Think built-in shelves are impossible in a rental? This renter-friendly IKEA hack proves otherwise and it costs a fraction of custom carpentry.

If you’re a renter, adding built-ins to the living room might seem about as achievable as catching smoke with your bare hands. But these IKEA hackers found a way to do it, and make it look easy, too.

When Tye Street @tyeesha.s and her partner moved into their new apartment, they faced two big challenges: squeezing as much storage as possible into a small space and doing it in a renter-friendly way. Tye loved the idea of built-ins, especially since she had them in her previous place.

She also loved the simple design of IKEA’s IVAR shelves and how easy they were to paint, thanks to their pine construction. After finding inspiration from various sources, she came up with a way to create wall-to-wall built-ins without a bunch of screw holes.

What You’ll Need

• 8 IKEA IVAR cube shelves
• 4 IKEA IVAR cabinets with doors
• Included hardware from IKEA to connect IVAR units and attach to the wall
• 2 2×12 pine lumber (12 feet)
• 2 2×4 pine lumber (12 feet)
• 1.5” pine trim for finishing
• Wood filler
• Plaster
• Sander
• Nail gun
• Saw
• Screwgun/drill
• Primer
• Paint (Floor & Patio recommended)
• Painter’s tape
• Small paintbrush
• Small paint roller
• A helper

Creating the Ultimate Renter-Friendly Shelving System

1. Assemble All the IVAR Pieces

This is probably one of the most time-consuming parts of the project, since you need to assemble 12 IVAR shelves and cabinets. Grab some snacks, crank up the tunes, and assemble everything according to IKEA’s instructions.

Side note: Before buying the IVAR units for your project, measure your wall to see if you need the same number of shelves as Tye. You may need more or less to fill your wall. The cubes and cabinets are 31” x 12” x 33” each.

2. Stack and Place the IVAR Pieces

Tye describes positioning everything like building with LEGO bricks. They lined up four IVAR cabinets for the base and then stacked two cubes on top of each one.

IKEA also sells a cabinet and cube combo, so as an alternative, you could purchase four of those and four additional cube shelves. You’ll end up with the same dimensions, and they come out to the same price, too.

Use the hardware that comes with the shelves to connect the units and attach them to the wall. You only need to attach to the wall in a few places, minimizing the number of screw holes, which is what makes these built-ins renter-friendly.

3. Build the Frame

Use the pine lumber to create the frames for the sides of the shelves, bridging the gap between the wall and the unit. Depending on your wall size, you might not even need to do this step, or you may need to make your frame slightly larger.

Tye does caution that this is one of the most challenging parts of the project because your measurements need to be precise. Therefore, follow the old faithful standby of carpentry — measure twice, cut once.

4. Cut and Install Trim

Measure, cut, and install the pine trim using the nail gun to create the facing boards for your shelves. Tye and her partner only placed trim on certain areas of the shelves to add some variation, but you could do it on all of them. It all depends on the finished look you’re going for.

5. Fill Nail Holes, Prime, and Paint

This is the most tedious part of the project. Filling all of the nail holes with wood filler and plaster to get a nice, clean, finished look. Then, sand, prime, and paint. Tye painted the doors and some of the trim, leaving other parts of the IVAR units unfinished.

She used painter’s tape to protect any areas she didn’t want to paint. One commenter asked if it was easier to paint the units assembled or before assembly. Tye said she preferred painting them assembled, but they did paint the trim first and did touch-ups after.

How Much Does This Hack Cost?

The overall project cost is approximately $1150. Tye provides a breakdown of the materials and costs here, noting that they were able to save some money by reusing certain supplies and repurposing two existing IVAR units.

It’s definitely worth scoping out IKEA’s as-is section to see if you can snag some deals. This hack is definitely one of the pricier ones, but you get a wall full of custom-looking built-ins. So it’s still a money-saver, considering custom units can cost thousands and thousands of dollars.

More Ideas For An IVAR Built-In

IVAR offers a wide range of styles, including cabinets, shelves, cubes, cubbies, doors, and even a fold-out desk. You can mix and match to get pretty much any configuration you can dream up, especially if you use the IVAR design tool.

Check out the hack and see how Tye styled the shelves, and follow Tye Street @tyeesha.s for more inspiring ideas to style your home. Have a DIY project you’re proud of? Share your hack for a chance to be featured next!