Coffee table advance

Materials: Malm Storage Unit, Galant Monitor Stand

Description: Only a little hack ;)

The Malm Storage Unit is perfect to hide things like the TV guides, bottle opener, the reserve of sweets, ... but they are not big enough for a coffee table. So I have expanded it with a Galant Monitor Stand and 3 short table-legs. To stop the stand from slipping I used double-sided adhesive tape (the black under the table-legs).

~ Ingo, Cologne, Germany

Bohemian south asian inspired MALM dressers

Materials: MALM dresser or side table (any size or configuration), light weight sari fabric or light weight fabric of your choice, decoupage glue, medium sized foam paint roller, scirrors for trimming fabric, exacto knife for trimming fabric, rubbing alcohol and lint free rag for prep, matte sealer

Description: I decided to redo the decor of our bedroom to bring the tastes of my girlfriend and style to reality. Since we rent, we're hesitant to paint the walls. To bring some color and life into our bedroom.

I decided to use texture and color on our funiture and fabrics so that we wont have to worry about repainting when we move out. I started with two six drawer MALM units in dark brown that we purchased about a year ago. I used the alcohol to remove any dirt and excess oils from the front of the drawers.

After the drawers are completely dry apply a medium coat of decoupage to the front of the drawers. After, apply a piece of fabric roughly trimmed to the size of the of the drawer that your going to cover. Gently smooth of out any air bubbles and allow fabric to dry for atleast 30 minutes.

Apply at least 3 to 4 additional coats of decoupage letting each coat dry appropriately. After the 4th coat, use the exacto knife to trim the excess fabric from around the edges of the drawers. I covered every other drawer at a time to make things easier when applying the fabric. After all of the drawers are covered and trim of excess fabric apply a few coats of matte sealer to the drawer fronts to help make them durable.

~ Lenon, Houston, Texas, USA

Malm Toddler Bed under Malm-inspired Bunk

Materials: Malm Bed and Dresser

Description: After being inspired by so many cool projects on this website, hoping my daughter would sleep in her own room, and deciding I didn't want to pay $2500 for kids' bunk beds I came up with a design to use used Malm items to make my kids a new bedroom set.

This was a combination of three easy hacks and one harder one requiring actual building. I got two used Malm beds, and a used Malm dresser. I used the two headboards from the beds to make my toddler's bed- simply replacing the footboard with the second headboard, so she couldn't scoot off the bottom of the bed and under the bunk by accident. I used the rails and slats from the second bed on the upper bed that I built to match the Malm beds- the headboard, footboard, and stair wall are 2" thick, and the headboard is the same height above the mattress as the Malm headboard. To fit in my space the upper bunk is narrower than Malm - only 41", and the upper bed is longer than Malm -77" so that I could fit both the Malm bed and Malm dresser underneath.

The stairs are drawers - inspired by Berg furniture for kids, but I also thought about using a modified Trofast stair system. I wanted the furniture to match existing paint, and using recomendations from this site to use special primer and extra long screws, I painted all pieces bright white, and attached knobs to the Malm dresser.

~ Ellen Farrow, Los Gatos, CA

High Desk from IKEA Bed Frames

Materials: Malm

Description: Every time I poke around IKEA's clearance area ('As Is' area) I encounter a broken bed frame from the MALM/HOPEN lines, which rely on torsion boxes for strength.

I picked up a few dozen of these torsion box bed-frame members on a whim and didn't know what to do with them for a long time. Recently I encountered Pottery Barn's amazing high desk (their Bedford line high desk) and a 20-watt light bulb went off.

The torsion boxes are excellent table top surfaces because they are perfectly flat, super strong, and light weight. All I needed were 'legs'. Why not create bookshelves for my legs and enjoy the 'high life' using a bar stool.

Steps to completion:

1. Measure torsion boxes you want to use. Especially the exact location of the dowel holes in the bottom of the torsion boxes.
2. I used Sketchup to visualize/create/dimension the entire desk, then laid out the parts in Sketchup and printed their dimensions.
3. I routed dadoes in the plywood, then cut out the plywood parts.
4. Glue the plywood boxes together and drill the dowel holes exactly where they will meet the torsion box dowels. Use a 7/16" drill bit here.
5. The only modification to the torsion boxes is to drill out the dowel holes to 7/16" - it is next to impossible to find metric wooden dowels here in America (note to self: grab as many as possible during next IKEA visit). I think the dowels are 11mm from the factory. Good luck finding 11mm dowels.
6. Time for face frames. Cut out the face frame pieces. You will need a lot of face frame pieces because you must build face frames on both sides of each box. A pain in the butt but whatever.
7. Nail-gun time: nail the face frame pieces to the plywood boxes. This has to be pretty close to perfect because the human eye can/will catch errors.
8. After the face frames are attached, stain/paint your boxes.
9. Add adjustable feet to the bottom of your new bookcase 'legs'.
10. Insert dowels and line up everything to create the desk.

The exercise was fun and now I have two fewer torsion boxes clogging my basement.

See more of Pete's high desk.

~ Pete Kuhns, Indiana, USA

Chest of drawers to a bed

Materials: 4 drawer Malm x 2 and a saw

Description:
Moved house and needed a new single bed.
Removed the draws measured 20" from the top down to the base of the second front cross piece.

Mark and saw in half....same again to the second set of draws.

Screw them all together make a new top (making the bed base) for the lower halves add an 8" by 37" shelf to the bottom replace the draws and you have lots of storage and a single bed base new mattress = a comfy single bed.

We will use the remaining draw fronts to make open shelves in the same bedroom.
All will be primed and painted white.

See more of Suz's Malm dresser bed.

~ Suz, Shropshire UK

Malm Dresser Up-Do

Materials: Malm 6 Drawer Dresser, chair rail molding, drawer handles, claw feet,

Description: I started with a black/brown Malm 6 drawer dresser.

Knowing I wanted to lift it off the ground with these claw feet, I needed to re-enforce the structure so the particle board wouldn't shatter. Using 2" x 2" "furring strips" from home depot. I made a frame out of the furring strips that I screwed into the inside lining of the bottom of the dresser.

Next, lift the dresser and put the feet under it. Line up the feet, and drive 3" construction screws through the furring strip frame and down into the feet.

Next, screw a 1" thick, 3" wide strip of wood to the front of the dresser just below the bottom drawer- this way you'll have a flat front to the dresser.

Using chair rail molding, make frames for the drawers, I just used a miter box to make the 45 degree cuts.

Sand, Prime, and Paint the dresser. Then glue or screw on the molding frames you made to the front of the drawers. Add drawer pulls/handles if you like!

~ Alex P, Atlanta, Ga

Queen-size MALM Murphy Hack

Materials: Queen size IKEA MALM bed, 1 8x4 sheet of wood, nails, hammer, 2 70 lb bags concrete, gate hinges, fishing line

Description:
1. Secure the bed slats on the MALM bed with fishing line.

2. Chop off the legs.

3. Build a box to put concrete (for counterweight) and attach hinges and bed to.

4. Attach bed to hinges and box.

5. Cut out 2 opposing side legs that correspond to the height of the hinge that the bed is attached to.

6. Attach new legs to hinges.

Optional:
7. Calculate the spring constant, k, of the gate springs.

8. Pick optimal spot to attach gate spring to bed and weighting box using spring constant. Warning: most of the bed frame is actually hallow. I recommend using the edge of the legs.

~ Clay Woolam, San Fransisco

Malm bed with loads of underbed storage

Materials: Malm, Alsarp

Description: I saw this on a blog. This combines the Malm with the Alsarp and seems fairly easy to accomplish. It looks like a great solution for storage under a Malm bed, which doesn't have much storage space under it when put together the "normal" way. It also makes the Alsarp more aesthetically pleasing.

See more of the Malm with storage boxspring.

~ Sarah

Malm King Headboard

Materials: 2 Malm Queen headboards, 2 Malm night stands

Description: I wanted a Malm King headboard and night stand, but didn't like the low profile Malm bed. The Malm panel headboard doesn't come in king size...
This was my solution.

Attached 2 Malm Queen headboards together. Mounted them on the wall and ran rope lighting around the back.

Re-configured the Malm night stands, moving the drawer up to the location of the (useless) upper shelf. I had to drill a second set of holes for the screws on the sides of the drawer frame. Then I turned the shelf over and lowered it to the drawer location.

I used French Cleats (picture hangers) to mount the night stands on each end of the headboards.

The king mattress fits perfectly between the night stands.

~ Daniel Jones, US

Teen boy lounge bed

Materials: Malm headboard, Ribba shelf, Komisk cushion cover

Description: Here is my teenage son's "lounge bed" hacked from a Malm headboard and Ribba shelves. The goal was a double bed in minimum space with no hiding places to stuff dirty clothes and trash. (Did I mention it is for my teenage son??) This design allowed us to put the bed right into the corner and maximize floor space.

The Malm headboard comes in 2 pieces. We used the two pieces separately to make an "L" shaped corner headboard. It is shimmed out from the wall with 2 x 4's at the top and bottom of each piece.

1) Mark on wall where headboard will be mounted. Plan to mount them so the front corners will be touching in the corner, leaving a space behind them.

2) Measure and cut 4 lengths of 2x4 the width of the headboard minus 1 inch (ours just goes to the window trim on the shorter piece.)

3) Mount 1 2x4 on wall just above baseboard.

4) Mount another 2x4 at height of mounting mechanism on larger section of headboard.

5) Mount 3rd and 4th lengths for the shorter headboard.

6) Mount larger headboard

7) Place 2x4 on the floor under the shorter headboard.

8) Attach legs to both ends of the shorter headboard that measure the distance from the 2x4 on the floor to the base of the shorter headboard.

9) Mounting the smaller headboard was tricky for us to find something that would allow it to be flush with the 2 x 4 without cutting completely into the headboard (I didn't know what we would find if we cut into it!) We used picture hangers that were as flush as we could find. The weight is supported by the legs, and the picture holders just hold it in place. It gains more stability when the Ribba shelf is attached.

10) Line Ribba shelves up along top edge of headboard and make any cuts needed to get the appropriate length. Cut at a 45 degree angle in the corner to make a mitered connection.

11) Drill a hole for the cord of a surge protector in one of the shelves or in both. I screwed the shelves in, drilled the hole, unscrewed, threaded the cord and rescrewed. I am sure there is an easier method. Attach surge protector with screws or with sticky sided Velcro.

12) The larger piece of the headboard is resting on the ground (shimmed out) and the shorter piece is mounted level to the top. This does not come down to the level of the mattress, but that makes changing sheets easier. Because it extends in front of a window, we used legs for extra support. On the floor is a 2 x 4 that the box spring juts up to, which prevents the bed from getting jammed into the wall - making it easier to make up the bed and change sheets.

We also attached under cabinet lighting along the front edge. A black Sharpie is a nice touch up for where we drilled the corner hole.

I bought a fitted sheet to put on the box springs. My son's name begins with "W" so the zig zag Lack shelf went perfectly. The IKEA triple cushion cover Komisk goes around the corner of the headboard and forms the base of the piles of pillows. In my pictures it is black, so it doesn't show very well. My son loves finally having a bed big enough to stretch out his 6'4" frame, as well as a lounge for homework, video games, reading, etc.

~ Ann Hunter, 1.5 hrs away from IKEA :(

Elevated Malm

Materials: Malm Bed Frame, LACK bookshelf

Description: My wife and I just moved to a small apartment, and the Malm bed frame doesn't have much (read: 4 inches) of storage underneath it. By setting the bed frame atop two LACK bookshelves laid on their sides, we gained a ton of storage AND as an added bonus, this raised the low Malm bed up a bit.

~ Ben, Chicago, IL

Note: I would recommend checking the load bearing capacity of the Lack shelf before placing such a heavy item on it. And is the bed frame fastened to the shelf? Would it be stable should there be ... er ... "movement" in bed? ~ Jules 

The pink Malm, prettified.

Materials: Pink Malm, Spray paint primer, Interior Latex Olympic Paint in White Mood, Spray Paint in Seaside Green, Brushes, Stencil, Tape

Description: My daughter has had this dresser for a few years, and as she got older and her favorite color went from pink to green, I thought it was only fitting that the Malm followed suit.

I sprayed the whole thing with primer, twice. Rolled on three coats of the Olympic paint to the main part of the dresser. Taped off the side edges of the drawers so that I could spray paint the Seaside Green to the tops of them. Once they were dry, I lined the drawers up and started stenciling using a foam roller brush and the same Olympic color that I used on the dresser. Viola.

See more of Angela's Malm dresser.

~ Angela

A heightened headboard

Materials: Ikea Malm Bedframe, plywood, batting, fabric, staple gun, L brackets, screws

Description: I owned the Ikea Malm bedframe and wanted to add height to my headboard. With a quick trip to a local hardware and fabric store, I came home with plywood, L- brackets, screws, a staple gun, batting, and fabric. In a couple hours I completely transformed my bed from blah to BAM!

before

I first added 18" in height to the headboard by attaching a piece of plywood that matched the width of the Ikea frame. I did this with (3) L-brackets each requiring (2) screws and a scrap piece of plywood using (8) screws.

I next wrapped the plywood and then the entire "new" headboard in a couple sheets of batting stapling it across the back on the sides and top.

The last step was wrapping my heightened headboard in the linen fabric I chose stapling it again on the back across the top and sides.

It really was a piece of cake and I love the visual impact my headboard now has in the room!

~ Meghan Posner

Loft bed frame and elevated laptop stand

Materials: MALM and Magasin

Description: Here are two of my Ikea hacks.

The first is a bed frame I made...

I recently moved from a house into a small apartment, and needed somewhere to store all of my things, but still wanted a clean, clutter-free look. Ikea had the answer. I simply found a chest of drawers that I liked from Ikea, and bought four of them - the MALM 3 drawer chest. I then built a simple bed frame to sit on top, and turned it into bed with 50 cubic feet of storage space underneath (including the drawers)!!

The frame wasn't hard to build:
I measured a queen sized mattress, and cut large pieces of lumber to fit around that. Those exterior pieces of lumber were reinforced in the corners. Then I got smaller pieces of wood (2x2's, I think) and attached them so they'd run along each inside edge of those exterior pieces. Then I placed 2x4's on top of those runners, and they reached from one end of the frame to the other, acting as slats for the platform. Once the slats were in place, I just placed a large piece of chip board on top! I also added a couple other finishing touches, such as adding small pieces of wood to the inside edges of the chest of drawers, where I cut out a notch, which I used to hang a small curtain on a dowel to hide the spaces.


My second hack is a laptop stand...

This hack is extremely easy. I simply started with a Magasin wooden dish drainer from Ikea, and cut off the longer supporting legs on the "back" side. Then I attached it to a wall using Command 3M small wire hooks, and voila!! I used 5 of these strips because I wanted to be sure it would support the weight of my laptop. I really like the look of a floating laptop, and this dish drainer worked perfectly.

I can also remove the laptop stand from the wall completely if I wish, or fold it up completely. Or, I can fold the top portion up and use it to support a text book on the lower portion. Or finally, I place the laptop on the top portion, and either fold up the bottom portion, or use it to store my mouse, wireless keyboard, etc. Very versatile!

See more photos here.

~ Angie Andrade, Stillwater, OK