Build Yourself a $300 Custom Banquette With This Glorious IKEA Hack

PublishedDec 1, 2022 1:25 AM EST

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We’ve seen roughly a zillion IKEA Besta hacks, and most folks play it safe with a traditional media cabinet. Kendra Joseph, the Bay Area–based designer behind Rise Up Home, had grander plans for her two base units. Forget the credenza—she turned them into a banquette.

Wanting to comfortably host friends and extended family from back East, Joseph and her husband converted their roughly 400-square-foot detached two-car garage into a guesthouse with a bathroom, bedroom, and kitchenette. Squeezing in storage without devouring precious square footage was the name of the game. ‘The bench was ideal for that,’ she says. At just under 16 inches deep, the units turned out to be the perfect fit for seating guests while secretly hoarding blankets, board games, and serving platters.

All in, they spent between $250 and $300 (they cheapskated their way through by using lumber and screws they already had, plus their own tools). ‘The biggest costs were the IKEA materials and the wood for the waterfall top,’ notes Joseph. Here’s how they made the boring white cupboards look less Besta-y and more bench-like.

After hauling the Besta units home from IKEA, Joseph and her husband assembled them per the retailer’s instructions (yes, the little allen wrench survived). Then, wielding an impact drill, they built a rectangular frame to snuggle under the boxes, adding cross beams for support from redwood 2-by-4s salvaged during the garage demo. Between checking frame evenness with a torpedo laser, they also deployed a laser level to make sure the seating height matched on both sides.

After bolting the two base frames together with wood screws, they anchored the whole rig to the wall with base plates. Filling the corner where the benches meet with a support box (also 2-by-4s) means guests can sit there comfortably without feeling like they’re perched on a void. Then they swathed the entire thing in Benjamin Moore’s Midnight via a paint sprayer to match the kitchenette cabinets.

Joseph and her husband snagged the maple boards for the top and sides from their local lumberyard, Aura Hardwoods, and cut them to fit the existing structure. The secret to a flawless waterfall is a seamless mitre-edge joint, which is all about prep: they measured the planks roughly a thousand times before letting the table saw anywhere near them. ‘We watched a lot of YouTube tutorials,’ admits Joseph. ‘Lumber ain’t cheap, so put in the time to avoid mistakes—or just hire a carpenter if you’re nervous.’ After spreading wood glue on the undersides, they coaxed the boards into place with a hammer until everything was snug. Once dry: entertaining ready.

Lydia Geisel has been on the Domino editorial team since 2017. These days she writes and edits home and renovation stories—house tours, before and afters, DIYs—and runs our design news coverage. She lives in New York City, where square footage is a cruel joke but the inspiration is endless.

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