An Ikea Hack with Besta TV Units

The day was sunny, and unbearably hot.

The Boss was young, cute, extremely chatty and somewhat demanding

Her Mommy was an amazing cook.

The job was an Ikea hack.

This is our story.

My niece who will be referred to as Mommy from here on out, was

 looking for a built-in bench to put along her blank wall.

After a month long search for BUDGET FRIENDLY, over the fridge cupboard units, the Boss and her mommy, came across a sale on Besta TV units from Ikea.  The measurements were pretty close to the size we needed with a slight modification (cutting the whole center unit down.)

After hours of measuring, a few nappy changes,

and deciding on the perfect layout,

..................................................

 us minions went to work while you guessed it, 

the Boss went to her office for some number crunching.

We built a frame for the three units which would raise them up to chair height. 

And nobody chopped their fingers off!! 

There really was three units but all the pics seem to show two. 

The Technical (Read if you are really bored))

To modify the center unit, I cut approx. 1 1/2 inches off the top, bottom and back piece. 

 The side was joined to the cut pieces  using regular deck screws secured to the solid wood.

  It would have been a lot more work if the end of the unit was visible, but luckily for us,

 it tucked in neatly between the two larger units so the unfinished side was no problem.

This whole bench unit can be easily removed with only a few screw holes to fill so

instead of rewiring the outlet, we decided to just drill a hole through the modified cupboard, add a desk grommet and a power bar.    

 Perfect for hooking up a few glue guns for those crafting parties.

1/2 inch shim material was used so we wouldn't have to cut down the baseboard which we salvaged from the wall.

The units were secured to the base and to each other

A two by four was placed on the back wall (not shown). 

 This supports the back edge of the plywood.

Baseboard and plywood installed!  Voila!

We had to wait for the boss's approval which consisted of a quick monster battle on the carpet and then a drink at the Mommy Bar (not shown)

Yep, Boss approved!

Stay tuned for part two.

A door, some paint and stain!

Cheers.