Elevated and concealed Besta media cabinet

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Materials: Besta TV-unit (180x40x32cm (70 7/8×15 3/4×12 5/8″)), Speaker fabric, MDF-board, Capita kitchen-legs, Inreda flip down fixture, magnetic lock, assorted screws, spray adhesive, staple gun, spray paint & angle brackets

Description: I wanted a media-unit that could fit and hide all my equipment but still let signals and sound through, and I found several hacks on this site which inspired me. I knew that I wanted to fit 2 front speakers, 1 center speaker, an amplifier/AV-receiver, PS3, assorted chargers, cables and several external hardrives into the unit, and the Besta unit simply couldn’t fit all of this without elevating the cabinet from the floor.

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I started with assembling the Besta unit, but not the feet the came in the package. In order to fit the amplifier and center speaker into the same unit, I had to buy new legs to fit the 16 cm (6.3″) tall amplifier underneath the shelfs. I got 8 Capita kitchen-legs from IKEA which is 17 cm (6.7″) tall, and screwed them into the shelf. This raised it 17 cm (6.69″) of the floor, and made the amplifier fit underneath perfectly.

To cover up the sides and create something to attach the front plate to, I took one of the shelves that came with the TV-unit and cut it in 2 pieces at 17 cm (6.7″), and attached them on both ends of the unit with angle brackets. I also cut a 3. piece which I attached next to the second leg from the left, to make it more stable.

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As you can see, the bottom plate at the side is a little shorter than the unit itself, but it didn’t really bother me.
I created the front plate out of a standard 16 mm MDF board which came as a 200×50 cm (79″x20″) board . I cut it to the right width, and cut out holes at both sides in the plate which allowed sound to pass through and a big hole in the middle which allows sound and IR signals at the bottom for the receiver to work. I left 6 cm (2.4″) around the edges and between the wholes to keep the structure of the board solid. I spray painted the board black just in case the speaker fabric would be too transparent. I then wrapped the front of the board in speaker fabric with spray adhesive and a staple gun.

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To mount the board to the cabinet, I used two Inreda flip down fixtures. I attached them to the plates I’d attached on the side. After I was satisfied with the alignment, I fitted another speaker fabric on the inside of the board to make it look nicer when it’s open, and prohibit light from the screen on the receiver to pass trough. I first stretched and fixed the fabric, and then cut it to the right size afterwards. The remote still works perfectly through the board.

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To make sure the plate would close properly I also screwed in a magnetic lock on the left side.

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The cabinet was originally 32 cm (12.6″) tall, and with the new legs at 17 cm, it ended up being 49 cm (19.3″) tall. The MDF board was 50 cm (19.7″)  when I bought it, so I decided to just keep it like that. I also cut the shelf on the right side to fit a speaker, and spray painted over where I cut

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I’m really satisfied with how it turned out, being my first IKEAhack, and it’s a cheap and easy solution if you want to hide all your media stuff!

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Total amount spent: 250 $
Hours spent: 10

Don’t hesitate to leave a comment to tell me what you think or if there’s anything I can help with!

~ Sebastian, Bergen, Norway