Ikea Furniture Hacks: DIY High End Credenza Sideboard using a Ikea Kallax

Hey family! 

Last year I was looking for a beautiful credenza to fit into my office makeover project. I looked high and low and the ones I fell in love with were well over $1000! I also had a white Ikea Kallax bookshelf that I was planning to get rid of, but honeyyyyy when I saw the prices of a credenza I started to wonder how I could upcycle my Ikea bookshelf into something that fit better into my new decor. So I took some inspiration from a few places.

Woodwork

We started off by prepping the plywood that we are transforming into doors for the front of the credenza. We got pieces of wood cut to the measurements of the bookshelf from the hardware store but we also had to make a few adjustments when we got home. So, we used our jigsaw to correct the measurements and then sanded the wood to smooth it out.

I got the idea for the door design from a high-end credenza that I saw a photo of online for $1300. It was so nice but also so expensive! I planned out the measurements for the door design that I thought would be appropriate to get a similar look. We made sure to cut all of our half moon trim pieces to scale and at a 45 degree angle where the trim pieces would meet.

I spaced the trim pieces two inches apart to get the look that I was going for. I secured the trim pieces with wood glue and I also went back in with wood filler to fill in any gaps so that it would be a smooth transition between pieces.

Painting

Now, onto the paint. I recommend doing very light sanding and using a primer that works on laminate furniture prior to painting. We actually wanted to paint this using our paint sprayer but it was giving us a lot of trouble that day so we decided to roll it instead which ended up being a lot faster. I fell IN LOVE with Pewter Green by Sherwin Williams and had to find a reason to use it, so this was it! We painted the feet, doors, and bookshelf all separately before putting it all together.

Hardware

Now, on to the hardware – I wanted some nice chunky oversized pulls to match the scale of the doors because these doors are pretty big.  I also added bun feet to this credenza because I thought that it would look a lot better if we just gave it a little elevation. Also, you can’t forget the door hinges! Lastly, we also added a thin piece of plywood and nailed it to the back in order to have a back for this piece of furniture. 

This is a part of our office series so stay tuned for more content on the decor and furnishings for our new two-person office. For the full video of how it turned out, you can watch it here: