IKEA Kallax Bookcase Hack – How To Wrap Your Bookcase

September 2020

For our children’s playroom, we were looking for a practical and stylish way of storing toys and devices. This simple DIY hack turns a simple white IKEA bookcase / shelf unit into a stylish piece of furniture. It elevated the design and style of a traditional bookcase while adding some warmth and character.

We had two IKEA Kallax shelf units – smaller one at 30 3/8 x 30 3/8 and a larger unit at 30 3/8 x 57 7/8 – both were 15 3/8″ deep. If you don’t have an iKEA nearby, here and here are other cube options you can work with (but double check measurements below for wood cuts). Because this was the playroom, I selected a wood with character, affordability, and that was relatively easy to work with – Spruce #2 boards. It may take a little longer to select your boards, but it can be great to work with. I determined top and side boards based on the wall mount brackets being the top board.

The End Result – DIY IKEA Bookcase / Shelving Unit Hack

Project Options to Consider

Option #01: Can you live with a gap between the top and bottom boards and the wood wrap? If you can’t, you will need to remove a sliver off the end of each sideboard (4 cuts). The sideboards of the Kallax extend slightly beyond where the top and bottom boards connect. Honestly, I didn’t trust myself to not screw that up and also wanted to preserve the bookcase, which leads to Option #02.

Option #02: Do you want to preserve the bookcase if you remove the wood wrap? I wanted to have the option of removing the wrap at some point in the future. This does make the project slightly more challenging, but very doable. It will be easier to just glue your project to the bookcase.

Option #03: How thick should the wood wrap be? Some designs I’ve seen use 2 in. thick boards (instead of 1 in. as I show). This does provide some added bulk and provides a similar width to the IKEA bookcase. For that thicker look, remember to adjust the lengths of your top and bottom boards to span the extra width. Also, I’ve seen recommendations for pocket screws or some form of join if you use 2 in. boards- you don’t need to. Wood glue is going to hold your 1 in. and 2 in. boards together just fine for this type of application.

Parts and Cut List

Now that you’ve weighed the options, it’s time build! This is for 1 in. thick boards and not damaging the Kallax bookcase.

Wrapping Kallax | 4 cubes

  • 3 @ 1 in. x 6 in. x 12 feet
  • 6 @ 1 in. x 6 in. x 8 feet
  • 4 furniture legs of your choice – we used these

Cut List

  • 6 @ 31 7/8 | top boards
  • 6 @ 30 3/8 | side boards

Wrapping Kallax | 8 cubes

  • 3 @ 1 in. x 6 in. x 12 feet
  • 6 @ 1 in. x 6 in. x 8 feet
  • 4 furniture legs of your choice – we used these

Cut List

  • 6 @ 59 3/8 in. | top boards
  • 6 @ 30 3/8 | side boards
  • 2 @ 4 in | center brace

The top and bottom boards are longer because the actual width of this lumber is 3/4 in. and I wanted them to span the side boards. For ease, I cut these from 12-foot boards. If that’s hard for you to transport, adjust your cut plan based on lumber size.

TIP: Pick up an extra board or two or six because there’s always another project around the corner.

Construction and Assembly

Step #01: Determine overhang. The width of the Kallax is 15 3/8. Because this is a glue project, you’re likely going to need to square the sides of cut boards with your table saw or a planer. With square boards you’ll likely be about 16 in. You may want to trim a little more off the center boards.

Similar Stain | Similar Cubes | Same Legs

Step #02: Glue Boards together. You are going to make 4 sets of 3 boards. This will take some time depending on the number of clamp that you have.

Step #03: Sand and Plane Boards. Once your glue is dry, sand and plane those boards to bring out the woods natural beauty.

Step #04: Connect Panels. Because I didn’t want to damage the underlying bookcase, I connect the top board to the two side boards to make upside down U. I used my nail gun with 18 gauge nails at 1 in. spacing.

Step #05: Build Base with Legs. Nichole is the stylist: she found tapered mid-century modern furniture feet. They were easy to attach. I made a “jig” – drilled a whole in a piece of wood that was 2 in. from front and 3 in. from side and used it as a guide. The hanger bolt was 5/16 in. wide so my hole was 3/16 in. which allowed me to screw it in. I suggest you test on a scrap piece and adjust hole as needed. If you use 1 in. width wood you’ll have to cut the bolt down. I used a clamp and my sawsall with a bi-metal blade (couldn’t quite get the hacksaw, jigsaw, or angle grinder to work).

Step #06: Stain. Apply your wood conditioner, wait no more than 2 hours, and apply your first coat of stain. I applied stain only an inch into the underside as you’ll have some overhang. Repeat stain until desired darkness.

Step #07: Protect. Apply a poly coat to the stain. I applied a thin coat to the entire underside to protect it as well – even though it wasn’t stained. Once dry, wet fine grain sand and reapply poly. Two was enough for me on this project.

Step #08: Assemble the Bookcase. The entire project can be heavy so we carefully carried everything inside the house and assembled in place. I nailed from the underside as I wasn’t worried about filling those holes.

Similar Stain | Similar Cubes

Same Legs | Similar Stain | Similar Cubes

Tools for the Job

Let us know if you have any questions or need further encouragement to take on this design and build!

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