How to remove the arms from your IKEA POÄNG armchair

remove poang arms

Remove the arms on POÄNG in 2 steps.

I liked to type on my laptop while sitting in my old POÄNG. While it was mostly very comfy, my elbows were constrained by the armrests. They had to go.

Buy POÄNG armchair | IKEA.com

Materials and Tools:

Remove the arms from IKEA POÄNG

Doing it
How to remove arms from IKEA POANG armchair

The arms happen to be the right shape for rear supports! Cut them just above the front seat supports and flip them over. Then, sand off the raw edges of the cuts, and screw them to the base.

How to remove arms from IKEA POANG armchair

Related: Triple POÄNG — the astonishing cat resistant sofa


Figure out where the screws should go on one side, then measure their position so you can put them in the same place on the other side. Use the pencil to mark where you want to drill/cut.

I screwed them from underneath with counter-sunk holes:

countersink screws
Is It Good?
How to remove arms from IKEA POANG armchair

The angle is slightly less reclined than the original, so it feels slightly more ‘alert’ to sit in. It’s lost its bounce, but I consider it worth it.

My arms are comfortable, my elbows can swing, I can even sit cross-legged if I feel like it.

Because it’s less reclined, the headrest cushion tends to fall forward. Some gaffer tape rolled into ‘double sided’ bits did the trick here:

How to remove arms from IKEA POANG armchair

And that’s how you remove the arms from the POÄNG armchair.

I call it a Rowang.

How to remove arms from IKEA POANG armchair

~ by Rowan, Australia


You may be interested in other POÄNG hacks

#1 Look ma! No headrest

I sawed the top off the POÄNG chair to shorten the back and eliminated the headrest cushion. See more.

#2 POÄNG gravity recliner

I have a bad back and this hacked POÄNG gravity recliner was to help relieve pressure on my spine. So far it works exactly as planned. I also plan to add a heated seat massager to really unwind after a long day. Enjoy!

#3 Armrest padding

I found the bent wood arms on the POÄNG chair too hard and IKEA still does not make padded armrests for the chair. Here’s how I padded them.