Our DIY project #7 is for sure the biggest in volume and the most practical, too. Also: It’s an IKEA hack with some extra crafting. We were looking for a way to make one corner of the children’s room more comfy, while also creating some storage space. This DIY play and storage platform did the trick for us:
DIY Play and storage platform materials & measures
The base of the platform consists of
- 4 big IKEA EKET cubes (square 35×35 cm) and
- 4 small EKET cubes (35x25 cm)
The cover on top is made of
- one big wooden board (100×80 cm)
- equally big piece of foam
- relatively bigger piece of cover fabric
The great thing about building this from EKETs is the combination of flexibility and the look of it. The flexibility you’d also have building everything from scratch – but it would lack the amazing look. You want to cover a differently sized area: Use different number of EKETs and different layout — easy!
Building the platform
Assembly of our spacious DIY play and storage platform is quite straightforward: Once we agreed on the layout, we’ll connect the EKET elements with one another – which only works on their sides, not on the backs.
For maximum storage: Leave out the “back side covers” of the front EKETs. We did that for the blue and white EKET, so that storage space covers almost the entire base of the platform.
Upholster the big board with foam and fabric and place it on the EKET base as you see fit. Fix it in place by screwing into the top board from below, through the EKETs top sides.
Voila: We’ve built our raised platform to play and relax on, but also created storage space especially for more bulky things. In hindsight we’re also very happy to have left an at least several centimeter wide margin: This already allowed us to turn that platform into a fortress.