MALM marries ALSARP

Materials: 1 x MALM super king size bed; 2 x ALSARP single size; usual tools; 2 piece of wide elastic band or strong ribbonde

Description: This is not my idea (I read about it here and was featured on Ikeahackers here), and it has been done before, but it is so useful and relatively easy that I thought I'd share.

We've had a MALM super king size (UK size) for a few years and I have always been frustrated that I can't use the large amount of space under it for storage since it's too low for any drawers/boxes etc. So when I came across the idea, I work ed to find out if it would fit a superking size bed too (it had been done for smaller sizes only).

MALM super king measures W180cm x L200cm; two single ALSARP will work just nicely for it (each measures W90cm x L200cm). They fit perfectly into the MALM frame - snugly enough so it looks very tidy and the mattress rests on the two ALSARP very nicely.

My mattress (not IKEA) is huge of course and quite heavy, but it seems the 'hydraulic' mechanism of ALSARP takes it quite well. It is a bit heavy to lift, but not uncomfortably so. I simply will not store stuff that I need every day.

Once the two ALSARP are assembled according to instructions, including the covers(very straightforward in my view), they need to be slotted into the MALM, which is literally the only bit of the process ta take some effort.

I have used some strong and wide elastic band from the haberdasher's around to connect the two set of slats, so they go up and down together. One still needs to lift from both handles and take care to lift quite evenly, but the elastic band will prevent one set of slats from dropping down on its own and potentially tip the mattress over to the side.

The bed becomes a bit higher than is was originally but it looks essentially like a normal bed, since the MALM is so low to start with. The ALSAPR sits perfectly flush with the top of the MALM frame so nothing can be seen of it even when if you like to tuck the duvet under the mattress.

I am delighted, this solution gives me oodles of storage and you can reach quite easily all the way top under the lifted slats so there's no wasted space.

I built it all on my own in one afternoon while my husband is away. It was absolutely fine. The only stage where it would have been a lot easier to have two people on the job was to lift the second ALSARP into the MALM frame; there's no wriggle room, so it needs to go in straight, but I eventually managed that on my own too.

Please note the the bottom of the ALSARP will scratch the MALM frame, so if you need to rest the ALSAPR on it while you manoeuvre to place it in, put a towel or something on the frame to protect it (it's very delicate).

Highly recommended solution to gain LOTS of storage and keep your beautiful, comfy MALM bed.

~ Laura, London

Bedroom malm nightstand and Pax TV stand hack

Materials: Malm, Pax, l-brackets, plumbing straps

Description: My husband and I purchased a 1960's split level that has relatively little closet space and small bedrooms. In the "master" bedroom, we used two Malm nightstands that we already owned, took them apart and mounted the drawers to the wall as bedside stands.

After taking the Malms apart, I nailed plumbing straps to the undersides to keep the unit from falling apart, then attached the top to the wall using L-brackets and mollies.

On the other side of the room, we need clothes storage and a place for our TV. We used two PAX units we already had, then purchased another birch PAX frame. We previously had a interior desk fitting for a Pax unit which they no longer make. Using some materials from that old unit, we made the new PAX unit an entertainment area (TV, DVD, etc).

Ikea also sold a smaller Nexus door that fit the bottom of the new unit. Then we used the SKUBB boxes as hampers. This entire unit isn't really a hack - but Ikea doesn't seem to offer the Pax units that do "double duty" as clothes storage and entertainment units. In our small space, it was necessary to really try to maximize the space to best suit our needs.

Ikea products used in bedroom: PAX wardrobes, NEXUS doors, KOMPLEMENT interior fittings, MALM nightstands, and various Ikea items they no longer offer.

~ K Lonnstrom

From Malm to Marvellous

Materials: Malm Dresser, paint, sand paper, hardware

Description: Here is my dresser that was published on Design*Sponge.

See more of the marvellous Malm.

~ Josue, San Francisco

Malm Changing Table

Materials: Malm dresser, wood boards, screws and glue

Description: Malm dresser can be used as a standard changing table and later as a normal chest. With 1m a perfect height to work (baby wrap) and with extra high side panels.

Malm with increased support for standard changing pads. (75 x 85 cm)

Both sides and head are connected with the board back

The cultivation is screwed on an angle on the rear wall of the chest no holes or screws on the top

On the sides, the Ikea trash and Ikea washing basin are appended. (I do not know the name)

If a station is no longer required, the additional bearing surface can be unscrewed easily.

~ Jens, Germany

TORSBY and MALM customization

Materials: TORSBY, spray paint

Description: Very simple hack, just did the Torsby without the legs, so it would be the same height as the bed and painted the yellow strips.

The Malm has been personalised with Liberty fabric.

Take a tour of Julia's droolworthy home.

~ Julia, London, UK

Light in Malm bed

Materials: Malm king size bed, 2 lamps (as normally used in kitchens), screws, wire and switch

Description: We had a baby and since we have to feed him at night we decided some "soft lighting" was needed in the bedroom. The idea was to install 2 lamps, as the ones normally used in kitchens under the bed structure with 2 screws per lamp. The wires go to a switch screwed in the back of the bed. The light reflects in the floor and provides enough light to feed, change diapers and so, without "blinding" none of the people in the bedroom!

~ Pedro Farinha, Aveiro, Portugal

Coffee table advance

Materials: Malm Storage Unit, Galant Monitor Stand

Description: Only a little hack ;)

The Malm Storage Unit is perfect to hide things like the TV guides, bottle opener, the reserve of sweets, ... but they are not big enough for a coffee table. So I have expanded it with a Galant Monitor Stand and 3 short table-legs. To stop the stand from slipping I used double-sided adhesive tape (the black under the table-legs).

~ Ingo, Cologne, Germany

Bohemian south asian inspired MALM dressers

Materials: MALM dresser or side table (any size or configuration), light weight sari fabric or light weight fabric of your choice, decoupage glue, medium sized foam paint roller, scirrors for trimming fabric, exacto knife for trimming fabric, rubbing alcohol and lint free rag for prep, matte sealer

Description: I decided to redo the decor of our bedroom to bring the tastes of my girlfriend and style to reality. Since we rent, we're hesitant to paint the walls. To bring some color and life into our bedroom.

I decided to use texture and color on our funiture and fabrics so that we wont have to worry about repainting when we move out. I started with two six drawer MALM units in dark brown that we purchased about a year ago. I used the alcohol to remove any dirt and excess oils from the front of the drawers.

After the drawers are completely dry apply a medium coat of decoupage to the front of the drawers. After, apply a piece of fabric roughly trimmed to the size of the of the drawer that your going to cover. Gently smooth of out any air bubbles and allow fabric to dry for atleast 30 minutes.

Apply at least 3 to 4 additional coats of decoupage letting each coat dry appropriately. After the 4th coat, use the exacto knife to trim the excess fabric from around the edges of the drawers. I covered every other drawer at a time to make things easier when applying the fabric. After all of the drawers are covered and trim of excess fabric apply a few coats of matte sealer to the drawer fronts to help make them durable.

~ Lenon, Houston, Texas, USA

Malm Toddler Bed under Malm-inspired Bunk

Materials: Malm Bed and Dresser

Description: After being inspired by so many cool projects on this website, hoping my daughter would sleep in her own room, and deciding I didn't want to pay $2500 for kids' bunk beds I came up with a design to use used Malm items to make my kids a new bedroom set.

This was a combination of three easy hacks and one harder one requiring actual building. I got two used Malm beds, and a used Malm dresser. I used the two headboards from the beds to make my toddler's bed- simply replacing the footboard with the second headboard, so she couldn't scoot off the bottom of the bed and under the bunk by accident. I used the rails and slats from the second bed on the upper bed that I built to match the Malm beds- the headboard, footboard, and stair wall are 2" thick, and the headboard is the same height above the mattress as the Malm headboard. To fit in my space the upper bunk is narrower than Malm - only 41", and the upper bed is longer than Malm -77" so that I could fit both the Malm bed and Malm dresser underneath.

The stairs are drawers - inspired by Berg furniture for kids, but I also thought about using a modified Trofast stair system. I wanted the furniture to match existing paint, and using recomendations from this site to use special primer and extra long screws, I painted all pieces bright white, and attached knobs to the Malm dresser.

~ Ellen Farrow, Los Gatos, CA

High Desk from IKEA Bed Frames

Materials: Malm

Description: Every time I poke around IKEA's clearance area ('As Is' area) I encounter a broken bed frame from the MALM/HOPEN lines, which rely on torsion boxes for strength.

I picked up a few dozen of these torsion box bed-frame members on a whim and didn't know what to do with them for a long time. Recently I encountered Pottery Barn's amazing high desk (their Bedford line high desk) and a 20-watt light bulb went off.

The torsion boxes are excellent table top surfaces because they are perfectly flat, super strong, and light weight. All I needed were 'legs'. Why not create bookshelves for my legs and enjoy the 'high life' using a bar stool.

Steps to completion:

1. Measure torsion boxes you want to use. Especially the exact location of the dowel holes in the bottom of the torsion boxes.
2. I used Sketchup to visualize/create/dimension the entire desk, then laid out the parts in Sketchup and printed their dimensions.
3. I routed dadoes in the plywood, then cut out the plywood parts.
4. Glue the plywood boxes together and drill the dowel holes exactly where they will meet the torsion box dowels. Use a 7/16" drill bit here.
5. The only modification to the torsion boxes is to drill out the dowel holes to 7/16" - it is next to impossible to find metric wooden dowels here in America (note to self: grab as many as possible during next IKEA visit). I think the dowels are 11mm from the factory. Good luck finding 11mm dowels.
6. Time for face frames. Cut out the face frame pieces. You will need a lot of face frame pieces because you must build face frames on both sides of each box. A pain in the butt but whatever.
7. Nail-gun time: nail the face frame pieces to the plywood boxes. This has to be pretty close to perfect because the human eye can/will catch errors.
8. After the face frames are attached, stain/paint your boxes.
9. Add adjustable feet to the bottom of your new bookcase 'legs'.
10. Insert dowels and line up everything to create the desk.

The exercise was fun and now I have two fewer torsion boxes clogging my basement.

See more of Pete's high desk.

~ Pete Kuhns, Indiana, USA

Chest of drawers to a bed

Materials: 4 drawer Malm x 2 and a saw

Description:
Moved house and needed a new single bed.
Removed the draws measured 20" from the top down to the base of the second front cross piece.

Mark and saw in half....same again to the second set of draws.

Screw them all together make a new top (making the bed base) for the lower halves add an 8" by 37" shelf to the bottom replace the draws and you have lots of storage and a single bed base new mattress = a comfy single bed.

We will use the remaining draw fronts to make open shelves in the same bedroom.
All will be primed and painted white.

See more of Suz's Malm dresser bed.

~ Suz, Shropshire UK

Malm Dresser Up-Do

Materials: Malm 6 Drawer Dresser, chair rail molding, drawer handles, claw feet,

Description: I started with a black/brown Malm 6 drawer dresser.

Knowing I wanted to lift it off the ground with these claw feet, I needed to re-enforce the structure so the particle board wouldn't shatter. Using 2" x 2" "furring strips" from home depot. I made a frame out of the furring strips that I screwed into the inside lining of the bottom of the dresser.

Next, lift the dresser and put the feet under it. Line up the feet, and drive 3" construction screws through the furring strip frame and down into the feet.

Next, screw a 1" thick, 3" wide strip of wood to the front of the dresser just below the bottom drawer- this way you'll have a flat front to the dresser.

Using chair rail molding, make frames for the drawers, I just used a miter box to make the 45 degree cuts.

Sand, Prime, and Paint the dresser. Then glue or screw on the molding frames you made to the front of the drawers. Add drawer pulls/handles if you like!

~ Alex P, Atlanta, Ga

Queen-size MALM Murphy Hack

Materials: Queen size IKEA MALM bed, 1 8x4 sheet of wood, nails, hammer, 2 70 lb bags concrete, gate hinges, fishing line

Description:
1. Secure the bed slats on the MALM bed with fishing line.

2. Chop off the legs.

3. Build a box to put concrete (for counterweight) and attach hinges and bed to.

4. Attach bed to hinges and box.

5. Cut out 2 opposing side legs that correspond to the height of the hinge that the bed is attached to.

6. Attach new legs to hinges.

Optional:
7. Calculate the spring constant, k, of the gate springs.

8. Pick optimal spot to attach gate spring to bed and weighting box using spring constant. Warning: most of the bed frame is actually hallow. I recommend using the edge of the legs.

~ Clay Woolam, San Fransisco