Tall Cabinet with storage at head of table

We needed to add some extra storage space in the our living room and we were looking for a tall cabinet that would blend in.

The idea we came up with was to make a cabinet at the head of the table.

First, we thought to make the tall cabinet entirely from MDF.

But, we also wanted the wallpaper that we have in our kitchen to repeat somewhere in the living room.

Wallpaper on the side of a thin plate of MDF didn’t feel right and for that reason the side of the tall cabinet had to have a more “wall like” appearance.

Tall Cabinet with storage at head of table

Materials:

From IKEA:

  • BILLY bookcase
  • BILLY Height extension
  • 2 FAKTUM base cabinets 40cm wide
  • FAKTUM wall cabinet (40 x 92cm)

Other materials:

Tall Cabinet with storage at head of table

Tall Cabinet with storage at head of table


Related: 14 IKEA BILLY hacks to reinvent the iconic 40 year old bookcase


Finally, we came up with a solution for our tall cabinet

We stacked up 3 FAKTUM cabinets (for hidden storage) on one side and a BILLY bookcase with height extension (for books) on the other.

Both with their sides facing front and their backs to each other. Both BILLY and FAKTUM have a width of 40cm.

(Update: The FAKTUM is the old IKEA kitchen range. You can replace it with METOD kitchen cabinets at 40cm width.)

In front of the IKEA storage stack, we constructed a frame of wooden slats, which in turn was covered with plasterboard.

We used 36 mm slats and 12.5 mm plasterboard. This results in a “wall” of approx 5cm. After plastering the bumps we gave this “wall” a wallpaper finish.
Tall Cabinet with storage at head of table

Tall Cabinet with storage at head of table
Finally we mounted our monitor on the wall with a monitor arm that can fold back completely. This way we have a working space on the table that can easily be pushed aside or made into an interactive picture frame for a dinner with friends.

The only thing missing now is a nice colorful fake bird on the wall. A new table project will be next.

~ Roel, Netherlands