Look!: IKEA Hacked Itself!

There are two things we love here at AT: the affordable design of IKEA and the personal empowerment of DIY. Due to the low cost and decent construction, IKEA pieces are perfect for custom experimentation yet we usually we see these changes occur outside the store...until now! Jump down to read about IKEA's (successful) attempt at hacking itself...

We were struck by the sophistication of this piece on our weekend visit to Schaumburg's IKEA store. We recognized the design as part of the much-adored Malm line but we had no idea IKEA made a dressing island. Well...they don't but they did make it happen!

The IKEA stagers took two black-brown Malm 6-drawer chests and lined them up, back to back. As you can see from the photo, the line between the two is nearly seamless. To further mask the fact that this one piece comes from two, IKEA placed a large silver tray on the surface and mounted a simple towel rail on one side.

The best part of this IKEA hack is that the luxury of this stand-alone double-sided chest only costs a little over $300.

Comments (6)

Nice hack!

posted by delikatissen on October 6th 2008 at 6:45am
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Best part is that sooner or later that hack will find its way down to the as is section and you could buy it for maybe 75% off.

posted by KristinaXI on October 6th 2008 at 7:08am
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I agree... great idea, and something anyone (with the space) can do themselves.

posted by Eric D M on October 6th 2008 at 7:10am
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Actually, you see a lot of clever 'hacks' in Ikea showrooms. I walked through one day and saw a bulletin board created from the Ung Dril frame and two cork placemats. I've also seen the Gruntal toilet paper holders used as curtain tiebacks. And I've always thought the showroom trick of hanging curtains in front of mirrors would work well in a basement apartment. I think the employees might get bored on weekday mornings and come up with creative ideas for showrooms. Or maybe they have people come in who just put together the showroom layout. That would be a cool job.

posted by lurker2209 on October 6th 2008 at 7:54am
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there is an ikea team dedicated to designing room settings and the displays you see in store, and your right lurker, its a great job!

posted by elizabethy on October 6th 2008 at 12:53pm
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I've also seen Ikea do the same with Billy Bookshelves to make room dividers.

posted by Comicgeek on October 12th 2008 at 6:30pm
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