Monday 20 June 2011

A BALMY entertainment center?


Materials: MALM chest of drawers, BILLY bookcase

Description: My girlfriend wanted an entertainment center where she couldn't see any of the DVD's. Also, more space for pictures. The center is an as-is MALM 6-drawer chest of drawers. For the side units, we combined a MALM 3-drawer chest of drawers and a BILLY book case. They're the exact same width, so it looks like it's one piece of furniture.

Here's how we did it:
1. Cut the bottoms of the sides of the BILLY bookcase, thus eliminating the "foot" at the bottom and the bottom permanent shelf.
2. Assemble the top & sides into a "U" shape, laying on the floor.
3. Put one of the movable shelves between the legs of the "U", to ensure the width is correct.
4. Lay a piece of 1/2" thick MDF board on the back side of the "U", drill pilot holes through the board into the top and sides of the book case, and attach the board. This provides rigidity.
5. Cut holes in backing to match locations of the "hand-holds" on the back-side of the MALM chest of drawers.
6. Slide the decorative backing into the grooves on the top/sides. Had to cut the length slightly to match the height of the sides.
7. Secure decorating backing to MDF backing by taking a cut piece of MDF from step 5, placing it between the two backings, and driving a screw through all three.
8. Paint the edges of the MDF black so it blends in.
9. Take the finished modified BILLY book case, and set on top of the MALM chest of drawers.
10. Put some screws through the MDF into the back of the MALM to hold everything together. That's it!


The "hand holds" on the back side of the MALM chest of drawers are perfect for running wires through, the top drawer of the unit directly under the DVD player has a power strip inside with everything plugged in.

~ Kris Berthold, Sugar Land, Texas

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