Hackers Help: Make IKEA SVALNÄS rental friendly?

I adore the IKEA SVALNÄS system but wonder if anyone has successfully made it rental friendly? (eg. not drilling into the wall). Thanks!

Make IKEA SVALNÄS rental friendly?

~ by Ming V

***

Hi Ming

I adore the IKEA SVALNÄS too and am so bummed it’s not available in my country. So, I’ve not seen it IRL. (See the entire system here)

Looking at the drawings, the system may lose the beauty of its design and stability if hacked into a freestanding unit.

But if you’re keen to try, you could use the cabinets as the base to be placed on the floor instead of wall mounted. (Or get some legs in the right height to attach to the front of the cabinets)

Then, attach the cabinets to the uprights and the metal brackets (as per IKEA instruction).

Make IKEA SVALNÄS rental friendly?

Related: Turn IKEA SVALNÄS into a Royal System® Shelving lookalike. See more photos.

To steady the uprights, I suggest screwing in another piece (cut an upright to the right length) at the top and bottom of 2 uprights (as well as wherever you feel needs reinforcement).

Make IKEA SVALNÄS rental friendly?

If your combination includes SVALNÄS shelves, screw them into the uprights as well. I wouldn’t place heavy objects on the top shelves though. I would also recommend using the shallow shelves (5 7/8″ depth) and shorter uprights (36 5/8″ height) to build a lower combination to prevent any top-heavy tip over possibilities.

That’s my take on it. Maybe other readers with experience on the IKEA SVALNÄS system can shed some light on this.

Let us know if you do go ahead with the hack.

Happy hacking,

Jules

All images courtesy of IKEA

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