Yay for the easiest and cheapest way to make custom doors for the BESTÅ.
I just moved and have a bit more space, and FINALLY the opportunity to have some striking furniture! I fell in love with this gorgeous credenza from CB2.
Source: Issa, CB2
But since it costs CAD2000, it was far outside my budget.
So I decided to follow the ancient tradition of IKEA hacking, and got to work researching how I could recreate that piece.
I considered ways of creating the panels myself, but as luck would have it, I learned that these inexpensive lightweight plastic wall panels (originally used as wall coverings) exist and are perfectly suited to this project.
So that was that!
The process took about an hour from start to finish, and was extremely satisfying to complete.
IKEA items used:
- BESTÅ Storage combination with doors, Lappviken
Other materials and tools:
- 12 x Ekena Millwork Decorative 3D wall panels from Home Depot
- Double-sided adhesive
DIY BESTÅ custom doors
Step 1:
Put together your BESTÅ according to the instructions. It already looks great! But there’s so much opportunity to make it look unique, so let’s get going.
Step 2:
Apply double-sided adhesive to at least two sides of each wall panel to ensure that they stay in place.
I first tried attaching these panels using small squares of foam double-sided adhesive in each corner, but later that day the panels fell off, so I switched to double-sided tape and used a lot more of it.
Now they feel extremely secure, but as an extra bonus, I could still remove them if I want to change up the look later on. Hot tip, these panels are also paintable, if you want something other than flat white.
Step 3:
Place the panels on the doors in a 2×2 grid. They fit almost perfectly on standard Lappviken doors, you only need to overlap them in the centre vertical line of your 2×2 grid.
So on each door, in each row of panels, the left and right panel are overlapping by about 5mm.
The reason DIY BESTÅ custom doors hack is so easy is that:
a) the panels fit almost exactly, with no modification required, and
b) any small errors in lining everything up are hidden quite well.
Step 4:
You’re done! For me that entire process took about an hour. Step back and revel in the gorgeous piece you have now finished! It looks amazing.
What was the hardest part?
The hardest part was probably lining up the panels across each door (because as we all know, the doors may not be perfectly aligned themselves), and even that was a breeze.
As I said earlier, these panels are very forgiving overall, they hide a lot of small errors. So no need to worry too much! This hack is so quick and inexpensive, and looks so fabulous, it totally undermines that design cliche: “Good / Cheap / Fast — Pick Two” 😉
What was the cost?
In CAD, my total was $409 with tax. MUUUUCH more affordable than the CB2 Issa, and generally captures the same feel.
Now, the caveats — Issa (from CB2) is so classy. That wood detailing, swoon!
You may have noticed that Issa’s panels go right to the floor, and she has panels on the side as well — I decided to omit those, mostly because the depth of BESTÅ is greater than one panel, so I would have had to improvise something or figure out how to cut the panels, and in the end I decided it wasn’t an essential part of the gorgeous architectural punch this Bested BESTÅ adds to the room.
And also, because BESTÅ doors are not square, there is about an inch of space along the bottom edge of each door which is not covered by a panel.
I thought that was going to bother me a lot — these sorts of inconsistencies usually do — but when I stepped back I was surprised to discover I didn’t really notice it much at all, so I decided not to worry about it.
Maybe that particular style of leg or distance from the floor helps hide it? Who knows. Anyway I think this is a pretty fabulous transformation as is.
What do you like most about the hack?
My favourite part of this hack is just how quickly it all came together, and how impressive it looks. It really catches the eye without distracting too much from the other elements in the room. It’s like a great friend, who really GETS you and has just the right thing to say, that makes you feel fantastic 😉
Actually maybe the best part is that it is so customizable — you probably already knew this, but I was delighted — just look at all the different wall panels you can buy if pyramid studs aren’t for you.
In fact, maybe something like this, with a smaller pattern, would give you the flexibility to fix some of those caveats above.
There are basically infinite possibilities. Good luck!
See my BESTÅ custom doors on Instagram.
~ by Mare S.