I don’t do DIY. Last time I tried to build a flatpack desk I ended up spraying blood all over the wall. Using a breadknife in lieu of a saw isn’t a good move.

So it was with some trepidation that I approached the job of building a flatpack wardrobe yesterday. Opening the instruction manual, my co-furniture assembler and I were greeted by the usual list of parts and diagrams. A sense of foreboding entered our hearts… until we noticed Fred and Fay. Fred and Fay are the faces of Furniturefred.com, a website that accompanies the manuals for flatpack furniture made by a company called The Furniture Factory.

Each page in the manual features a code word you can check on the website for extra detailed help. Not wanting a repeat the aforementioned knife/blood/wall incident this kind of extra help was much appreciated. Fred and Fay may have cheesy smiles, but they could come in handy if you’re like me. If you lose any parts that came with the package you can order spares, too.

I have to confess to being a little disappointed when I checked the site though. Not being very DIY-savvy, I’d never heard of the term ‘cam’ (meaning ‘a little circular thing with a slot for a screwdriver in it). So when the manual advised I go to the ‘cam’ section of the site, I was thinking ‘camera’. I fully expected some video of how to build that particular part of the wardrobe.

While that exposes my complete lack of DIY knowledge, it also suggests how the site could be made better. Diagrams are great but video’s better for incompetent people like me. Still, full marks to The Furniture Factory for trying something new and bringing something as mundane as Flatpack into the internet age!