Producer Jason Donnelly (Dj Puzzle, Soundtrack Loops and Loop Cartel) shared this video today, which demonstrates how to build a custom DJ booth using stuff from IKEA.
Donnelly wanted a custom DJ booth, with plenty of storage for a large LP collection – so he built it, using a collection of cheap stuff from IKEA (Kallax + Capita + Lack). This video captures the highlights of his build – and also some mistakes he made along the way that you’ll want to avoid!
Here’s Donnelly’s summary of his IKEA DJ booth build:
PART ONE – Kallax Bookshelf
Let’s start with the Kallax. The Kallax is the base of the desk. You can use one if you like or two if you desire a deeper desk with more storage space for records.
Two pairs of Capitas for mounting the shelves. You’ll need two small square shelves for speakers and one long shelf for laptops and controllers.
Despite the daunting instructional guide the Kallax was quite simple to assemble and it took about 15 mins. Here is a complete Kallax in all of its glory.
PART 2 – Capita long shelf leg
This bolt comes with the Capita. We’ll us it to mount the Capita to the Kallax and later to mount the shelves.
Find a good spot to mount the Capita and drill a hole in the Kallax top big enough for the bolt to screw through like you see here. Let’s move on. (I had a small hand held vaccuum available to clean up dust from the particle board.)
Next we’ll attach the Capita to the Kallax to get a feel for how we want it positioned. I would not recommend twisting it on like I did here in the video as it will scratch the surface of the Kallax. What you should do is screw the bolt in to the Capita from the bottom with a wrench. As you can see it’s quite sturdy. You could have the angle facing in or out. Up to you.
Measure where you placed the first hole and follow the same steps on the other end of the Kallax. You could place a piece of paper or thin cardboard down before attaching the Capita to prevent it from scratching the Kallax surface. I’ve made some mistakes as this was my first build and I managed to scratch the surface a little. I pretty much went at this guerrilla style so please feel free to do what you think is best.
PART 3 – Lack long Laptop shelf
Now let’s move to the first of three shelves. The long shelf is for your laptop and controllers. Place the long shelf on the Capitas while they are mounted to the Kallax and use the sharpy to draw in guides for your screw holes on the underside of the long shelf. Now remove your Capitas and line them up. Use a small drill bit and drill small holes at the guide points so you can easily screw your smalls screws in. Do the same for the other Capita and connect the top shelf to the Kallax by lining up the Capitas to the bolts and twist the bolts in from the underside of the Kallax top.
Part 4 – Lack speaker shelves
Let’s move on to the small speaker shelves. Drill a hole in through the top long laptop shelf like we did with the Kallax. We will use large bolts to connect the small shelves to the long shelf with the second pair of Capitas.
The bolts are not long enough in this case as the top shelves don’t really match the rest of the desk and they are a bit thicker so I went to the hardware store to pick get longer bolts. I used the big plastic washer from the Capita bolts for support as you see here.
Now with your Capita removed do the same thing we did ealier and draw drill guides with the silver sharpy. Place the Capita dead center of the small shelf and place your guide dots. Use the smalls screws to attach the Capita to the small shelf and then connect it to the long shelf with the extra long bolt. Use a wrench to thighten the bolt. Follow the same steps for the second small shelf and you ‘re done.
Cost Summary:
2 X KALLAX $64.99 each
Shelving unit, black-brown
CAPITA $19.99 / 2 pack
Bracket, stainless steel
LACK $14.99
Wall shelf, black-brown
2 X LACK $6.99 Each
Wall shelf, black
Shipping $99
Tax $14.31
2x bolts from hardware store $0.49 each
You can download the songs from this video via Donnelly’s DJ Puzzle site (.zip).
If you’ve done your own custom build using IKEA stuff, let us know in the comments!
My entire studio is made from Ikea stuff – the non-electronic part that is. I’ve just finished a small organizer for my wal warts made from a Moppe cabinet. And I’m planning on putting a TR55 clone inside a Förhöja because why not!
And if you ever need a cheap but sturdy headphone hanger for under your desk : Grundtal toilet paper holders!! Couldn’t live without them anymore!
The problem i find with ikea furniture, is that its rubbish. I kitted my studio entirely with ikea stuff. 2 years later, my desk is bowing in the middle, drawer fronts come off in your hand and cupboard doors fall off. The stuff looks great. But 2/10 for durability.
I’ve had great luck with the Kallax units, which look pretty swank and are sized just right for LPs and a lot of other things.
Some of their stuff is probably crap, like the junk you get at Wal-Mart and places like that. Maybe you could share the items that you tried that you think are to be avoided?
I think a lot of their stuff is made of fiberboard with melamine finish. That combination is pretty indestructible but doesn’t like water. Humid or wet conditions can make it warp or expand and separate from the melamine.
you can make the same thing with 50x better materials just by going to home depot or something.. its not much more difficult than this, probably a bit cheaper – but most definitely better quality, by many degrees
Price it out and show us how it’s done. The whole reason so many people hack IKEA stuff is that it’s mass produced cheaper than you could do it yourself.
Also, you’d need some serious tools/skills to get the tolerances anywhere near as tight as IKEA’s going the build it from scratch route.
haha, fuck that i dont give a shit if you know how to do it or not… yeh you certainly dont have to take my word for it
go grab some ikea shit and live it up dude
A designer Dj Booth from Glorious cost the same as this Ikea hack 🙂
Example:
https://www.decks.co.uk/products/deck-stands/glorious/gigbar-black#.VXkvJfntmko
Made my whole studio out of Lego and I’ve never looked back! Whenever I get a new piece of gear i’m just a few hours of fun away from a cheerful custom stand! Only problem is when the kids get in and steal me Legos! Don’t have kids synthheads!
Even if you are joking this is an excellent idea!
Except for: Legos are damn expensive. It turns out is you who has to stole them from kids. My iPad and Volca stands are made of these.
I made my garage studio from sale items from argus, the quality is dubious and the kids wendy house gets cramped, but as long as your willing to foot extra cost of some gaffa tape every now and then your on to a winner.
i want more videos like this from synthtopia readers, the challenge should be to go cheap and cheaper!
I lot of people out there are doing similar things, in using furniture for the purpose of furniture.
I built my studio entirely from toilet roll holders & cereal boxes. The quality is far superior to Argos but doesn’t look as nice as Ikea. I do regularly coat it in fairy dust however.
Seriously: buying a house forced me to improve my DIY skills. Now I can saw straight and assemble parts at 90 degrees. Is is really not very difficult…and very gratifying. For my studio, I reuse all the solid wood parts I can find. I got a lot of mileage from an old solid pine sofa frame that my wife had bought…at Ikea! Honest!
I built this in October:
http://www.paalolav.no/?p=304
Used two IKEA night tables that I got for free as a base. Put some heavy duty wheels on them and bought a 2nd hand coffee table, which is the main part of the desk. Cost me about $50.