Ikea Hack: Convert Pax Library To HDTV Media Storage

You know the situation. You just bought a new HDTV and you are trying to fit it into your room. It's not always easy and it's challenging, especially when you don't have a lot of space. One thing that you do have a lot of is libraries. Actually Gus Money had a similar problem. He had a new TV and needed to a way to place it in his room. He decided to use an Ikea Pax wardrobe as his base for his HDTV. Read on to find out more.

One of the main reasons why Gus decided to do this is that his old CRT TV shelf wasn't wide enough for his new HDTV. He decided to use his Ikea Pax wardrobe, which is 93" tall and 39" wide.

Basically, the only thing that you have to do is to make sure that your HDTV fits in this Ikea shelf. Once that's done, all that you have to do is to drill and cut a few holes in the back to make space for the wires. This is a really good way of converting an Ikea shelf to a media center. It definitely hides the TV and makes the space look good.

See here to read his full tutorial on his Ikea hack.

[via Ikea Hacker]

Comments (4)

There is no way that or any book case shelf is supposed to hold that much weight! This is a shelf meant for clothing and he put a TV on it. And, it is IKEA and uses tiny pegs for support in pine or fiberboard sides! He needs to review the weight limit for those shelves before his expensive TV crashes to the ground.

And this post is completely pointless. It basically says, "if you have a bookcase/wardrobe in which your TV will fit, put it on a shelf" Well, no kidding!

posted by Enamorada on October 24th 2008 at 9:28am
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I was thinking the same thing as Enamorada about the weight of the T.V. It could be my imagination, but the shelf looks like it already might be sagging a bit in the middle.

I have a similar type of shelf (cheap and held up by pegs, but not by Ikea) and just keeping books on it has caused it to sag in the middle. Sometimes it slips off the pegs and the shelf falls because of the way in which the sides are pulling away from the edges (and pegs) as the shelf is pulled down in the center. Since it's only books, it's not a big deal though one day I'm going to have to nail the shelf instead of using the little pegs.

If this were to happen with a T.V., it'd be "bye, bye television."

posted by Orchid64 on October 24th 2008 at 2:58pm
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Pax wardrobes are really flimsy and not designed to handle that kind of weight.

You could probably hack one to deal with this, though. One recommendation would be to reinforce the back of the Pax, since it's not showing, with a heavy piece of plywood cut to fit. Just screw it into the sides, and maybe glue it to the back panel of the Pax (which is just thin painted pressboard, not much sturdier than cardboard). Then you could mount the flatscreen TV to the back of the Pax. That would probably be a lot more stable.

You might also be able to double-up two shelves and securely mount those to the sides of the Pax, using screw-mounted brackets. They might be able to stand up to the weight without bowing in the middle.

posted by sunspot42 on October 24th 2008 at 9:58pm
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you can even tell in the picture how much the "wood" is bending from the weight of the tv.

posted by GreenHomeTherapy.com on October 25th 2008 at 7:50am
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