Ikea Hemnes Shoe Cabinet Hack

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We wanted to combine two Ikea Hemnes Shoe Cabinets to make it look like one cohesive unit. Here’s how we did it.

We recently moved and with a new home, there needs to be new systems of organization. Our new home has no front hall closet so shoe storage was needed. Honestly, I don’t know how I would have gotten through this move if it weren’t for Ikea and Amazon.

The Ikea Hemnes Shoe Cabinet

There are a few different Ikea Hemnes shoe cabinets. Since the hallway was already narrow, I chose the slimmest one in the Ikea Hemnes series.

We had enough length for 2 Ikea Hemnes Shoe Cabinets but wanted it to look like one unit. You could build both and butt them together. The only issue I had with this is that two together will have two centre posts. So the solution was to eliminate one of the posts in the middle. This would make it look like one piece of furniture.

The Ikea Hemnes Shoe Cabinet Hack

I knew that this hack was possible. I’ve seen a bunch of photos of people doing it. It was possible.

Each post has holes to attach the side panels. For the centre post, we simply needed to add additional holes to it. The leg is wide enough to “hide” both side panels behind it. The width of the leg is pretty much equal to two side panels.

When you look online, this is the most common way of doing it, drilling in extra holes. I did find one site where the side panels were glued on to the centre post. My son, who was helping me did not think that gluing was a good idea and took it upon himself to transfer the markings and drill additional holes into the leg.

Now you just have to join the side panel to that centre leg. So there will be two side panels attached to one leg.

Now it can be a bit forgiving so don’t fret if it isn’t exactly perfect. The first time we put everything together it was hard to get it perfectly tight. We removed a couple of the wooden dowels to make it work.

At this point, we moved it into place. Be careful moving it. It required two people as it is so long.

The Finishing Touches

I liked how many put a piece of real wood on top, making the Ikea Hemnes Shoe cabinet look more like a real piece of furniture.

I used the same depth of the top that came with the Ikea Hemnes Shoe cabinet, 8 3/4 inches and 3/4 inches thick as a guideline. I just had to figure out the length and get a piece of wood the same size.

Now here’s something I learned. The measurements of wood given, are not actual. So I had to look for 1 x 10 lumber. Because in fact, it’s 3/4 x 9.5. Isn’t that weird? So as mentioned, I had to look for 1 x 10 to fit close to the given top parts of the Ikea Hemnes Shoe cabinet.

I found a piece of 1 x 10 knotty pine shelving at my local Home Depot. They even cut the length for me as we are allowed one free cut.

The nice thing about the shelving is that it is pretty smooth already, but I sanded it even more. Then I applied a couple of coats of finish and sealed it with a clear coat.

Once the top is done, simply place it on top of your unit. It’s looking great already!

Notice that we haven’t done the drawers yet. Save that for the end.

Many glued this piece of wood down to the unit. To be honest, ours is not glued down. We now have a few items on it. No one actually lifts it and it’s perfectly fine. But if you want, you can glue it down.

We also added our own knobs. We wanted something to match the character of the home so we found these on Amazon.

Our simple Ikea Hemnes Shoe Cabinet Hack turned out really well. I love that it lots cohesive and that it looks like one piece of furniture, as opposed to two units, side by side.

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