Upscaled IKEA IVAR Shelving
A Project from 1998-2024
OUR MEDIA CENTER is composed of modified vintage IKEA IVAR shelving components. IVAR’s quality (like everything) may have gone down a bit with time, but some of our shelves and other components are close to 30 years old, and at that point in IVAR’s early history, IKEA was using very dense and hard pine. For what it is, IVAR is strong and rigid, but it’s very utilitarian. There’s not much pizzazz to it.
The backs and sides of IVAR system shelving units are open. In a case like ours, where our shelving supports a TV and various audio-video components, each with its own collection of cables dangling behind it, fully open backs are not ideal as they leave all those nasty cables exposed. To address this, simple back panels were cut from lightweight corrugated plastic sheeting. They rest in narrow grooves cut near the rears of the shelves. Side panels, also corrugated plastic, are attached with screws.
Another modification involved two IVAR cabinets with doors. Six custom drawers were installed in those. The cabinet doors required a different type the hinge to create enough clearance for the wide drawers to slide out. Finally, custom RGB LED light strips were attached to the undersides of the shelves.
It’s still IKEA IVAR, but now it has a bit of pizzazz.
