How can I bridge the gap between the top of the wardrobe and the sloping ceiling?
The maximum height for the PAX wardrobe I can find is 237cm. But once in, (at 60cm deep), there will be a 50cm shortfall.
So the max height at front will be 290cm.
To make it worse, the wardrobe won’t span the entire wall. (As I won’t be able to open the door, and there’s a window the other end.) So it will be in the centre of the wall with approx 1m wall gap either side.
Ideally wanted sliding doors (due to disability).
Help please!
Thanks,
Charlie
***
Hi Charlie
Sloping ceilings are always tricky. It does need a bit of work for a great built-in finish.
I would suggest building a triangle shaped cabinet to rest on top of the PAX wardrobe and fill out the 50cm gap. Then trim out with moulding for a built-in look.
Yves did something like that but for the METOD cabinet. Nevertheless, it’s a neat idea to level out the awkward space. He didn’t use doors but you certainly can add some plywood doors, painted to match the PAX.
Other options than PAX
Another option would be to try other systems — such as the PLATSA or METOD. These two systems are a lot more modular, with smaller pieces you can build up to the height you need.
Then, you’ll need to cut the top pieces to fit the sloped ceiling. See this tutorial.
The PLATSA range offers a few sliding door options like the FONNES or SKATVAL. No sliding door option for the METOD kitchen range, though.
If not, 50cm is not a huge gap. Leave it open and slot in a few nice baskets. It might actually make the room lighter and airier.
Source: Decoholic
Let us know how you mend the gap between the sloping ceiling and wardrobe.
Happy hacking,
Jules
Hacking may compromise the structural integrity of the item, so please be aware of the risks involved before modifying or altering any IKEA product. Alterations and modifications will also void any warranties or return policies you may have received from IKEA. IKEAhackers.net is not liable for any product failure, injury or damage resulting from the application of suggestions, ideas and hacks featured on this site.
I’m in the slow process of remodeling my house and once I had all the walls and ceiling done in the main bedroom I decided to make my new PAX wardrobe look built in.
As I said to a friend, it was only like 20-30€ in materials and couple days of work. But the difference is huge.
First I carefully removed the tile baseboard pieces around the wardrobe area.
Then, I cut a 19mm wide plywood piece (60x200cm) with the same depth as the PAX modules. This is to raise the modules up a bit.
After that, I bolted the drywall profile to the left wall and ceiling. I set them 15mm recessed of the PAX frame. (This is so that the 13mm drywall panel will almost sit flush with the PAX frame.)
Next, I placed the PAX modules above the new base and secured them to the wall making sure they were level. I placed the left module 10cm away from the wall on the side.
Before lifting the PAX structures in place, I bolted drywall profiles to the upper part of the structures. (It’s a tight space once you lift them).
Then, continued bolting drywall structure around the cabinet and also to the right side wall.
Once the drywall structure was done it was only a matter of bolting the drywall panels to it to “close” the gap between the PAX structures and the walls or ceiling.
Finishing the drywall
After the drywall was bolted I did the usual taping/plastering on the bolt heads, panel unions and wall-ceiling corners, metal corner beads. After some sanding all was ready for paint.
Last step was to cut the ceramic baseboards to suit the floor tiles. Once cut, I glued them to the skirt of the PAX structures with some polyurethane adhesive.
After the adhesive was dry it was quite quick to grout the joints and make the whole set look like it was always there.
After installing wallpaper on the wall with the headboard, the room was finished.
I decided to makeover the HEMNES chest because I am redecorating my bedroom.
And I wanted to have only one style in the bedroom. So I took my old dresser and modified it to suit the style of my other furniture (bed, wardrobe etc.)
The dressing room was pretty much built around the PAX wardrobe as part of our extension.
It connects from our bedroom on one side to the ensuite on another. The length of the room is 3050mm.
I designed the length of the room to allow a 25mm spacer at each end of the wardrobe, allowing the doors to open correctly against the walls.
The biggest complication is the roof. It slopes at one end, down to around 1800mm from a maximum of 2550mm. This means that although three of the frames can be the full 2.36m height, two of them have to be formed on an angle.
I cut one side panel down to the required height to form the angle. Also, cut the backpanel down to match, then built these frames as a lopsided frame.
The advantage of this is that the tall side still had positions to attach the door hinges. And the top panel now forms a useful shelf at 1.8m.
Something to note is that this frame is a bit flimsier as the top panel is not inline with the other panels. As such it is not held firmly against the other wardrobes.
To work around this I put a top shelf in each wardrobe frame to brace things up and give something for this wardrobe to push against.
Once I built the frames I filled the gaps at the ends and the top with painted MDF panels.
The exposed end panel of the short side of the wardrobe was also covered with a sheet of painted MDF. I screwed everything together and to the wall for rigidity.
There are mixed things said about using push openers on soft close doors. Apparently, you can damage one or other part over time but I have not had issues before.
I cut the FARDAL doors with a circular saw to get the angle for the sloping ceiling. And left a non-opening corner piece at the top of each end door so that the door could open underneath the sloped ceiling.
I used a few offcuts to make a framework. Then, attached a section of one of the door offcuts to make the filler panel.
With the end door now being shorter, to make it swing properly I used a Forstner bit to drill a 35mm hole to allow the 4th hinge to be mounted in a new position.
Wardrobe interior
Interior wise, it’s a mix of KOMPLEMENT shelves, drawers, baskets and rails. The only thing of note is that I have modified the drawers to fit alongside the hinges in the ‘forbidden zones’.
Others have done this using a router. I’ve gone for an alternative approach using plunge cuts with a circular saw as I don’t have a router.
This is something more people can do as most DIY’ers don’t have a router but may have a circular saw.
Practice on a scrap piece of wood. And set yourself up with a straight piece of wood as a cutting guide.
Soft close hinges in new positions
One thing to note is that the soft close hinges are too large to allow drawers to be fitted next to them. See the pic of the difference between the two hinges. I had to swap the hinges round so that the soft close hinge was the second hinge up and a normal hinge was at the bottom. This greatly reduced the amount of material to be cut from the side panel of the drawers.
One negative change I’ve noticed in the KOMPLEMENT drawers in recent years is the addition of the plastic runner cover strip. (Pic below) Why do you need a piece of plastic to cover the runner? A waste of plastic.
We are very happy with our finished wardrobes. I don’t think we will completely fill them ever given their size!
Cost from IKEA was around £1000, plus a few cheap bits of MDF, wood, screws and paint.
We were looking for a pair of bedside drawers for our cottage but were struggling to find the right size. We wanted something 70cm wide – too large for bedside cabinets and too small for a chest of drawers.
The IKEA ASKVOLL chest of 3 drawers were the perfect size but although we do like the look of them, they didn’t fit the style of our home.
We were inspired by a previous hack on your site – Cape Cod Themed Guest Bedroom and decided to try our own take on it.
Got a local timber merchant to cut the top in the size we required and cut us lengths of mdf strip for the drawer fronts and plinth.
We removed existing handles.
Then, we created ‘frames’ for drawer fronts – made from mdf strips. Mitred on a mitre block and then glued and stapled (on the back where they won’t be seen).
Next, we cut plinth on the mitre block.
We glued the top, drawer fronts and plinth in place using contact adhesive. Then, waited for glue to dry.
Created a template out of card for new knob positions.
Used this to make marks on drawer fronts and drilled hole slightly larger than bolt for the knobs.
Treated the all the surfaces to be painted with ESP (easy surface primer) and waited for it to dry.
Lastly, we applied 3 coats of paint. We used Farrow and Ball modern eggshell in Shaded White.
Finally, attached new knobs.
And our shaker style chest of drawers is done!
A before and after shot.
On top of the £50 cost of each drawer, we spent around £48 on materials including the paint.
2. Build a simple base using 2x4s and wood screws. This will lift your PAX off the ground to create space for baseboard moulding to achieve a built-in look.
3. Lift your PAX onto the base in the location it will stay in. Secure the PAX to the wood frame using wood screws. Holes can be filled later to cover screw locations.
4. Use MDF 1×4 pieces to frame the sides of the PAX. This helps make the PAX look like it’s built right into the wall by covering the gaps between the back of the cabinet and your wall surface. It also provides a surface to adhere your crown moulding and baseboard to, in the next steps.
5. Attach your crown moulding around the top of the PAX. Match to existing crown in your home for a truly integrated look.
6. Attach baseboard to the bottom of the PAX. Match to existing baseboard in your home and cope the baseboard to integrate seamlessly with the baseboard on your wall, if any.
7. Attach moulding to the PAX doors. Do not use nails here, as they can damage and create holes in IKEA products. Instead, use a strong construction adhesive. Do this with the doors laying flat, not installed, so the moulding doesn’t move while the adhesive cures.
8. Use a shellac-based primer to prime the entire surface – IKEA parts and your moulding and trim.
9. Once the primer has dried, paint in a colour of your choice. For a high-traffic wardrobe, a semi-gloss can provide more durability and ability to clean later on.
10. Install your handles. Drill carefully to not blow a hole through the IKEA material. If possible, hold a 2×4 at the back of the cabinet and drill through it to minimize the risk of damaging the door.
11. Move your clothes in!
How much did it cost?
We figure it cost us just over $1600 including all IKEA items, moulding, paint, adhesives, and custom hardware.
One of the big problems with trying to use LACK tables is that the legs are hollow. So in order to use them to build anything, you need to fill them with wood.
1. Cut off a few inches from bottoms of LACK table legs until hollow cavity is exposed. Make sure all legs are same length.
2. Insert 2x2s into hollow table legs, mark where legs end.
3. Use a miter saw to cut 2x2s to where you marked
4. Put wood glue on two sides of 2x2s, fill hollow legs with cut 2x2s. There will still be little space between the wood and two sides of the legs. Fill these gaps with wood shims. You just need material in the legs that nails can hold onto.
Assemble LACK table with filled legs.
Take the LACK table with shortened, filled legs and assemble it following IKEA’s instructions.
Try to screw on the legs as tightly as possible.
Add side frames.
1. Measure spaces between legs for the two sides and back of the nightstand, and use miter saw to cut the 1×5 to those lengths.
2. Use Kreg jig and Kreg screws (follow manufacturer’s instructions) to secure boards between legs.
Add drawer slides.
In order for drawer slides to work, the inner surface between the legs where the drawer slide is installed needs to be completely level/smooth.
You will notice that this is not the case because the legs are about 2″ thick and the board you added for the sides is only 3/4″ thick.
1. Cut a piece of 1×5 to the length between side legs. Cut this piece of wood in half, horizontally. You should end up with two pieces of 1×2.5.
2. Using wood shims to make sure the 1×2.5 lies level between the two legs, attach this piece using Kreg jig and screws
3. Add drawer slides per drawer slide instructions.
Build drawer box.
1. Measure opening between the left and right front legs and subtract 1″
2. Cut the plywood to this width using a circular saw. The length is determined by the length of the drawer slide.
3. Use miter saw to cut 1×3 to build all sides of drawer box.
4. Use Kreg jig and screws to assemble drawer box.5. Attach the plywood bottom using brad nailer.
Add drawer slides to drawer box.
Follow drawer slides instruction to add drawer slides to drawer box. Drill pilot holes beforehand.
Attach bottom LACK table.
1. Turn nightstand built so far upside down so legs are up in the air
2. Stack the table top of second LACK table on the legs of first table with the holes for legs to screw into facing the sky.
3. Drill 3″ wood screws through table top into legs of first table (make sure you are drilling into where the 2x2s are and not into the gaps), avoiding the holes where the legs of the second table will be attached to.
4. Cut legs of bottom LACK table to desired length. Make sure all legs are same length and preserve the ends with holes to screw legs onto table.
5. Add shortened legs to second table.
Smooth all joints.
Due to the imperfect nature of LACK tables, the surface of the legs and table tops will often not align smoothly. In order to wrap the table with textured wallpaper, it is best to smooth out all of these uneven joints using joint compound.
This step is the most time consuming because joint compound takes 24 hours to dry and you want to apply it in thin layers. Apply joint compound to any uneven surfaces, sand down, then repeat until joints are all smooth.
Fit and attach drawer front to drawer box.
Cut drawer front from 1×5 using miter saw, attach to drawer box with brad nailer.
Make sure to wipe off any dust created by sanding joint compound before applying wallpaper. Drill hole for hardware and add ring pull hardware.
How long and how much did it cost?
This linen-wrapped nightstand was a side project that I did not work on everyday. It took about 3 weeks and cost about $100 ($60 for 27′ roll of wallpaper, the wood was the cheapest pine wood from a big chain hardware store, and most of the tools I already had, LACK tables were $9.99 each)
What was the hardest part about this hack?
Smoothing joints with joint compound and wrapping wallpaper.
I felt like I had too little living space. I wanted a loft bed, but still loved my ‘old’ 160 x 200cm IKEA mattress.
There seemed to be no IKEA or even other affordable 160 x 200 double loft bed options.
Then, my boyfriend suggested getting two second hand IKEA loft beds and making it into one.
I set out to find whether someone did this hack. I found many people asking if it could be done, but to my surprise, nobody seems to have documented trying it.
So I decided to be the one to just do it and share it for anyone that wants to do it too.
IKEA items used:
SVARTA loft bed x 2 (and in my case, my old IKEA wooden slatted bed bases at 200 x 80cm x 2 and my well loved IKEA 160 x 200cm mattress).
Photo: IKEA.com
Of course, you can buy everything new. You have the option to choose the 2 wooden slatted bed bases like I did with a 180 x 200cm mattress. Or stick with the metal bed base provided and use two 90 x 200cm mattresses. (Though you might have a gap in between them).
2 pipe strap clamps and 4 x 10 cm long wall plugs and matching screws.(optional 2 blocks of wood in case of space between the wall and the bed)
Tools:
Drill (metal drill bit for bedframe, I used a 4mm one, but it depends in the thickness of your bolt, and a 6mm stone drill for the wall attachment)
Screwdriver with interchangeable bits (used IKEA bit, Phillips head bit, and flat bit.)
SVARTA double loft bed instructions:
First, you take two of the four support beams (these will become the middle beams for your bed), and one long beam with the guard rail.
I used the beam with the guard to figure out where to drill the middle hole in the other beams. Drill a hole size according to the bolt you have.
Now, build your first bed.
Attach the sides to the two support beams and add the guardrail without the opening for the ladder, all as instructed.
Next, take one of the beams you’ve drilled a hole in. Instead of following instructions and putting the beam with the guardrail (the one with a ladder opening) you put the beam with the hole.
Now, you are ready to do pretty much the same with the other bed. But the difference is that this time you put in the side with the guardrail that had the opening for the ladder.
Next, this is the moment you put your two frames where they will go.
Line up the two holes you drilled earlier and attach the two middle supports for the bed supports. Your one bolt should go through both supports and both beams.
Fasten it until there is a slight tension on the beams and they are kind of being pulled together. (See picture taken from the underside of the bed.)
Next up, put some of the felt in the inside of the adjustable metal hose clamps and put them around the two middle poles on each side.
Put in your metal bed bases and ladder as per the original instructions.
Add the wooden bed base of you choose that option. Just lay them on top of the metal ones. Add your mattress now or if you want to attach it to the wall for extra support, do that first.
I added a picture of how I did it, there is more of the stick-on felt inside of the clamps.
That’s it, put in your bedding and dream away on your giant loft!
How long did it take you and what’s the cost?
Setting up the SVARTA double loft bed took me about an afternoon, together with my boyfriend. And it cost about 30 euros in hardware. I already had the mattress and the bed bases, and we picked up the SVARTA bed frames second hand.
What to pay special attention to?
Pay attention to the bolt in the middle being strong enough. It literally holds everything together.
Other things to note:
The height under the double loft bed is just 145 cm so you can not stand, but you can sit or store stuff under it. And check the height of your ceiling, it stands at almost 190 cm at the highest point but you would not want to have too little space to sit up.
You could also add two ladders by using the other guard rail.
Also this beast of a bed takes 198×208 cm floor space excluding the ladder. So it takes up quite a bit of space.
Big plus about using my way of doing it is that it is non destructive. Meaning, you can always turn them back into two regular IKEA SVARTA loft beds.
Also only a few tools and pieces of hardware are needed this way.
I absolutely love the bed and with it being attached to the wall it is verry sturdy. And it can sleep two people, no problem.
Hope this helps others looking for the answer to the question, ‘Can you attach two IKEA loft beds to make one big loft’?
DIY Murphy Bed using a Next Bed Murphy Bed Kit and IKEA PAX wardrobe cabinets.
While our daughter was away at university, we relied on her room as a guest room.
When COVID struck, our daughter moved back home full time, so we lost our guest room in the process.
We don’t have a constant flow of guests in and out of our home, but we have enough visitors where we needed to come up with a suitable solution.
We decided to turn my home office into our new temporary guest room.
Wasting space on a queen size bed that is only seldomly in use was not ideal, and occasionally conducting client meetings in my office, having a bed in full view was completely out of the question. This is where the idea of a Murphy bed came into play.
I called around for quotes. And was surprised at how much carpenters were charging to build a Murphy bed. I figured that I could build one myself. So, I found the following inspiration photos on www.houzz.com and set about designing and building my own.
Found! The Next Bed Murphy Bed
I researched quite a bit for Murphy bed hardware and came across the Next Bed Murphy Bed Kit. The appealing thing I found with the Next Bed Murphy Bed kit is that unlike in a traditional Murphy Bed, the Next Bed is not built into the cabinet.
It is a stand-alone piece of equipment.
Since the Next Bed attaches directly to your wall, it doesn’t rely on structural support from the cabinet in order to operate properly. This meant that my cabinet would purely be a decorative cover used to hide the bed.
In order to keep the costs down, I kept things as standard as possible. Doors are the most expensive item in cabinetry, so custom-building doors was out of the question.
My bed is a queen size 150cm x 200cm, and the kit stated that I needed a minimum of 160cm for properly installing the murphy bed. So I combined 2 100cm wide PAX cabinets. This allowed me to select 4 IKEA standard sized doors to finish the cabinet with.
Determine where you want the bed to be placed inside the cabinet. I despise living out of a suitcase when I travel, so I wanted to make sure our guests had a place to unpack and hang their clothes.
Included in the wardrobe, a hanging closet space and the bedside table on one side of my design. I positioned the bed to one side of the interior so that it left room for a small night table/cabinet plus hanging space on the opposite side. This is optional.
Step 2
Secure your Next Bed Murphy bed frame to the wall. I have ceramic tile floors and baseboards, so I drilled through the baseboard tiles and used (4) 6mm lag bolts to secure my bed frame.
Attach Next Bed floor mounts
Hint: Make sure you are using a ceramic drill bit to drill through ceramic tiles. I destroyed 4 porcelain drill bits before realizing I was using the wrong type of bit! Duh!
Step 3
Once you’ve determined your layout, cut the wood pieces for assembly. I don’t own a table saw, so I went to a local carpentry shop and paid them a few $ to cut the pieces for me.
Below is drawing I used to determine the cabinet layout, how each piece of the cabinet would be cut, and from where on the panel it would come from. Keep in mind that certain pieces of the IKEA cabinet are not finished on every edge. The shaded areas are discarded pieces.
Cabinet pieces needed:
Left Side 238 x 58cm
Right Side 238 x 58cm
Main Header 196 x 58cm
Plinth 196 x 8cm (finished edge)
Bottom Kick 196 x 8cm
Top Valance 196 x 8cm
Headboard 136 x 33cm
Shelf (3) 32 x 40 (one finished edge)
Closet 58 x 40 (two finished edges)
Side Table 48 x 40 (two finished edges)
I discovered during the cutting process that IKEA panels are not fully made out of MDF. Instead, they consist of an MDF frame with a waffle-like cardboard in between, all covered by a thin sheet of wood veneer.
Because of this newly discovered fact, I realized that I would need to build a support structure for the IKEA pieces to be attached to. I used 6mm x 2mm boards to create this.
Step 4
Cut a notch into the bottom of the wall facing portion of each side piece so that they fit over the top of your floor molding, and sit flush with the wall.
Step 5
Assemble a support frame for the main header piece of the cabinet using cut to size pieces of the 6mm x 2mm white wood board. I used the carpenter’s square to make sure everything is squared.
Support frame
Note: The support structure is hidden behind the decorative “wood” pieces, so you’ll need to take that into consideration when you’re cutting your support frame pieces to size.
I built the support frame because the width of my cabinet is twice as wide as a normal IKEA cabinet, and has no support on the back to help bear the load of the main header. I also wanted to ensure the main header didn’t bow downward once the cabinet was assembled.
Step 6
Attach the top valance piece to the front of the frame and secure the main header to this using 3.5 x 35mm screws. The screws are inserted from the structure into the valance piece so they don’t show once assembled. This photo shows the make-up of the material used in the construction of PAX cabinets.
Attach valance
Step 7
Secure the completed frame and valance to the top sides of the cabinet using 3.5 x 35mm screws.
Step 8
Secure the main header to the header frame. I screwed the header board directly into the frame because I knew the weight of the board wouldn’t be supported if I screwed from the frame into the header in order to hide the screws. My screws are around the perimeter of the header board so even though they are exposed, they are not easily seen.
Assembled cabinet
Because the back of the cabinet is completely open, I added a support for the bottom back of the cabinet and added two supports boards 100cm up to secure the headboard to.
Step 9
(You’ll need two people for this step.)
Carefully lift the cabinet upright and attach the headboard by screwing from the back side through the two support boards into the headboard using 3.5 x 35mm screws.
Step 10
(Skip this step if you aren’t including the hanging closet and night table)
Position and secure the closet structure. I attached a leftover piece of 6mmm x 2mm to the inside roof of the cabinet as a hidden support inside the hanging closet and then cut decorative horizontal support boards from one of the unused trim pieces included the IKEA cabinet pack.
Because of the extra weight the closet would need to hold, I used L-brackets for additional support. I repeated the same idea to assemble the bed side table.
If I did it over again, I would have created the bedside table first, and then the closet, and would have saved myself a few aches and pains from knocking my head into the closet while building the bedside table.
Step 11
Secure a support board to the bottom front of the cabinet and attach the bottom kick and plinth to that support board. Afterwards, carefully shift the cabinet into place against the wall.
Once the cabinet was where I wanted it, I added an extra piece of support horizontally underneath the plinth to help bear the weight of the folding doors and the track the hardware runs on.
Step 12
Secure the cabinet to the wall using lag screws and the securing hardware included in the IKEA Pax cabinet components. Use a level and square to make sure the cabinet is positioned evenly and squarely before securing it to the wall.
Completed cabinet with closet and night table
My walls are concrete block, so I attached the cabinet to the wall just above the headboard. If you look at the photo closely, you can see the two black covers (one on each side) that IKEA includes in their cabinet securing hardware components.
Step 13
Secure any artwork to the wall above the bed that you want to add.
Step 14
Assemble the Next Bed Murphy Bed Kit. I found the instructions for the Next Bed kit to be very clear and easy to follow. I would recommend having a can of WD40 close by to spray some of the areas of the components that you’ll need to slide into each other. It took me a total of 4 hours to fully assemble the bed kit.
Step 15
Add your mattress. Murphy beds require a mattress that is able to stand on end without buckling or folding, so a memory foam mattress is the best recommendation.
Step 16
Install door hardware. I purchased Hettich W-Line folding door hardware because I wanted as much of the cabinet interior to be exposed when the doors were open.
This system uses a top and bottom guide for a really smooth movement. The instructions are vaguely written, and they seemed really complex, especially when calculating where to drill the hinge holes.
I realized pretty quickly that I was over my head installing this type of system for the very first time.
Step 17
Install wardrobe doors and decorative hardware. I ordered my IKEA doors in a standard white. Then, I contacted a cabinet maker in the area who agreed to paint them dark blue for a reasonable price. I purchased the brass ring pulls on Amazon.com.
While the cabinet makers were delivering the freshly painted doors, I convinced them for a few extra $ to install the folding door hardware as I watched.
I’m glad I did!
The cost alone of purchasing the tools to complete the install myself would have been more than what I paid the professionals to do it for me.
Finished Project
Overall, I am really pleased with how my Murphy Bed turned out. Our first guests arrive this weekend, so I look forward to hearing their feedback.
Lessons learned
Don’t get ahead of yourself. Before you position and secure the cabinet to the wall and add artwork, make sure that you have left enough clearance on each side of the cabinet for the sliding doors to open and for the bed to operate without any interference.
The internal hanging closet and night table are optional and add a level of complexity to the positioning of your bed within the cabinet. If you don’t need them, don’t include them in your project, and you’ll save yourself a few additional headaches along the way.
Total cost including labor for door painting and installation $1270.
Please note this price does not include the cost of the mattress or the Next Bed Murphy Bed kit.
My daughter and her partner had just moved back from England to Vancouver, Canada and had already spent a fortune on furniture basics for their very modern but small apartment.
Space in their bedroom was limited by sq. footage and because of two capacious built-ins on either side of the bed, even side tables wouldn’t work. And the one space they could put an additional piece of furniture without banging into it, near the foot of their bed, would only allow for a 12 inch depth, particularly if the dresser had drawers to pull out.
They had an IKEA TARVA headboard in unfinished pine and everything else was white. They liked the white/wood combo for a calm, inviting bedroom.
So they were looking at an MCM dresser at Wayfair that cost $459 Cdn dollars. It had a white box frame and a few beech colored drawers, on angled legs. It was tall but narrow and 16” from the wall, so was still too deep.
I was staying with them for a short while and thought I could go one better, with actual pine to match their bed. A better fit for depth and width, and save them $400.
Enter RAST. Two of them. Used, crayoned, battered but free, from Craigslist.
Primer 1 qt shellac-based $25 (best for unfinished pine)
Pure white satin paint 1 qt $18
4 corner brackets $5
3 flat brackets $2
A few longer screws $1
So the makeover without legs would have cost me $61 with tax. In the US, that cost would likely be less than $40 not only because of the exchange rate but because things are cheaper.
I also bought the MCM legs and angled brackets for another $50 Cdn at Home Depot.
Moreover, the kids are still deciding on new pulls so there will be a cost for those. Myself, I would have just spray painted the existing knobs in silver or brass for another $6.
But as of now, total makeover including taxes and MCM legs is Canadian $111, and less than $80 US.
Steps to Stacked RAST MCM Dresser
1. Remove knobs, clean and sand everything down. I was only going to use four drawers of the six.
So I kept back the two worst-crayoned ones, of which one drawer face was made into a shelf, and the backs of both of the drawers were used for side tables later.
Sanding was easy – 15 minutes. Don’t press hard. Then use a damp paper towel or tack cloth to remove wood dust.
2. Construct the shape:
a) The Bottom:
The RAST bottom is hollow with just the two sides and a sunk back board at the front. I brought that board forward (outward) an inch or two, screwed it in on the sides, so it was flush with the front of the side boards, in order to achieve the boxy look I wanted.
But I needed a proper bottom too in order to attach legs. There was an inner cross piece of wood further up the dresser that I removed. I glued, then screwed, this face-down on two of the discarded drawer sides, exactly squared off on the inner bottom, then screwed the crosspiece to the sides and the drawer pieces to the front piece.
Very sturdy actually. This gave me the bottom. After painting I just screwed in the angled foot hardware in the four corners, then screwed the legs in.
b) The Middle – Connecting the Dressers:
I removed the bottom front crosspiece from the second dresser, then stacked and glued the side legs to the first dresser. I reinforced this with 4 brackets on the inside of the top dresser’s legs connected to the bottom dresser’s top. Not ideal but I knew they would be painted over as to be hardly noticeable.
c) The Shelf:
The top of the bottom dresser made one shelf with a high space that my daughter wanted. But I wanted another to lay across the top drawer of the bottom section. No piece was deep enough. However, the crosspiece I had removed from the top dresser, jutted up against a discarded drawer face, made a perfect sized shelf.
So I glued these together and flat-bracketed them. I removed the plastic drawer slides I wasn’t using, then nailed a pair to the sides for the shelf to rest upon. These slides were originally inserted into premade holes, but are surprisingly sturdy enough when turned backwards and nailed, though awkwardly. You should have a level for this part. The back of my new shelf slid right in flush to the sides so I screwed that part to the frame for extra reinforcement.
d) The Back:
The backs are thin pressboard and just nail tacked on but only cover half of each dresser. So I removed these and after painting them I re- tacked them to the back of the exposed shelving area, meeting behind the top shelf.
And that was it for the build.
None of the screwing or hammering was hard. I have little strength in my right wrist from a former fracture, so if I can do it so can you! And I spent a lot of time thinking about how to do all of this but only about an hour’s time actually doing it.
3. Painting:
a) Make sure all screws and nails that will show are fastened in as tight as possible. Then wood putty over them. Fill all holes with wood putty. In some deep cases you can fill with the wood glue first. Sand smooth with long strokes.
b) Sand medium all surfaces to be painted. Clean dust with damp towel or tack cloth. Wait half hour always if you do use damp towel so dampness dries before applying primer or paint.
c) Two coats of shellac-based primer. Follow instructions on can for drying times. Lightly sand, just tickle, between coats and clean as above.
d) Two or three coats of paint. Before the final coat do a sand with the finest sandpaper you have, 220 or up is best.
e) Apply a quick coat of clear, not amber, poly with rag for best results. But I didn’t have any, and they didn’t want it on the pine drawer faces anyway.
f) Reinstall drawers, attach legs if not already, same with backs. That might have been it except the RAST is a product that keeps on giving!
Bonus side table
Remember I said my daughter had no room for side tables because of the built-ins to either side?
I had two solid drawer backs left so I just laid them inside each built-in drawer, over their clothes, and stabilized them with Command poster strips on the inner ridge. Now they have somewhere to rest a cup of coffee and a book! And their drawers still close — sans coffee cup of course!
Time spent:
Thinking: At least 8-16 hours!
Constructing: 1 hour
Prepping: putty, sanding etc: 1 hour
Priming and painting, not incl wait times: 2 hours
So it seems a lot but I did all the thinking for you! 4 hours and $111 or less than $80 US.
Including tax my daughter saved $400 and got a better-suited and better-fitting MCM dresser, made of wood not laminate. Not to mention side tables! Fan-rast-ic!
From this:
To this:
Would I do it again?
Likely only if I had similar space limitations. The RAST is the only suitable dresser I found at 12” depth.
But I find the plastic slides cheap and stacking was harder and more costly than I thought. So was painting unfinished pine because of the priming and more costly shellac-based primer.
There were a lot of holes to fill. These pieces were battered!
I’ve stained a lot of furniture and painted over painted furniture and both were far easier and cheaper than this RAST MCM dresser project.
The PLATSA system is the more affordable modular IKEA wardrobe. Compared to the PAX, it’s a lot more flexible and easier to put together.
The modular pieces allow the PLATSA to be built as a standard wardrobe, storage under the stairs, sloped ceilings cabinets and more.
The only drawback is the lack of door options.
While IKEA is adding to the range, creative IKEA hackers are putting their stamp on plain PLATSA doors.
Steph and James added a chevron design to the plain white FONNES doors. Painted black and matched with black hardware, the chevron doors took the PLATSA wardrobe into custom-built territory.
For the built in look, the couple started with the construction of a wood base. Then, they assembled the PLATSA wardrobe frame and fitted it on top of the wood base. They added skirting all around the wooden base to match the baseboard.
Now, onto the doors
Steph and James first lighted sanded, cleaned and primed the FONNES doors. Frogtape on the underside of the doors kept the paint lines neat.
Then, came the tough part — cutting the 3mm thick MDF boards into chevrons. They used a circular saw to rip the MDF boards into 8 cm wide strips and then a mitre saw to cut the 45 degree angles.
Next, glueing the strips to the door. A line of No More Nails on the back of the strips did the trick. They used spacers to keep the gaps consistent.
After the glue dried, they painted it with Lick Black 01.
I wanted to add more storage in my small bedroom and decided to use the space around and over my bed. I liked the symmetry of two storage units flanking my bed. And I found an affordable solution using the HYLLIS shelf units.
First, assemble 2 units of the the HYLLIS according to the assembly manual. And set them at right and left of the bed.
In France I could not find proper wood (stock is running low in France) so I had to be creative. I ended up using what we call: kraaldelen (tongue and groove board?).
I set the kraaldelen boards across the HYLLIS units.
However, they were bowing so I used the side posts of the third HYLLIS to reinforce the boards. Now it makes it look like the third HYLLIS is horizontal. In fact you just see the side posts which I used as front trim and the 4 shelving posts for the top shelf.
(The kraaldelen is a temporary solution and is not screwed in. I will later swap them out for permanent wood planks — when stocks return — and will screwed them in for more stability.)
The shelves of the HYLLIS are hidden under the DRÖNA boxes on the top shelf.
How long and how much did it cost?
3 x £12.50 + already existing items reused
What do you like most about the hack?
Finding the solution to a problem with this hack.
What was the hardest thing about this hack?
The shelves because I used tongue and groove boards.
Question: I have 2 of these monstrosities in my front room. What funky ideas do you have for me to decorate the IKEA PAX doors so they put a smile on my face?
How can I make these cupboards into something more attractive?
~ by Susanne
Hi Susanne
Glad you asked. I had fun researching 10 ideas to turn the IKEA PAX wardrobe doors into a feature rather than a “monstrosity” as you call it.
The ideas range from easy to more challenging ones. So, pick the idea that suits your style and skill level. That said, go ahead and attempt something fabulous. If you do screw up the doors, you can always pick up new ones at IKEA.
I’ll start with the easy ones first.
#1 Change the hardware
One the simplest upgrade is to add a new set of door handles or knobs. Remove the plastic handles you have and go for statement handles. Abigail Ahern made these with strips of wood, painted a hot pink. It’s not hard to make a set (if you have the tools) but you can also buy extra long wood handles like these on Etsy. Leave them natural or spray paint if you prefer.
Photo: Image by Graham Atkins Hughes via Design Sponge
Choose a design you like. Get as many rolls as needed. Thoroughly clean the surface of the PAX door and let it dry. Then cut out the wallpaper a little larger than the measurement of the PAX door. Stick from top edge and work your way down, pressing the paper firmly with a plastic card or squeegee. Lastly, cut off the excess edges with a Xacto knife or fold them onto the sides of the door.
#3 Make a fabric cover
This may be perfect for your front room. Depending on the fabric you choose you can totally turn it into an eye catching feature in the room.
According to the tutorial in Around the House, you’ll need fabric, sheets of MDF (foam boards may work too) and Gorilla Glue. Cut the MDF according to the size of the PAX doors, with an inch margin all round. Wrap the fabric around the MDF and glue the fabric down at the back of the boards. The final step is to glue the fabric panels on to the PAX doors. Make sure to use heavy duty construction adhesive.
This mirrored PAX door would have been a walk in the park if you had BERGSBO doors. You could have mirrors cut to the size of the squares and set them in place with adhesive.
To recreate a similar look on flat PAX doors, I would suggest LOTS mirrors. Stick the mirrors onto the door and finish with a strip of wood trim around the mirrors. Painting the doors and trim first would be great too.
#5 Cane weave on doors
If mirrors aren’t your thing, how about cane webbing? Or even burlap for a rustic, natural look.
If you like the vintage vibe, this hack is perfect for your two PAX wardrobes. Kevin and Sarah turned theirs into a built-in with lots of delightful touches. Such as the trim on the doors which elevates the stock IKEA PAX doors into awesomeness. See the hack here.
#8 Farmhouse style
If you are good at calculating angles, then try this criss-cross farmhouse style doors on for size. You’ll need thin strips of plywood and a table saw, at the very least, to hack this. See her tutorial.
Technically, this chevron design is on a PLATSA door but I don’t see why it wouldn’t apply to your PAX doors. Steph and James ripped MDF into strips and then used a mitre saw to cut the 45 degree angles. They glued the strips on the doors and finished them with paint. See the tutorial.
You can tailor the design to your taste. Instead of chevrons, you can have them shiplap style, as diamonds or squares. Have fun designing it.
#10 Paint a mural
On my list this is definitely the hardest, because I can’t draw to save my life. Stacey painstaking reproduced the mural on the doors by hand. Not for the faint hearted. However, there are easier ways to do this. Vintage Revivals has a superb tutorial on transforming a mural design into a paint-by-numbers kind of art. Very cool.
Our weekend house is quite small (only 20 m2), so I needed a space saving, fast solution in order to have a double bunk bed option without overcrowding the house.
Open the first STORÅ loft bed packages. Next, I cut the 4 bed legs into the desired length. (Our weekend house has only 240cm ceiling height, IKEA suggest min. 270cm). Note: This step is only needed if your ceiling height is less than 270cm.
In order to achieve maximum accuracy, we used a mitre saw. I cut 10cm, but my recommendation would be 20-25cm for more head room at the top bunk.
Start to build the bed, but instead of using the lower slat, use the other sides upper part (see picture).
The PAX wardrobe comes in 2 heights: 236 cm and 201 cm.
With the 236 cm version you will have a clearance of 38 cm. With the 201 cm, you’ll have a 73 cm margin. The height difference will let you play around with different options for the best fit — like LEGO.
Ideas to raise the IKEA PAX wardrobe
#1 Get another PAX and cut down
The most obvious hacker solution would be to get the shorter 201 version and make your own height extension frame. This would be the most seamless and everything will line up well, if you have the tools and skills to do so. But it will cost quite a bit and leave a lot of waste.
You’ll also need to cut up the PAX doors to fit the extension.
#2 Raise the PAX instead
Another way to make this work is to build beneath the PAX rather than on top.
Jordan did just that with custom wooden legs. Gorgeous, isn’t it?
The kitchen system (METOD or SEKTION) is a good match for the PAX. The depths are almost similar, though the widths are a bit tricky to match. But if you add them beneath the PAX wardrobe like drawers below, it works beautifully. Swipe to see the full wardrobe and bench like extension.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw7eSluBBgR
#4 Cover up with taller doors
38cm is not a very large gap. You could make custom doors out of plywood (or any other wood board) and install them to the PAX. The ones below are for a kids’ room, but they demonstrate how the doors cover up the gap above the frames.
#5 Opt for another system instead
If the PLATSA is available in Canada, it offers a lot more flexibility to build upwards.
If not, try the SEKTION or METOD kitchen range. It absolutely works as wardrobe storage. Min used the METOD high cabinets to form the base of her wardrobe.
You can try a 229 cm high cabinet topped with a 38 cm fridge top cabinet to give you a 267 cm high wardrobe. Add a cover strip at the top to close up the remaining gap if you wish.
Hope these ideas help you raise the PAX wardrobe to fit your high ceilings.
Let us know how it goes.
Happy hacking,
Jules
Hacking may compromise the structural integrity of the item, so please be aware of the risks involved before modifying or altering any IKEA product. Alterations and modifications will also void any warranties or return policies you may have received from IKEA. IKEAhackers.net is not liable for any product failure, injury or damage resulting from the application of suggestions, ideas and hacks featured on this site.
The valet chair is a useful piece of furniture that lets you hang your lightly soiled clothes or prep a new set for the next day. It’s also a place to sit down while getting dressed and is especially handy for putting on shoes and socks.
More than that, it’s certainly prettier than a pile of clothes over a chair or ironing board.
Here’s my version of a valet chair from an old IKEA MALM nightstand, which is no longer in production. Under the seat, it has a drawer for small items like socks. Very handy!
Then, attach a drawer pull to the back using the original holes. I chose a C-shaped drawer pull so I can hang items off it.
Next, attach a drawer pull to the front drawer.
Place furniture pads under the front drawer to further level the chair.
Then, I whitewashed the valet chair with diluted white paint. This step is optional if you want to maintain the colour of the MALM nightstand. You can also paint it any other colour your wish.
To cover up the holes where the top shelf was, I glued coasters to the back of the seat.
I am Nini Murphy. This is my DIY PAX walk through closet hack. I chose to use IKEA PAX because of price, ease of assembly for DIYers, and flexibility.
CONSTRAINTS:
Our closet is a walk through not a walk in, I needed doors on the wardrobes.
The original closet was a L shaped builder grade with sliders. (Sorry no before picture, never thought to take a picture of such plainness). I never was able to make it efficient. And I hated the corner, so much buried there. NO Corner.
I wanted the new closet to be consistent with other upgrades in the house which meant I wanted moldings. IKEA PAX wardrobes have limited sizes, the 92 7/8 tall wardrobe with doors would not accommodate moldings. The 79 1/4 inch wardrobe with doors seemed like a waste of usable space. What to do?
Deborah Anderson – Wait, what? Short doors on tall cabinets? GAME CHANGER!
PLAN:
I decided to use the 76 5/8 inch BERGSBO doors with a KOMPLEMENT drawer underneath. Then add a face plate to the drawer and place a filler facia on the top and bottom of 92 7/8 PAX wardrobes.
My rough hand drawing of my design idea. Not exactly how it worked out, but pretty close.
Walk through closet plan
Empty, purge, find temporary storage.
Gut.
I chose not to use the PAX backs. I lined the walls with cedar and mounted the backless wardrobes to the lined walls.
Build the PAX frames per instructions, I built them standing up because of clearance. It does require TWO people to build these.
I built bases to put the wardrobes on to give them clearance above the not yet installed flooring. Level and anchor the frames to each other and to the walls.
I did not used the PAX wall anchors. California is where I live. Anchoring to studs is a must for earthquake safety. I used 4 inch L brackets.
Filler pieces are necessary between the PAX wardrobe frames and the wall.
My husband installed lighting for me, isn’t he lovely.
Painting
I painted the frame edges before installing doors.
Add facia. Top and Bottom, level, fasten to frames. Fasteners should be covered by moldings.
Install BERGSBO doors and KOMPLEMENT drawers at the bottom. Drill holes for door hardware.
NOTE: On this size BERGSBO doors the middle hinge is offset left and right, they do not line up. This tripped me up a few times.
NOTE: I used a KOMPLEMENT shelf just above the bottom drawer and near the top of the wardrobe so the doors would have something to close against.
At this point I painted.
Painting PAX has been well documented by others. Must use a shellac based primer.
Drawer installation
Next I installed pre painted drawer fronts. There are lots of hacker examples for this step.
Use spacers for lining the drawer fronts up evenly. I drilled holes for the drawer hardware and used the holes, and some construction adhesive, to temporarily attach the fronts to the KOMPLEMENT drawers.
I put screws in from the inside of the drawers for permanent attachment.
Now I installed my chosen KOMPLEMENT hanging bars, interior drawers and shelves.
Final steps, flooring, hardware, and moldings. Lots of steps to these, but not pertinent to the IKEA hack.
CHALLENGES:
Covid19 pandemic created many challenges. Online shopping, delivery delays, availability of products are a few. Therefore this took way longer than it should have. Budget took some hits on extra deliveries.
For example, it took three orders to get all of the items I needed from IKEA. That’s three delivery fees. (IKEA has such well-engineered products, their retail operations are not thought out).
DISCLAIMER:
I am not a photographer.
All photos taken with my smart phone. For reference the first photo of completed closet is taken from the bedroom with the bathroom door to the left. All other construction shots are taken from the bathroom, the bedroom door to the right.
I decided to makeover the HEMNES chest because I am redecorating my bedroom.
And I wanted to have only one style in the bedroom. So I took my old dresser and modified it to suit the style of my other furniture (bed, wardrobe etc.)
The dressing room was pretty much built around the PAX wardrobe as part of our extension.
It connects from our bedroom on one side to the ensuite on another. The length of the room is 3050mm.
I designed the length of the room to allow a 25mm spacer at each end of the wardrobe, allowing the doors to open correctly against the walls.
The biggest complication is the roof. It slopes at one end, down to around 1800mm from a maximum of 2550mm. This means that although three of the frames can be the full 2.36m height, two of them have to be formed on an angle.
I cut one side panel down to the required height to form the angle. Also, cut the backpanel down to match, then built these frames as a lopsided frame.
The advantage of this is that the tall side still had positions to attach the door hinges. And the top panel now forms a useful shelf at 1.8m.
Something to note is that this frame is a bit flimsier as the top panel is not inline with the other panels. As such it is not held firmly against the other wardrobes.
To work around this I put a top shelf in each wardrobe frame to brace things up and give something for this wardrobe to push against.
Once I built the frames I filled the gaps at the ends and the top with painted MDF panels.
The exposed end panel of the short side of the wardrobe was also covered with a sheet of painted MDF. I screwed everything together and to the wall for rigidity.
There are mixed things said about using push openers on soft close doors. Apparently, you can damage one or other part over time but I have not had issues before.
I cut the FARDAL doors with a circular saw to get the angle for the sloping ceiling. And left a non-opening corner piece at the top of each end door so that the door could open underneath the sloped ceiling.
I used a few offcuts to make a framework. Then, attached a section of one of the door offcuts to make the filler panel.
With the end door now being shorter, to make it swing properly I used a Forstner bit to drill a 35mm hole to allow the 4th hinge to be mounted in a new position.
Wardrobe interior
Interior wise, it’s a mix of KOMPLEMENT shelves, drawers, baskets and rails. The only thing of note is that I have modified the drawers to fit alongside the hinges in the ‘forbidden zones’.
Others have done this using a router. I’ve gone for an alternative approach using plunge cuts with a circular saw as I don’t have a router.
This is something more people can do as most DIY’ers don’t have a router but may have a circular saw.
Practice on a scrap piece of wood. And set yourself up with a straight piece of wood as a cutting guide.
Soft close hinges in new positions
One thing to note is that the soft close hinges are too large to allow drawers to be fitted next to them. See the pic of the difference between the two hinges. I had to swap the hinges round so that the soft close hinge was the second hinge up and a normal hinge was at the bottom. This greatly reduced the amount of material to be cut from the side panel of the drawers.
One negative change I’ve noticed in the KOMPLEMENT drawers in recent years is the addition of the plastic runner cover strip. (Pic below) Why do you need a piece of plastic to cover the runner? A waste of plastic.
We are very happy with our finished wardrobes. I don’t think we will completely fill them ever given their size!
Cost from IKEA was around £1000, plus a few cheap bits of MDF, wood, screws and paint.
We were looking for a pair of bedside drawers for our cottage but were struggling to find the right size. We wanted something 70cm wide – too large for bedside cabinets and too small for a chest of drawers.
The IKEA ASKVOLL chest of 3 drawers were the perfect size but although we do like the look of them, they didn’t fit the style of our home.
We were inspired by a previous hack on your site – Cape Cod Themed Guest Bedroom and decided to try our own take on it.
Got a local timber merchant to cut the top in the size we required and cut us lengths of mdf strip for the drawer fronts and plinth.
We removed existing handles.
Then, we created ‘frames’ for drawer fronts – made from mdf strips. Mitred on a mitre block and then glued and stapled (on the back where they won’t be seen).
Next, we cut plinth on the mitre block.
We glued the top, drawer fronts and plinth in place using contact adhesive. Then, waited for glue to dry.
Created a template out of card for new knob positions.
Used this to make marks on drawer fronts and drilled hole slightly larger than bolt for the knobs.
Treated the all the surfaces to be painted with ESP (easy surface primer) and waited for it to dry.
Lastly, we applied 3 coats of paint. We used Farrow and Ball modern eggshell in Shaded White.
Finally, attached new knobs.
And our shaker style chest of drawers is done!
A before and after shot.
On top of the £50 cost of each drawer, we spent around £48 on materials including the paint.
