1 Hack, 2 ways: Learning center vs Vanity station

This might be a good option for parents setting up a learning center at home. If you are short on space, this setup is slim but still deep enough to be a good laptop desk. It also has ample shelving for books and stationery.

And if you have younger kids, set the desk on the second shelf (from the bottom) rather than the third.

Now if you have young children, you might want to use a bracket or two and anchor the shelf units to a wall.

My daughter also use it as a makeup vanity station.

Items Needed:
IKEA MOLGER shelf unit

MOLGER shelf unit | Buy on IKEA.com

Stair tread

Buy on HomeDepot.com

  • 2 pieces of 1 by 2’s that are 14 1/2 inches long
  • 6 wood screws
  • Drill / Screw Driver

Learning Center and Vanity Station hack

Assemble the MOLGER shelf units and place them where you want your learning center to be. The distance between the two shelf units should be slightly less than the length of the stair tread (48″).

Lay the stair tread between the two shelves.

learning station

Use three screws to attach each 1 x 2 wood batten to attach stair tread to shelves. Do this on both sides. You are done!  

Instead of the mirror, you can hang a pegboard like the SKÅDIS or a magnetic dry erase board. Since it is a DIY, you can customize it anyway you want. I just wanted to make a super simple project, that didn’t require a lot of tools or time for people.

learning center ikea hack

And this is how I style it for my daughter to use it as a vanity station.

makeup vanity ikea hack
makeup vanity ikea hack

It’s very easy but if you need it, here’s a quick assembly video.

See the complete tutorial here.

~ by Stacy Davis