This is one heck of an IKEA bed hack. Stefan made a storage bed. Correction: It’s a bed with massive storage, probably enough to fit my entire wardrobe.
It’s a fantastic DIY storage bed made of 2 MALM beds, 4 MALM chests of drawers, two nightstands, and one headboard.
It’s not the first time the MALM dressers were used as the base for a bed. We featured one for a single-bed hack some time ago, and it’s still a very popular IKEA bed hack.
First, he designed the IKEA MALM drawer bed hack in 3D, and this was his initial plan.
Then, he thought he’d need a headboard to fill up the whole bed frame. In the end, he replaced the headboard with two nightstands and used the headboard as the new “nightstand” for lamps, books, and so on.
Related: Another IKEA storage bed hack. See the tutorial.
He already had one MALM, three chests, and two nightstands and bought a second MALM bed — used — for less than 100€. Nice score!
MALM storage bed DIY
When he cut open the MALM boards, he was surprised. “This was a quite shocking finding. The boards are nearly hollow. Just a hexagonal cardboard structure glued together with thin fiberboard, and that’s the reason for the IKEA’s light-weight construction,” he says.
“I got stuck for some days, as I thought it would never be possible to work with such a material. But after some consideration, I got an idea how to workaround [the boards] for my storage bed.”
The hardest bit of the project was when he had to cut both (from both beds) footboards to remove the small elevations so the side struts would lay flush with the drawers when fixed together.
From then on, it’s a lot of careful cutting with a good circular saw, adding struts, and joining the pieces together. He makes it look easy, but it’s not a hack for the faint-hearted.
Related: IKEA MALM elevated storage bed with 18” of storage. See the tutorial.
Stefan has uploaded lots of photos and instructions to his Tumblr. Go take a look at his massive IKEA storage bed.
Or, take a look at this video for the short version of the IKEA MALM storage bed hack.
How do you make a storage bed with IKEA furniture?
KALLAX units: The KALLAX shelving units are one of the easiest ways to make storage beds. You can make a double bed or single bed just as easily. Use the 1×4 shelving units for a low bed and the 2×2 units for a high bed.
NORDLI drawers: The NORDLI is very similar to the MALM dresser. You can also configure the NORDLI drawers to make a 10-drawer platform bed.
SEKTION or METOD kitchen cabinets: The IKEA kitchen cabinets are also fantastic starting points for an IKEA DIY bed. The versatility of the cabinets means you can have many options – drawers, doors, pullouts, etc. See this IKEA hack bed tutorial for more ideas.
RAST chest: For a budget-friendly elevated storage bed, try the RAST chest of drawers. You’ll need three RAST dressers to form the long side of a bed. The RAST chest is made of solid unfinished pine wood, so you can stain or paint it easily to match your bedroom decor.
Looking for more IKEA bed hacks?
- IKEA loft bed hack: Make an SVARTA double loft bed
- An IKEA storage bed hack optimizes space in a Parisian apartment
- IKEA Platform Storage Bed Hacks – Easy DIY to store more
- How to Make an Upholstered Bed Frame on a Budget
- How to raise IKEA MALM bed
Jules is the author of IKEAHackers.net: 25 Biggest and Best Projects".
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