I hacked a couple of Ikea Kallax to make a custom breakfast nook, learn how!
A little back story.
My apartment, which was built over a hundred years ago, has amazing character and some interesting angles. My dining space had previously not been fully utilized, in order to make the most out of my space, I wanted to add “built-in” seating along the unused corner.
While I wanted the built in look, I also needed the built ins to be renter friendly.
To do this, I decided to hack two Ikea Kallax cube shelving units. The two cube size fits perfectly in my dining space to create the look of built in breakfast nook seating.
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/38C94EF6-C6F5-481A-AE1F-1E1C12FCE6A4-768x1024.jpeg)
I created this project in partnership with Pinterest – I also diyed the other pieces in my breakfast nook. Check out my other projects!
Materials
- 2 ikea kallax
- 2 kallax doors
- 2 sets of 4 furniture legs
- 2 yards of velvet upholstery fabric
- 2 knobs
- Sheet of plywood
- Upholstery foam
Process
1. build storage units
The first half of this project was pretty straight forward, I built the kallax units and added the doors to ikea’s instructions. I later decided to add feet.
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/DB9DDDDD-1723-4118-BD44-1EE1485454FA-580x1024.jpeg)
2. measure and plan
The challenging piece was in creating a topper and cushions for my irregularly angled corner. For this corner, I decided to have the boxes meet in the center, and top the boxes and open space with a piece of plywood. I measured the angle as boxes to create a template of the plywood cuts.
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/C2DF4985-11F4-416E-B741-622D3D71B771-580x1024.jpeg)
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/C98039CA-0B35-4A59-BA13-0F8052F57B2C-576x1024.png)
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/6716F4DD-99F3-4FF7-9525-81C09A9594F2-1024x358.jpeg)
3. cut and sew
I then cut the plywood topper.
Similarity, I measured the upholstery foam, creating two cushions, one that covered a box and the middle, and another that fit to a single kallax unit. I was working on a tight timeline, and wanted to get this done for a deadline, so I quickly hand stitched the fabric around the cushions. I also made a pair of backrest panels to go in the small space between the windows.
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/F04AA771-D8F9-4CFF-91F9-D526EE3860E9-768x1024.jpeg)
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FB3AEE23-1124-4F95-B5B0-428242D72017-768x1024.jpeg)
![](https://xoxojackie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/8005CB3F-EC43-44FF-BB14-0815D724BECE-674x1024.jpeg)