Custom Malm Headboard - Ikea Hacking

We liked the Malm bed frame but wanted to use a mattress and base/boxspring which ended up covering up most of the headboard. We also wanted a taller, padded headboard, so we hacked our own. This didn't end up saving us money compared to purchasing a new bed frame and headboard, but it was a great project for some serious Ikea Hacking (check out Ikea Hacker for more Ikea Hacking). And in the end, we have a headboard and bed that we love.

The desires for our bed were:

• tall padded area to sit up in bed to read or work on the laptops
• night stands at mattress level for alarm clock, drinks, lamps, and other stuff
• limited clutter from cables and cords
• lighting that could be controlled from either side of the bed
• lighting that wasn't too hot (no halogen lights) and was energy efficient if we fell asleep with the lights on

Our bedframe was a King frame, so we hacked two Malm nightstands, Malm king frame, another Malm headboard, and a Pax wardrobe cabinet. The lights are also Ikea with compact-fluorescent bulbs. We opted to pull the bed off the wall to give it more dimension and to make it easier to access the power plugs behind the bed. And honestly, it made it easier to screw it all together.

Check out the Flickr set for more pics along with captions and Flickr Notes on the details - 2007 Ikeahack Malm Headboard

First hack - Nightstands
In order to make the nightstands taller. I switched the location of the drawer along with the little shelf - mount the drawer in the top holes and the shelf in the bottom holes. I only needed to drill two new holes to make the drawer unit install higher. I then cut off the little shelf so that it would install under the drawer - the little shelf is used to keep laptop power adapters off the floor. I also drilled a hole in the back for a cable grommet to route plugs/wires through the night stand. Since the drawer units were taller, I used the scrap from cutting the small shelf as a support to give the nightstand more stability.

The headboard - working with the Malm material
Before putting it together, I mounted the lights and did the wiring for the control switches. The lights are wired to a dual switch mounted in the middle of the headboard, so each of us can control both lights.

The next challenge was stacking a second headboard onto the existing one and making sure it was secure (we are in earthquake country).

This is where you need to work with the solid parts of the Malm material. There is about a 1" wide solid wood border on the headboard with about a 4-6" solid section in the middle of the headboard running vertically. I was able to use a stud finder in order to mark the edges of the solid material. I also drilled small holes to confirm the critical areas were solid.

I used a strip of 1" x 2" wood screwed to the back edge of each headboard with drywall screws. This secured the headboard and aligned it.

The top shelf was cut from the side wall of a Pax wardrobe unit. The finish matches, and it provided finished edges along with the strength to support the headboard. I once again used a 1" x 2" wood strip (cleat) screwed to the studs of the wall to support the top shelf. The top shelf was screwed from the top into the wall cleat and into the top of the headboard. There is also a hole with cable covers in the top shelf to allow for the routing of lamp cords.

In order to secure the padded squares, I screwed in a 1" x 2" wood strip on the back at the level where the padded squares would be mounted. This basically creates an exoskeleton that allows the strip to form the structure for the padded squares. In hindsight, this was overkill. I should have used super-strong Velcro strips to mount them.

The tops of the nightstands were also cut from the Pax material. I mounted the night stand tops with Pax hinges to create a hidden storage area. A hidden shelf was installed inside the top of the nightstands that could hold a power strip and other items. This helps keep a clutter free area. Once again this part took a ton of time to get right, and I'm not sure if it was worth it. It does make it easier to reach the plugs, power strip and cabling, but the hinges were a pain to install.

The last step is to decide if we want to cover the sides of the headboard to hide the structure that exists behind the headboard. For now, it doesn't bother us.