LEGO Table IKEA Hack

Why hello there! For my inaugural post (which will surely be preserved forever in the Library of Congress at some point), here’s a LEGO table made largely from supplies from the furniture-equivalent of LEGO, IKEA. This is a birthday present for my nephew who will turn 4 in a week. Hopefully, he doesn’t read my blog yet.

Supplies

• IKEA Lack side table
• IKEA Trofast bin
• IKEA Trofast drawer slides (I went to the Returns counter and asked about these – they gave them to me for free)
• IKEA Grundtal tins
• 4 LEGO 10″x10″ baseplates
• Magnetic knife holder (I had one in my kitchen that was not useful, so I repurposed it here. Similar to this.)
• Small scrap piece of wood or trim, about 6″ long (any length will work)
• Serious glue (E6000, Loc-tite, etc. – whatever you prefer/have on hand)

{All links are here only as a reference. I’m no where near having my act together enough to have affiliate links on this thing.}

After I put the legs on, I remembered “Oh right, pictures for the blog.” I’ll get better at documenting the steps.

Before putting the legs on the table, I flipped the tabletop upside down and glued the rails and wood scrap to the underside for the bin. I did this via the super-scientific method of putting the rails on the sides of the bin, applying glue to the tops of the rails, then flipping the bin over and adjusting the position before the glue dried. I used E6000 which gives you a little bit of time to scooch things before it sets (forever). With the bin placed where I wanted it – near one edge of the table, sliding longways – I also glued down a scrap of trim at the back of the bin. The gentleman this table was designed for is affectionately known as “Baby Hulk”, so I didn’t want the bin sliding all the way through the rails and out the other side (and possibly into the drywall – he’s very strong).
After letting the glue dry, I attached the legs to the table per IKEA’s ever so helpful pictogram instructions and flipped the table right-side up. I screwed the magnetic knife rack into the side of the table opposite the front of the bin, and stuck the magnetic tins on. These should be just the right size to store minifigs and other small specialty pieces that always make their way to the bottom of the bucket (I’m looking at you, clear single bricks).

Finally, I glued down the 4 baseplates. This is where I aaaaaaaaalmost messed the whole thing up. Did you know that if you put two baseplates right next to each other, the bricks won’t fit on the seam? I do… now. For some reason unknown, the edges of baseplates aren’t quite wide enough to create the proper spacing when placed up against another baseplate. I used some spare LEGO bricks (or, more accurately, had my sister swipe some from her children) and connected the baseplates to each other. After positioning the 4 plates where I wanted them, I unconnected one baseplate at a time, added a bunch of E6000 to the back, flipped it over, repositioned and reattached it with the bricks. After all 4 were glued down and connected to ensure proper spacing, I piled the heaviest books on my bookshelf on top and let the glue cure overnight.

All done!

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