Hemnes Entryway Hack

image

Materials: Hemnes Bookcase, Hemnes Bridging Shelf, Hemnes TV Bench

Based on some other Ikea hacks, we used a Hemnes TV bench, bookcase, and bridging shelf to create an awesome entryway for our house.

Steps:
1. Cut, sand, and stain a piece of pine to make the top of the bench. We purchased a board of pine and a 1×2 to make a trim, attached the trim, and then stained it to match other wood in our home. You will want to do this step first because the stain and varathane takes a number of days to complete.
2. Assemble all three pieces of Ikea furniture.

image[5]

image[4]

3. Remove baseboards from your entryway.
4. Put the Ikea pieces in place and secure to the wall.
5. The baseboards in our house didn’t cover the space under the TV stand and bookshelf, so we needed to add an extra piece of wood under those two pieces so that we could attach the baseboards. We also added some extra support under the TV bench to help support people sitting on the bench. Once the wood is attached, put the baseboards onto the front. This helps give the piece a built-in look.

image[3]

6. Fill in any gaps or holes using wood filler and caulking. Paint all of the furniture and trim. Paint the wall in between the bench and the bridging shelf. We also did a section of chalkboard paint.
7. Attach the bench seat. We just used glue, but you could screw it in as well.

image[1]

8. For the framework on the wall, we used 1x2s and 1x3s. We just decided on a pattern we liked and then cut the pieces to fit.
9. We then painted the pieces and attached them to the wall.
10. Touch up any paint. Add caulking to fill in holes.
11. Add hooks.
12. Decorate as desired!