, as it was darker than I expected, and did not come close to matching my Birch Veneer Ikea bookcases. A couple of weeks ago, on a spur of the moment whilst at Wilkinson, I bought some yellow paint and varnish and later that day proceeded to paint my bookcase. I also painted some green leaves on the side of the bookcase. I did use wall paint, which was probably not the right paint to use, it was a bit of a struggle to paint the wood, and in some of the places the paint and varnish, although dry, peeled off easily when I tried to put the removable shelves back in. I did repaint it, and it has been a couple of weeks, so far not problems with peeling paint, after putting all the stuff back onto the shelves.
The colour brightened up my room and made the bookcase a better match with the rest of my furniture, which is either Birch Veneer or white, with bits of green and gold in the fabrics in the room.
Overall this is a good bookcase, but as I am worried about its durability due to the slight wobbliness, I will give it four stars.
***
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Argos 3 Tier Indoor Airer
by cornishchic
Although I have a washer dryer, I refuse to use the dryer as there is only mine and my daughters washing to do and I don't want to waste electricity when I have plenty of space to dry washing. I have a couple of different shaped clothes airers so I can dry more than one load of washing at a time.
After receiving a couple of ... Argos vouchers, I thought this would be a great way to buy a new airer to accompany my smaller V shaped one. The airer that I purchased was this Argos 3 tier folding one, it cost around the £15 mark.
The airer doesn't look like anything special, just a simple clothes airer. The design is quite clever and it has three rows of plastic bars going up and down in a diagonal shaped way so that air can circulate throughout when there is washing drying. It folds down when it isn't in use and is easy to pop straight back up again. The size when in place seems to be perfect; it's around 1.5 metres high, 60cm wide and 50cm deep. It fits on the landing walkway without any problems and there are no troubles walking past it and knocking all of the washing off.
I have a system with my washing and my clothes usually get dried on the bigger 4 way fold airer we have and my daughters dries on this Argos airer. They say this airer can hold two loads of washing but I find it hard enough to get one whole load on, let alone two! That being said, my daughters clothes dry really well on the airer and I can fit a lot of her clothes on before running out of space. I try not to put too much washing on it as the more wet clothes that are put on it, the longer it takes for them to dry.
Another good thing about this airer is that it is quite lightweight. I prefer to dry my washing outside as I love the smell and this airer comes in handy when the weather doesn't know what it wants to do. I often load the airer with wet clothes and carry it outside, then when the weather changes, it is simple to pick up again and bring in without having to worry about pegging everything in off the line before it gets soaked.
I'd definitely recommend this 3 tier airer from Argos. It is made to a high quality, can hold a reasonable amount of washing despite not holding as much as they say and is a cost effective way of drying washing. I couldn't live without mine!
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Hygena Strand Coffee Table
by PerfectPeaches
When we moved into our brand spanking new house last year we were eager to make it our own and put our stamp on the place. Doing this would obviously mean a lot of time and money. Therefore, we decided to decorate first and then buy new furniture (we had already decided certain rooms would have new furniture). Of course this did help us ... look around at furniture potentials as well as keep in mind prices that we would need to pay.
If you have already read my Argos Hygena Strand TV Entertainment Unit review then I think you get the idea of what I'm going to review next! Having found the Strand range at Argos we found that the design of it was one that we were wanting as well as being on the cheaper furniture sets we had seen. Our coffee table although lovely had needed to be replaced for a while (it has since gone into the conservatory!) and of course the Strand range in Argos has a matching coffee table!
The Strand Coffee Table that we opted for has the walnut wood effect and as we bought the three piece set it of course matches all the others with its curved top giving it a modern design with a smooth finish and brushed steel handles. The tablet itself comes already assembled which is ideal as you can start using it straight away instead of having to construct it. Only negative for some is that you can only order it for home delivery and not for collection in store but for us this was fine as we managed to pick a suitable day where someone would be home.
Having said that it was self assembled you do need to screw in the brushed steel handle which I did with no problems and it took a matter of minutes. The coffee table is quite large in size both in height and length so you do need to ensure you have measured the room as it would easily dwarf a small lounge or area. To be precise the coffee table is 53cm (H) x 90cm (W) x 51.7cm (D) so quite a substantial size but for us it suited our needs and has fit in our lounge perfectly.
To look at the table has its smooth curved sides and features a large drawer (on runners) which is virtually the length of the table as well as the width. This makes it quite a deep drawer but ideal for storing things. Because the drawer is quite deep you can fit quite a lot, we manage to keep quite a lot of stationary in here such as cards, wrapping paper the usual household items which not only frees up space elsewhere but it keeps everything all in one place. The drawer is on runners and can be removed should you need to.
Underneath the drawer there is another shelf as such as which is no more than 10cm off the floor which for me personally as it doesn't have a back on it only the two sides you really can't store anything on it for a permanent period of time which if it had a back to it I'd probably use it more but as things can fall through either side it is pretty useless for me. My other half on the other hand will happily take his shoes off and store them on this shelf until he his reminded to take them upstairs and of course my cats find this a useful space to curl up and have a nap on.
For me although I like that this coffee table fits in with the other items in the range I do find it quite large and despite fitting in my lounge with plenty of room I do find it a bit too big. The drawer being deep is an advantage but the mass of space underneath does seem a little wasted and I'd much prefer either a glass door and solid back like the TV entertainment unit or another drawer but again this is just my personal opinion. However, the plus is it cleans easily (sticky little hands and cat prints!) and I've now had it for 8 months and it still looks as good as new.
Overall, whilst I like this coffee table I don't love it. I do find that it is quite big and bulky and won't suit everyone's living room so maybe Argos should offer an additional smaller size. The table certainly serves a purpose but I find that the backless shelf type area underneath the drawer means that it just leaves a mass of space I can't really utilise. However, it is easy to keep clean and the drawer closes quietly but for me I can only give it 4 stars.
== Product Information ==
Brand: Argos
Price: £99.99
Weight: 24kg
Availability: Argos in store and website (only available for home delivery).
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