I’m a firm believer in high-low design; a good balance of splurges and saves. And when it comes to the saves, there’s always an IKEA hack for that. When I took part in the One Room Challenge last year to redesign our office, we knew a shelf that pulled double duty for storage and style was in order. When I came across Studio McGee‘s solution, I was SO surprised (and delighted) to see that their shelving was from IKEA! They simply fancied the drawers up with beautiful hardware, genius. You’d never guess it was only a couple hundred bucks. It’s the perfect shelf for an at-home office and you can even add more drawers if you wish. Although this is a super simple hack, I wanted to share the details for how we did ours and give you a peek into our workspace!
(Braided Jute Rug from eSaleRugs)
- FJÄLKINGE Shelf Unit with Drawers
- (2) Amerock 12-5/8″ Center-to-Center Golden Champagne Bar Pull or hardware of choice
- Measuring Tape
- Phillips Screwdriver
- Drill Gun
- White nail polish (if your drilled holes chip the particle board)
1. Begin by measuring out your hardware for center alignment on your drawer fronts. If you go with the same style and length I did, you’ll want to measure about 15.5″ in from either side and 3.5″ from the top and bottom. This is where you’ll drill your holes.
2. You’ll want to use a drill bit that is just slightly larger than the screws your hardware comes with. The shelving and drawers are very well built, but the drawer fronts are made of particle board, so you may experience minimal chipping around the drilled holes. I simply touched mine up with a bit of white nail polish.
3. Assemble and place your drawers on their tracks before you attach hardware. Building the drawers requires you to lay the drawer front flat on it’s front so it would be difficult to build with the hardware attached.
4. Pop them on and voila! You’ve got fancy pants shelves for a couple hundred bucks. You could add knobs, t pulls, card file pulls, cup pulls, double bars instead of one long one… whatever you like and fits the vibe of your space.
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