I turned regular IKEA drawers into the perfect kids’ furniture.

Here’s how…

I know nothing about DIY.

I mean, *nothing*.

But with a few basic tools and a bit of ingenuity I managed to turn a boring IKEA MALM chest of drawers into the perfect piece of furniture for any kid who loves Lego.

This is the recipe:

Ingredients:

☑ IKEA MALM chest of drawers
☑ 10 Lego Duplo 4x1 bricks, mixed colours
☑ 10 M6 Easyfix Connecting Nuts (30mm long)
☑ 10 M6 x 30mm bolts with counter-sunk head

Tools:

☑ Metal ruler with a flat end
☑ Pencil
☑ Permanent marker pen
☑ Hammer
☑ Drill
☑ 5.5mm drill bit
☑ Eraser
☑ Cross-head screwdriver
☑ Masking tape

Method:

1. Build your IKEA chest of drawers.
2. Use the permanent marker to make a line 15mm, halfway, along your connecting nuts.
3. Hammer the connecting nuts into the central hole on the underside of each of your Duplo bricks, as far as the line you’ve just made. They should fit very snugly — be careful you don’t break the brick. Use your ruler to make sure they are all sticking out the same amount (15mm).
4. Use your ruler and pencil to measure and mark a cross 100mm from the top of each drawer and 198mm from the outside edge. This will ensure the handles are in the centre of the smaller drawers, and in the vertical centre of all the drawers.
5. Put masking tape over the cross to make sure you don’t damage the laminate on the front of the drawers.
6. Carefully drill a hole at the mark of each cross. You can leave the drawers in place for this — the chest holds them nice and still.
7. Remove the masking tape and use an eraser to rub out any remaining pencil marks.
8. You might find the laminate has been slightly damaged on the inside of the drawers. Don’t worry too much about this — the screw heads will cover this up. For now, use your screwdriver to poke any flaked laminate into the hole you’ve just drilled.
9. Screw your bolt into the hole, from the inside out. This will be quite difficult — the hole is a tiny bit smaller than the bolt, which means the bolt will thread against the MDF as you screw making it extra-secure.
10. Once the bolt is poking out of the hole, thread your connecting nut/Duplo combo onto it. Keep on screwing until the head is flush against the inside of the drawer and the handle is screwed tight against the outside of the drawer.
11. Vacuum up the sawdust from your drilling, fill the drawers with clothes — then stand back and admire your work.
12. Let your kid back into their bedroom and appreciate their reaction: