Mandal Nightstand Hack

Materials: Expedit shelving unit, saw.

Description: If you have ever purchased the IKEA Mandal bed with its really cool storage drawers, you know that they only offer the Mandal wall-mounted headboard combined with the adjustable shelves as a possible nightstand. I prefer a nightstand where I can discretely hide things away.

Step 1) Get the single (1x5) Expedit shelving unit and cut it in half. The cut will be ugly and the inside of the Expedit is cardboard, but this will not be seen in the final result. If this really bothers you, you can purchase wooden veneer tape at a hardware store to cover the bottom cut.

Step 2) Mount each half of your Expedit shelving to each side of the wall next to your Mandal bed. Make sure to use proper wall-mounting brackets that will be screwed into the wall studs or that use drywall anchors. In this case, I also used the Expedit drawers and anchored them to the wall as well.

You can use any of the Expedit accessories that IKEA sells to give your nightstands the storage options you require.

~ Nicholas, Montreal, Canada

Almost a Mandal Wall hack

Materials: BODÖ bed (not on the US page), Malm storage unit x2, Lack wall shelf (any size you choose) and a battery drill with bits and drills.

Description: I where greatly inspired by the Mandal Wall-mounted headboard (see here and here), but thought it was too expensive.

By luck I found the bed part (BODÖ) for my hack, in the basement for my apartment, and asked my landlord if I could have it.

I took off the legs, and turned the brackets underneath 90 degrees and put them back on. I made two holes in each of the two brackets farthest apart with a metal drill, for the screws that would hold it on the wall.

When mounting the bed too the wall, be sure to use the right kind of plugs for your wall type, and use some heavy duty screws.

After the wall mounting, I put a mirror in the middle of my new wall hack, and then placed my Malm storage units underneath it.

I bought myself 4 Lack shelves at 11'3/4" x 12'1/4" to mount in "the bed". Luckily the space between the boards is exactly the same as the height of the shelves, so they fit right in.

Last I decorated with a painting made by my girlfriend and some other stuff.

I must confess that I'm rather proud of my first Ikea hack. It was pretty easy to do, and the result is actually pretty good.

Hope this will inspire some of the European readers in here, as the bed is only sold here.

~ Anders Dalsgaard, Denmark