Sharing all the tips & tricks oh how we DIYed our Ikea Kallax Hack into an awesome TV stand with a wooden top for just a few dollars! See how easy our Kallax Ikea hack was with pictures!
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DIY Easy Kallax Ikea Hack
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If you are into Ikea hacks than today is your lucky day with our Kallax Ikea Hack!
We transformed our Kallax large bookcase from Ikea into a space saving Entertainment center stand in just a few hours for our newly renovated home gym.
I am sharing all the details below of how we DIYed this Kallax Ikea hack for just a few dollars!!!
With our 4 kids home from school indefinitely we are in the process of renovating our downstairs basement into a home gym & office.
Because we decided to turn this room into a home gym it was important for us to have as few furniture as possible in the room.
Our basement originally had 3 Ikea Kallax bookcases in it.
2 small bookcases we used to hold the TV & 1 large Kallax bookcase that was full of books, movies & toys.
We decided to keep the large Kallax bookcase & put our TV on it to save space without buying any more furniture.
Kallax Ikea Hack Before – A Tall Bookcase
Kallax Ikea Hack – Step by Step Instructions
Step ONE – Dissemble the center of the Bookcase
Laying the bookcase on its side, we dissembled it & removed the center shelf & vertical sections we no longer wanted so that we could fit the TV in.
In order to support the top shelf without the vertical supports holding it up we had to figure out how to support the top shelf so that it wouldn’t sag in the middle.
Each vertical support has dowel holes up into the top of the bookcase.
Step TWO – Drilling holes to make the Kallax bookcase extra secure
In researching Kallax Ikea Hacks, I found that a lot of people were not sure if you can screw into Ikea kallax hacks.
The answer is yes, you can screw into Ikea kallax & it makes your kallax ikea hack much sturdier.
Using a small drill bit (large enough for our screws to screw in) we drilled up through the dowel holes through to the top of the bookcase.
This allowed us to screw 4 inch screws down through the top of the shelf and directly into the vertical supports of the top shelf.
This would secure those vertical supports to top support of the bookcase.
These screws won’t be visible so normal 4 inch drywall screws were used.
The shelf underneath the top vertical supports already had holes to allow the dowels to extend down to the next vertical support.
Step THREE – Adding 3″ Modified Screws for Extra Support
In order to support the top shelf we secured these to the vertical supports using 3 inch modified screws with incorporated washers.
This allowed the shelf to be securely fastened to the vertical support which is already securely attached the to top.
These screws will show but these chrome finished screws give off the appearance of a finished look.
Step FOUR – Adding the cut Dowels back
The wood shelf that we were going to put the TV on also had holes for dowels to go through to the next vertical support.
The dowels were important to keep going down into the lower vertical supports to keep them place.
We put the dowels back in and used a simple chisel to break the dowels at the top of the shelf.
This kept the lower vertical supports in place but allowed for a flat shelf for the TV.
However, this now gave a sort of ugly look to that shelf (holes and cut off dowels) so we wanted to finish that shelf off a bit nicer.
Step FIVE – Adding a Reclaimed Wood Top
For the beautiful wood top the TV would rest on, Jason cut up an old church pew we had previously in our dining room (you can see it here).
If you have been following along you would know that there had been some controversy over whether or not to keep this particular church pew & I lost the argument 🙂
However, Jason’s motto is to not let any good wood go to waste!!!
The reclaimed wood top we added for our Kallax Ikea Hack is 68 3/4inches wide by 17 inches deep and 2 inches tall in the front of the of the entertainment center and 1 inch thick on top.
Our New Kallax Ikea Hack Entertainment Center with a Wooden Top
He cut the pew to fit the shelf perfectly adding a lip over the front.
Lastly we stood the bookcase up & decorated our new Kallax ikea Hack wooden TV stand with many movies & Longaberger baskets.
We love how our new Kallax Ikea hack bookcase/ entertainment center takes up very little floor space while still holding a ton!
The kids did not waste any time taking advantage of our Kallax Ikea Hack TV Stand!!!
Our DIY Home Gym & Exercise Room is DONE! (see the full reveal here)
I hope this inspires you to change out your original Kallax bookcase into a fabulous Kallax Ikea Hack with a Wooden Top!
Don’t forget to pin & save our awesome Kallax Ikea Hack to your favorite DIY board on Pinterest!
by Tara Lehman
If you like my Kallax Ikea hack, you might like my Ikea Billy Bookcase Hack,
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Hello there! I love this modification to the Kallex unit!! Can you please share the dimensions of the wood top? Thank you!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our Kallax Ikea Hack Kelly! The wooden top we made for it is 68 3/4 inches wide by 17 inches deep by 2 inches tall in the front and 1 inch tall for the top.
Love this idea
Thanks Gladys! We love it too 🙂
Hi! This is awesome! Did you all secure the wood top by adding dowel holes underneath it? Thank you for sharing!
Thanks so much for stopping by to check out our Kallax Ikea hack Tabitha! We actually didn’t secure the top, we just slid it into place since the front of the wood top we chose had a lip.
This is awesome! Thanks so much for posting your process. I’m planning to do the same and use it as one half of a L-shaped desk. How has it held up?
How big height wise will this hack allow?
The Kallax bookcase is the same height as it was before we added the wood shelf.