How To: Turn an Ikea Lack Shelf into a Media Console

It's time for this to come full circle. We first saw this clever Ikea hack (the alteration of an Ikea Lack unit into a sliding-doored media cabinet) on a NY Flickr Find: the apartment tour of Portland-based Artdsgnr, aka Matt. Then a similar hack appeared here on the SF blog, in Ryan's tour of his media room. Reader jp commented that instructions on how to make the cabinet had been posted on Ikea Hacker...

And when we visited Ikea Hacker we learned that Artdsgnr/Matt had been sent there (to share the details of how he did it) by an AT reader.

We're a little dizzy, but that makes no nevermind.

Here's Artdsgnr/Matt's slideshow and even better, his instructions.

Re-edited from a post which was originally published 02.13.07

Related Posts:
• House Tour: Matt's Cool and Concrete Dwelling

Comments (12)

Matt thank you for, by extension, inventively solving my media center problem!!!

posted by Rucy on 2007-02-13 12:41:03

i have been wanting to do this same hack to my Ivar for soooo long. but i don't have tools or know anyone with tools. how do you get someone to hack your Ikea things for you??

posted by aquarabbit on 2007-02-13 13:40:11

I am planning to go to the Paramas, NJ Ikea Saturday to pick up 2 of these but haven't been happy about the fact that they are open.

Now I know what to do. Thank you!

posted by Jackie (the original one) on 2007-02-13 14:38:18

I saw this on flickr awhile back - my version below. Great hack Matt!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21979009@N00/sets/72157594537398652/

posted by Kovacs on 2007-02-15 08:12:56

Hey Rucy and Jackie, glad to have helped!

Aquarabbit, you really only need a drill and screwdriver... probably can have the hardware store cut the channel to length for you? Sorry I'm not closer, I'd sure help!

Kovacs, nice job! I really like the legs on yours - has me thinking of a possible future change now...

posted by MattPDX on 2007-02-15 09:34:13

Legs link

http://www.kehardware.com/Table-legs/ABS-furniture-legs

posted by Kovacs on 2007-02-15 11:02:29

Ooh, I wonder if jp stands for jamie pup

posted by jp on 2007-02-15 16:35:50

great hack.

ikea does indeed have many great media center solutions... however, one problem i've found with most/all of them is that the "holes" are only 6in high, allowing only the most modest components (and considering amps run hot, you need even more space for ventilation).

this hack does one great thing in that it allows for taller components... sadly, you can only fit one-high, which means (if you have a receiver, DVD player, cablebox something has to sit on top (in this case, the turntable)...

i pine for the old ikea klevit (sp?) units which were sold in a beautiful gray-green with adjustable shelves that could accommodate "real" audio components -- and lots of them...

posted by redneckmodern on December 10th 2008 at 1:54pm
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Also those new, long one-piece speakers (forget what they are called.

posted by monarda on December 10th 2008 at 2:15pm
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OK I will play too, here is mine. Made with 2 Lacks.
http://www.plastolux.com/modern-credenza-ikea-hack.html

posted by plastolux on December 10th 2008 at 2:25pm
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Loved Matt's design when I first saw it; still do!
Loved Plastolux's "duplex" version of it when I first saw it; still do!
A really great creative turn for when the vertical usage no longer works for a setup.
(now if you'd only find some really great design for the Lack shelves, which I've sworn off for wall use after poor installation, i admit, and are collecting dust...)

posted by pammyfay on December 10th 2008 at 3:29pm
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awesome. i will need to give this a try. thank you!

posted by souk1501 on December 10th 2008 at 6:01pm
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