Today I wanted to share one of my favorite Ikea hacks: the Ikea Kallax shelf unit. I will show you how to transform the Kallax unit by adding doors and overlays. This shelf unit can work in so many places, you can use as a TV stand, as a buffet or in a playroom.

We use in our dinning room like a console table. It holds all the toys in the world and keeps everything out of sight. It’s also super easy to do it. All you will need is the Ikea Kallax shelf unit, the Ikea Kallax inserts with doors, overlays and hardware of your choice!

When Sophia started playing more and having so many toys, I was in desperate need of storage. I had some baskets where I would put her toys away every night, however, it was still in sight.



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I bought the Kallax Unit a while ago and used just the top part as my entry way table. The rest of the unit was in the garage and my husband wanted to throw away.

Since was still in really good shape I decided to give it a try and put the whole unit together. I took a trip to Ikea and bought 8 doors for the unit. I really like the look of the unit with the doors and I really love that I was able to hide all the toys away!!

If you love Ikea Hacks and decorating on a budget don’t forget to check out my Ikea Malm Dresser Hack, the Ikea Vittsjo Coffee Table Hack and the Ikea Farlov Sofa Review for more ideas!

Ikea Kallax Hack Before:





Ikea Kallax After: Adding Doors and Overlays

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1. Ikea Kallax Hack: Adding Overlays

Overalys are decorative panels for furniture, you can use it to adorn many types of furniture and they have a specific line for Ikea furniture!

I choose the Greek keys (4 total for the unit above) design and just used glue dots to add to the doors (if you are doing the overlays, make sure that you add it before installing the doors, I had to remove the doors to add the overlays).

It was super easy and it definitely gives the unit a more expensive look!

2. Add the Ikea Kallax Inserts

You will need 6 Ikea Kallax inserts with doors. They are basically a little cube made specifically for the Ikea Kallax shelves with doors. The doors are already pre drilled for the hardware.

Attach the inserts to the Kallax unit according to instructions. Pay attention to the direction that the door will open and location of the knobs to ensure that they are aligned per the picture above (the knobs should meet in the middle).



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3. Add knobs

Lastly, I really wanted to add a little more glam to the unit and make it look less Ikea-ish. I added these gold ring knobs that I had from a previous project, they fit perfectly and added that gold touch that I love.



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Total Cost:

Update

Not a toy in sight!!

Since this is still one of my popular posts, I wanted to share a couple more pictures of the Ikea Kallax hack and how I use it in my new home.

Use baskets to organize the toys in the Ikea Kallax shelves.

Also, this unit is holding up extremely well, even after being moved around two times and with two crazy toddlers that bang the doors all day long! Feel free to ask me questions in the comments!



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Ikea Kallax with overlays and gold hardware

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I hope you enjoy this hack as much as I do and don’t forget to check out my other Ikea Hack the Malm Dresser Hack!

With Love,

Ceres



Ikea Kallax Hack | Ikea Vittsjo Table Hack | Ikea Malm Dresser Hack