Repurposing Ikea Furniture

[bnr32jason]

So my wife and I have purchased a home with a 20x18 2-car garage. In our current apartment we've got a big wall-size entertainment center from Ikea, but we won't be using it the same way in the new house.

It's got a couple 6ft cabinets and several cabinets with doors, all in great shape, but I'm wondering about the use of cheap Ikea furniture in a place like a garage. The plan is to sand the paper that is on it to make it look like real wood and repaint everything. I live near Seattle, so it's a wet environment, but our house was built in 2007 and the garage is "finished" (has drywall up). Ikea stuff is cheap, made of particle board, so I guess moisture is the biggest concern.

It's all easily wall-mountable using Ikea mounts, that's how we had it before and it seems pretty strong. Granted, I'm NOT a big time shop guy, I don't do much heavy duty work, I work on my cars doing basic cleaning, maintenance, and bolt-on type modifications. Honestly this is more about aesthetics and giving us a little extra storage space than it is about building a serious shop like so many people here have.

My second question is about a fairly flimsy Ikea dining table that we have, I'd love to secure it to the wall and use it as a work bench/computer table. The only concern I have is the legs are pretty skinny. I know I'll wood glue them for extra strength, but what else can I do to make it stronger.

I'm on a VERY tight garage budget because I still have to do lighting and the tiled floor, so I'm trying to re-use our old stuff as much as possible to keep the wife happy.

Here's what the wall unit looks like, and the table. (not our pictures, just examples, and the cabinet doors have a different covering material)

Would appreciate ANY and ALL advice or guidance, I'm fairly new to all this.

Thanks!
Jason

 

[bshusted]

I like those cabinets. I built my own cabinets to the same dimensions as the IKEA units and then used the IKEA doors. There are more pictures in my thread, but here is one of the cabinets installed in my single.

 

[C96]

This is always an option

 

[Playwme]

I don't think there's enough material in an IKEA piece of furniture to get flames that big.

 

[Angelfire]

Is there even wood in Ikea furniture? I would suspect you'll find particle board or similar under that "paper".

 

[wrench409]

I don't think there's enough material in an IKEA piece of furniture to get flames that big.

It's the flammable resins and solvents burning.

 

[Squashfest81]

Not a bash at all. I love Ikea.
We needed some cheap storage cabs for the bedroom so we grabbed two big closet things. The wife wanted different handles. Picked some up and needed to enlarge the hole. I expected the doors to drill like **** mdf. The drill shot through them and tore out the back. Closer to cardboard than I expected. They look great from the outside.
I recommend using them. I wouldn't sped a lot of effort on them though. They may last years or turn to dust from the moisture in a month.

 

[PassnThru]

Not IKEA but this used to be a cheap desk. I cut it down and put it on wheels and regularly use it as a workbench. It is MDF and I've been using it like this for at least 10 years. The cabinet behind it is also a cheapie that we didn't need in the house anymore.
View media item 3370I have the matching lateral file cabinet for the desk in the garage also. The large deep drawers are great for storing rags, microfiber towels, etc.
This guy used to be a stereo cabinet -
View media item 28077

 

[nickjj]

These may work better:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50292317/

 

[tehach]

Best thing to do with Ikea is set it out at the curb and see if anyone is dumb enough to haul it away. Beats jamming your trash can full of it.

 

[Krash Kadillak]

An entire website devoted to IKEA furniture (and other stuff) hacks:

http://www.ikeahackers.net/

 

[jgorm]

Best thing to do with Ikea is set it out at the curb and see if anyone is dumb enough to haul it away. Beats jamming your trash can full of it.

This^. It's fun to smash up, make you feel real strong.

 

[callcoy]

Jason;
I think you should go for it. About 25 years ago I used up all of our old kitchen cabinets in my wood shop and garage. They may have been a little stronger than what you will be using but I did much heavier work than you will be doing.

 

[MarcioWilges]

I think that you need to start trawling garage shop forums! Some of the guys have a pretty sweet set up that maybe you can copy? Otherwise, what about moving some other wood pieces into the garage and mounting to the wall? That could work too!

 

[Modern Jess]

I've used Ikea Besta cabinets extensively, both in the house and the garage. Properly assembled and properly mounted, they're sturdy and versatile. What's not to like?

 

[JimVonBaden]

I used IKEA. It is cheap, strong and easily cleanable.

 

[Elginz]

as for the "fairly flimsy Ikea dining table" if it is attached to the wall in a couple of places it will stiffen right up. The wall would take away the lateral moment, so the legs would only have to hold it up.

 

[swissguy]

The white cabinets and the drawers are Ikea. My wife says, the stuff is better than the furniture we have in our kitchen. (and MUCH cheaper!!)

 

[srmofo]

Use french cleats and many fasteners.

In all honesty ikea stuff is pretty cheap, but it's pretty high quality as far as cheap furniture goes. I bought a cabinet thing from Sam's Club last week (wife liked it and the box weighed about 100lbsv so I thought it would be alright) and it is the biggest *************. Itmakes ikea furniturelooklike amish quality. The dowel holes are too large and too deep, and it only had 8 metal bolts holding the thing together. I used copious amounts of wood glue and it will be OK until it needs moved. I'm still trying to figure out where all the weight is because it's certainly not from the hollow mdf