IKEA Hacking in IKEA Cheras (Plus win a RÅSKOG cart I madeover)

There’s a new IKEA store in town. And is bigger, brighter and shinier.

Situated at Jalan Cochrane, Cheras, the second IKEA store in Malaysia sprawls 42,000 sq. metres – that’s 20% larger than Damansara.

Lingam (pic below, centre), the IKEA Cheras store manager, tells us that IKEA Damansara is one of the most trafficked IKEA store in the world. Get this – it ranks #3 over all IKEA stores! 6.5 million people visited IKEA Damansara last year. For a country of 30 million, that’s a pretty impressive number. (Though I may have contributed about 1,482 visits. Heh.) So now all my fellow countrymen, you know why you had to suffer the endless cart jams and crazy long check out queues. It’s a fact: Malaysians loves IKEA. A. Lot.

Hopefully the IKEA Cheras store will ease congestion at Damansara.

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You see us in the fancy neon jackets? Well, that’s because some sections of the store are still under construction and the fluorescent garb is for safety purposes.

Together with Cory (pic above, far right), his assistant, Lingam took us bloggers on a sneak preview of the store. They assured us that everything’s on schedule and it’ll open its doors on Nov 19. But till then, it feels pretty dang good to be one of the first few to step in and suss out the goods. Let me confirm this: It is HUGE. You’ll be needing comfy shoes and at least 3 hours to make it through the store (if you don’t linger too long and touch e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.) And yes, you’ll be spending more money than you thought you would.

It follows the IKEA store template, but the gloss of newness definitely makes things look better. Somehow this store gives me a more modern and chic vibe, especially the rooms sets. So, kudos IKEA Cheras.

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One of the kitchens I liked.

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IKEA for businesses too.

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An interesting feature is the home set, which is made to mirror common home sizes and layouts in Malaysia. So you get to see how IKEA actually fits into a 75 sq. metre (807 sq. feet) home.

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We ended our tour at the plants & outdoor furniture section. This is my favourite part of the store. The openings in the roof allowed natural light to stream into the space. It felt light and airy.

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After the store tour, it was time for some IKEA hacking! I shared what IKEA hacking is all about and demonstrated an easy makeover of the RÅSKOG cart.

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Then, I let everyone loose on the RÅSKOG.

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See how amazing we look in orange.

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Me at work. Game face on.

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I’m into the whole B&W thing at the moment, so I used the FRAMSTÄLLA tissue paper to wrap round the RÅSKOG cart trays. A decoupage medium would have offered better results but in the time that I had, I used craft glue to stick it on. FRAMSTÄLLA gift ribbons as trim finished the look.

The best part is … you can win this little cart that I madeover. Here’s how:

  1. Repost a photo of my madeover cart on your Instagram and caption why you want to win it.
  2. Tag me @IKEAHackersOfficial and hashtag #IKEACheras & #IKEABuilt4Me before 14 Nov.
  3. I’ll select a winner and IKEA Malaysia will send the cart over to the lucky one.

Note: This giveaway is for Malaysian residents living in the Klang Valley. 

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It’s 12 days and counting! So dust off those running shoes, pack your bottled water, sleep early and get your ass to IKEA Cheras on Nov 19. I heard there will be lots of fun activities and promotions during opening week. Get the launch details here. See you there!