Coffee Table With Hidden Compartment

Convert your IKEA LACK coffee table into hidden compartment table. Ideal to store remote controls, books, board games or laptops. The size of the compartment is 8x44x44cm.

The outside of the table can be painted or decorated to suit your style or left as it is.

You will need:

• two 55X55cm IKEA LACK tables (one whole table and one table top)
• strong box cutter
• sanding block (120G)
• drill
• wood pieces to fill the holes
• strong wood glue
• acrylic filler
• hinges
• primer
• paint (furniture paint and furniture paint sealer if painting the whole table, or spray paint if only painting the inside on the compartment)
• gas hinges (gas struts) - optional
• foam or felt sheet to cover the bottoms

Step 1: Hollow the Table

1. Unscrew the legs and flip each table top upside down. Use a table leg to measure and mark where to cut.
2. Use a heavy duty box cutter to cut a hole. Reserve that square of hardboard for later. Remove cardboard infill until the whole box it empty.
3. Use a sanding block to smooth the edges.

Step 2: Sand and Drill

1. Take one table top and drill all four corner holes until you drill all the way through. You will need those holes to attach the legs.
2. If you plan on painting the table later, you have to lightly sand it down to remove a layer of plastic veneer. If you don't plan on changing the original colour, leave it as it is.

Step 3: Wooden Borders

1. Prepare 8 pieces of wood to glue inside the cavities. Each piece has to be 44cm long and 40-43 mm thick.
2. Use a strong wood glue to glue the wooden pieces inside the cavities.
3. My plain wood was a tiny bit too thick and as such I ended up with few mm of wood poking outside the border ( I will use a filler to cover it up later); blue pieces of wood were 40mm thick and turned out to eb a perfect fit, completely flush with the border.
4. Lastly, glue a hardboard sheet (the one you cut out) to the bottom of the table top.

Step 4: Filler and Hinges

1. Use acrylic filler to fill all corner holes leftover from the legs.
2. Align both table tops, mark, drill and attach the hinges.
3. You will end up with a tiny gap when table is closed. I didn't like this look, so I cut holes in the hardboard to lower the hinges by few mm. Once hinges were lowered, the gap was no longer that visible.
4. Remove the hinges before painting.

Step 5: Acrylic Filler (Optional)

1. Pipe thin line of acrylic filler along the edges and corners and around the wood, if necessary.
2. Prepare a small container filled with dish soap. Put disposable gloves on, dip your finger lightly in the soap and smooth the filler with your finger.
3. Remember that acrylic filler can't be sanded, if you make a mess and not clean it away while it's still wet, you will have to scrape it with a knife once filler is set.
4. Use a good quality primer to seal the hardboard and protect it from moisture, as well as prepare the surface for painting.
5. Paint. I used chalk paint and didn't bother painting the inside since I planned on gluing foam anyway.
6. I waxed the whole table to protect the paint.

Step 6: Hinges and Inserts

1. Add hinges.
2. If you want your coffee table to have the ability to stay open without help, you can fit gas hinges at this point. My hinges were damaged in the delivery, so I left that step out for now.
3. Use foam or felt sheets as inserts. They look better than paint and act as a cushion for stored items.
4. Attach the legs.