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Before & After: Bet You Can’t Guess What This IKEA MALM Was Converted Into

Gregory Han
Gregory Han
A Los Angeles native, Gregory’s interests fall upon the relationship between design, nature, and technology. His resume includes art director, toy designer, and design writer. Co-author of Poketo's "Creative Spaces: People, Homes, and Studios to Inspire", you can find him regularly at Design Milk and the New York Times Wirecutter. Gregory lives with his wife Emily and their two cats—Eames and Eero—in Mt. Washington, California, curiously investigating the entomological and mycological.
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updated May 5, 2019
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

The IKEA MALM is amongst the most popular of the Swedish retailer’s line of home furnishings, ubiquitous for the series’ simple lines and wallet-friendly price. In other words, perfect for anyone with a little ingenuity, wood-working tools, and plans for a DIY transformation. Can you guess what this common IKEA chest of drawers was converted into?

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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

This DIY project executed by franchy36 was inspired by what was once a common sight back in the days before Playstations and Xboxes killed the arcade (I didn’t mention the Big N because Street Fighter II kept arcades open back in the days of SNES): the cocktail bar, head-to-head coin-up machine.

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At one time it seemed like every shady bar, cigarette reeking lounge, and bowling alley had at least one of these machines.

Do kids even remember these things? Well apparently franchy36 did, because his project is a sweet DIY ode to those wonderful sit down machines where many of hours were spent inserting countless quarters for versus bouts of Galaga, Dig-Dug, or Ms. Pac-Man.

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“Original table arcade, I wanted to take this concept and make it modern while at the same time preserving the classic elements, metal legs, dark wood frame, smoked glass, controls tucked away on the sides.” (Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
This is my version of a cocktail style arcade based of an IKEA Malm chest drawer, everything is build inside the top drawer so the bottom one still usable for storage, I added some legs as well to bring it the controls higher. The control slides out, just like a drawer and when you close the lid and power it off is just a piece of furniture, the only thing that gives it away it’s the power cable in the back.

Check out many more photos of the IKEA MALM Cocktail Table Arcade project here.

(Images: franchy36)