Hello Friends. I hope you are well today and ready for our Ikea hack for Rustic Cube Shelves!
Last year we moved our son down to the basement and when we did we needed to give him some additional storage options.
Only we didn’t have time to build something from scratch. So we customized the Ikea Kallax shelves instead!
They’re currently down there, but the room isn’t finished so you’ll have to wait to see them in the space they were designed for.
Table of Contents
Rustic Cube Shelves Supplies
- Ikea Kallax shelving unit, 16 1/2 by 57 7/8 inches, 1
- One-by-fours, knotty pine, 6 feet long, 5
- 3-inch on center cabinet handles, 4
- 1 1/2-inch narrow fixed pin hinges, 8
- Magnetic catches, 4
- Wood glue or adhesive
- 1 1/4-inch brad nails, 128
- Table saw
- Miter saw
- Brad nailer
- Drill and drill bits
- Measuring tape
- Sander and sandpaper
- Hammer and other items for distressing wood
- Dark walnut stain
- Foam brush
- Lint-free rag
- Oil rubbed bronze spray paint (if necessary)
Instructions
Step 1: Assemble the Shelving Unit
Assemble the Ikea Kallax shelving unit, following the directions in the box. Set aside.
Step 2: Cut the Door Materials
Measure and cut 16 pieces of one-by-four knotty pine boards to 13 1/16 inches long. (These will make up the door fronts.)
Rip enough (not quite 1 inch) off of four of the door front pieces to create four 1-by-3-by-13 1/16-inch pieces.
Measure and cut an additional eight pieces of one-by-fours to 13 1/16 inches long. (These will be used to fasten the door pieces together.)
Step 3: Assemble the Doors
Lay out three of the 13 1/16 inch pieces from the one-by-four and one 1-by-3-by 13 1/16-inch piece. This will be the front of one door.
Apply glue to two pieces of 13 1/16 inch one-by-four and adhere to door front, lining up the edges and pressing down to affix. See photos.
Using the brad nailer, also nail it in place.
Brad nail frame in place as well.
Repeat for all four doors, alternating the placement of the smaller board (1 by 3 by 13 1/16 inches) for a more rustic, reclaimed look.
Step 4: Distress the Doors
Using a hammer and screwdriver, distress the door fronts by banging tools onto the wood at all angles. Distress the doors as much or as little as desired.
Sand the edges and fronts of the doors to remove any rough patches.
Apply stain to the doors using the foam brush, making sure the stain sinks into all the dents and grooves. Let it sit for five to 10 minutes. Wipe off the excess stain with a clean, lint-free cloth. Let them all dry fully before moving onto the next step.
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to stain wood, check out this post.
Step 5: Add the Handles and Hinges
After the stain on the wood doors is finished drying, decide which way you want your doors to go (vertically or horizontally). Then, on the front of each door, place a pencil mark at 5 inches and 8 inches from the top of the door. Drill holes for the handle screws.
Drill 1-inch deep clearance holes in back for the screw heads to fit. Be careful not to drill through to the front of the doors. Add the handles to each door.
Spray paint the hinges if necessary (it was for me as I couldn’t find black or oil-rubbed bronze hinges in the size and style I needed).
Locate one hinge 2 inches from the top and one hinge 2 inches from the bottom of each door on the side opposite the handle. Using screws that came with the hinges, attach the hinges to the doors.
Step 6: Attach the Doors to the Shelving Unit
Place the doors into the shelf openings and mark holes for the hinge screws with a pencil. Drill pilot holes (size appropriate for hinge screws) in the shelving unit and the doors. Attach the doors to the shelving unit by screwing the hinges into place.
Add the magnetic catches as door stops inside the shelving unit.
Finishing Touches
You can customize the cube shelf further by adding hair-pin legs, rigid or swivel casters or some sort of backing to the shelf, such as tread plate or wood planking.
Have you ever hacked an Ikea piece? What’s your favorite Ikea hack?
This project designed and executed by Dean and Shannon Acheson, Home Made Lovely. This post first appeared on ehow.
Gorgeous! After so many years of the open shelf concept, I’m really loving doors again!
Whoa! Slow down…lol. We still love open shelving, but there’s definitely a place for closed storage. Like our teen son’s room. 🙂
Oh my goodness!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
Thanks Kristi!
Love this project, Shannon! No one could ever guess that this was an Ikea Cube Shelf to begin with. Now it looks like an expensive cupboard.
Thanks, Jamie. xo
Love!
Love these!!
Love this. I mean really love this. WOW
Thank you!
Ok – I’m off to check out your eHow tute.
Can’t wait to see how easy it is.
<3
Pia
Wow these rustic cube shelves are beautiful! I would love to try this in our home! Thank you for the inspiration. 🙂
Great job on the cube shelving unit, but I really like the color the china cabinet is painted. Could you please tell me what you used? Thank you.
The color is Grey Tweed.
You can find the post here: http://akadesign.ca/painting-furniture-with-latex-paint-grey-tweed-hutch/
Hi. I love this project. Could i use one image from this post with a link back for an ikea round up im doing on my blog http://WWW.GRILLO-DESIGNS.COM please? Thanks
Sure. 🙂
For some reason I cannot see any pictures. ?
I’m sorry. I’m not sure why?
Love this look and I’m wanting to do something similar to a shelf I have. But I’m curious, with the IKEA shelf being particle board have you had any problems with the screws in the hinges stripping out from the shelf?
Hi Shea! Nope, not a problem at all with ours. 🙂
Thank you so much for this hack. I would love to know what brand and shade of stain you used. It’s gorgeous!
Hi there, Naomi! It is Minwax Dark Walnut! 🙂
I’m a little confused by the size of the door, For the door size, your instructions say to cut and use 3 one by four and 1 three by four that are 13 1/16 inches long. Adding up these boards would result in 15 inch by 3 1/16 inch and the shelves are cubes with the same height and width. Am i missing something ?
Yes – 1x3s and 1x4s are not actually that size!
a 1×3 actually only measures 3/4 x 2 1/2 inches
a 1×4 actually only measures 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches
So the 3 1x4s plus the 1 1×3 actually equals approximately 13 inches wide.