Transform An IKEA KALLAX Into A Chic Coffee Table With Built In Storage

Thrifting is a great way to fill out your home on a budget, but it's impossible to guarantee that you're going to find the perfect object that fits your aesthetic — or one that offers desperately needed storage. Creating your own DIY furniture is the way to go if you have a singular vision, but the prefabricated furniture designs available through IKEA can make a great baseline. There are hundreds of IKEA pieces available across nearly two dozen collections, and studies collected by the Journal of Consumer Psychology point to the so-called "IKEA effect" — a jump in appreciation for products that are built by hand. This is why it's worth considering these custom DIY ideas, like Instagram user @do.it.yourself.mum's chic table design hack for an IKEA KALLAX shelving unit.

IKEA's KALLAX series starts with a low-end single box for about $25, but gradually builds into a variety of entertainment centers that use interlocking boxes and are almost all available in a variety of colors. The coffee table hack presented by @do.it.yourself.mum starts with a two-by-two KALLAX unit in its natural oak color (though you can make yours as big as you want), augmenting it with sheet wood paneling, some accent molding, and door hinges to create one's own built-in storage system. A smaller KALLAX unit could be used as a side table instead of a coffee table, but either way, it'll provide a lot more space in your living room. After that, a picturesque, low-cost DIY paint job can help transform your piece of furniture however you might envision.

Since KALLAX shelves are open donut shapes to allow for various inserts, your first task is turning them into cubbies by nailing (or gluing) a flat board over one side. This is also the stage in which you should attach feet to the four corners, if you want. Whether you use a traditional cylindrical or block foot, or something more modern like metallic arches, attach scratch-resistant cushioning pads — especially if your home has hardwood floors that you want to make shine.

Once that base is complete, you can help it blend into the KALLAX centerpiece by trimming lengths of wood as a border, repainting the coffee table, or other home design hacks like adding moody LED light strips around the border of the table. The next step for your IKEA retrofit is attaching a sturdy plank of woodland timber across a central line between KALLAX shelf holes. Whether you want this plank to be flush with the overall size of the table, or to extend a lip out over each edge, the important thing is that you use wood panels of an equal size to act as doors on either side. All you need to do is connect them to that middle plank is with some Design House Store interior door hinges for less than $10. 

After sealing the wood, decorate this tabletop to your own personal tastes and take advantage of the brand-new storage options. Before long you may not even remember that your chic coffee table (or side table) had humble origins as an IKEA KALLAX shelving unit.