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Hydrangea Treehouse

Make your space more beautiful and functional with DIY

in DIY· Interiors

DIY IKEA Banquette Seating Built-in | IKEA Havsta Hack

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I hacked IKEA Havsta cabinets into banquette seating for my dining room. In this post, I’m sharing why I chose IKEA Havsta hack for my dining bench seat, the built-in design, cost and DIY process. Havsta cabinet offers tons of storage and is made of solid wood so it can be repainted to your liking too! Great for customization.

I got asked on Instagram quite often on where I get all the furniture and decors, such as pendant light, rug, paint colors, etc), so I have linked everything in the dining room source part at the end of this post 🙂

Also don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, if you’d like to see more ideas on making your home more functional and beautiful 🙂

ikea havsta hack, diy banquette seat
light fixture | stripe rug | roman shades

IKEA Havsta hack finished look:

This DIY IKEA banquette seating with Havsta is a project we did last year and it remains as my favorite home renovation project – also my most popular space on my Instagram account! It is holding together really well in terms of sturdiness and versatility.

This DIY banquette seat has absolutely become our go-to place to eat, hangout, and even work. In fact, 99% of the time we sit on the banquette seat rather than dining chairs because it just feels more comfy and cozy.

And I have recently DIY’ed a bench cushion to go with it that you can check out in this post or this video.

The finished size of banquette seat is  63″ long, 19 1/2″deep (18″ furniture depth + 1 1/2″ overhang), and 18 1/2″ high.

diy ikea havsta banquette seat hack
light fixture | stripe rug | roman shades
ikea havsta hack, diy banquette seat
kitchen faucet | light fixture |roman shades

Interested? Now let’s dive right to it on how I hack IKEA Havsta cabinet into this dining room banquette seating. And for my dining room sources, including furniture, decor, paint colors, you can visit dining room sources page.

The banquette seating planning

As I mentioned in the dining room plan post, with the small footprint of our dining space and my bench seat dream, it is a no brainer to DIY banquette seating for this space. So at the outset I was determined to figure out how to DIY banquette seating with the budget I have.

This dining room remodel is a complete DIY. Although I hired out partially on our kitchen and master bathroom remodel, dining room is simple enough that I decided to DIY in my free time, with the help from my husband.

Before building the banquette seating, things we have done are:

  1. remove all the old baseboard. They were pencil molding just a couple inches above the floor so it looked quite dingy. To install cabinet and banquette seat, I need to remove all the surrounding baseboard to that things can sit flush to the wall. After installing the cabinets and banquette, I’ll install some new baseboards.
  2. smooth-coat the wall. The dining room and kitchen are technically one long rectangular space. The kitchen is fully remodeled with new drywalls. However, dining room still have those old plaster texture. Handling the transition between wall texture is extremely hard, so instead we decided to smooth coat the dining room walls and ceiling to make sure the entire space has the same type of wall texture.
  3. we have replaced the window(hired out) with a new window. I’m planning to install new window moldings ourselves.

DIY IKEA banquette seating options and costs

The point of DIY is always the combination of customization and low cost. So I turned to IKEA looking for a system that I can hack into a banquette seating with cabinet built-in.s There were a few options I was considering:

ikea kitchen cabinet banquette seat hack

1. Billy bookcase + Sektion kitchen wall cabinet (left)

2 Sektion wall cabinet for banquette seat + 2 Billy bookcases for storage cabinets. The total costs only $600. The downside is that Billy bookcase is not very deep, so the bench will stick out a few inches at least. Also it may not be as sturdy as Sektion kitchen cabinet line.

2. Sektion kitchen cabinet system (right)

2 wall cabinet serving as banquette seat + and two tall cabinets. This option is very customizable, as I can pick specific cabinet layout, door style, etc.

The cost of this option is around $1200. The downside is the installation difficulty which we experienced a lot during our IKEA kitchen renovation.

3. Local closet store

While I was debating for these options, I also called a local closet company who built our pantry cabinet to give me a quote. Th total cost will be $3400 with MDF materials, and I will need to paint the surface myself.

An encounter with IKEA Havsta system, and why it is meant to be

After comparing the options we have, I was pretty sure I want to take the IKEA route. It is so much cheaper without really sacrificing any quality.

So my husband and I took on a field trip to our local IKEA store to look at those options in person. While we were there, we discovered their new furniture line, called Havsta.

The furniture combo layout in the show room is almost exactly as what I wanted for my banquette seating builtin: a bench which can comfortably seat three people with tall cabinets on both sides to add storage!

The whole combo costs $945 and interestedly the dimension of this combo is EXACTLY the width of wall we have(~127″) – it is meant to be! That means I can achieve a semi built-in style without adding filler pieces and cover panels. 

The only downside is that the cabinet doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling, so it will not look super customized, also I have to modify the TV stand so it is at bench height.

ikea havsta hack into banquette seat

Overall I think it is the best option we have. It require less woodwork and has a lower cost than Sektion kitchen cabinet system. I also love how perfectly it fits my dining space.

So here’s the new mood board with Havsta system in. But instead of a round table, I will use a long rectangular table so we can comfortably fit 8 people in our small dining space. And of course I’ll remove the top portion of the TV stand and sturdy it up a bit so people can sit on it comfortably.

diy ikea banquette seating with ikea havsta tv unit hack

IKEA Havsta hack banquette seating Video

I created this video talking you through my process of this DIY Ikea bench seating project, and highlighted a few key points to make this DIY project successful. You can click on the video below to watch it.

If you want to watch more videos like this, be sure to subscribe to my Youtube channel.

Update: IKEA Havsta TV unit new design and how to convert it to bench seat

I’ve noticed earlier this year Ikea updated their Havsta TV Unit with Base design. But don’t worry, if you still like the Havsta cabinet look, there are 2 ways to make it work:

1. Use Nordli drawer or dresser unit for banquette seat.

I have a blog post and video on hacking Nordli drawer unit for a bench seat. So if you’d like to have drawer storage for your dining banquette, this could be a good option.

I used it for my window seat which is higher than a normal bench seat. If you would like to use it for dining seat, you can opt for a lower base to achieve the perfect dining bench seat height.

Check out this post for instructions.

The downside is the base would look different than the Havsta cabinet. A good solution is to skip the base for Havsta cabinets, and use your custom baseboard for all the Havsta units for a consistent and custom look.

2. Hack new Havsta TV unit into a bench seat.

The second way is to hack the new Havsta TV unit into a banquette seat. Basically you’ll follow the same DIY instructions below, but replace the door to adopt to the new height. Here’s how it works:

First cut off extra height from the TV unit vertical board, and this time there’s no limit of how much you can cut off (yay!). Then attach a bench top to it.

For the doors, replace the sliding doors with 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch board. Cut them to size and use hinges to attach to the main TV unit. Then you can paint everything together with Benjamin Moore Hearthstone (close match to Ikea grey) in a matte or eggshell finish.

Check out this diagram below to see what I’m talking about.

Alternatively, you can skip the door all together and just use some beatiful baskets to store things.

IKEA Havsta hack banquette seating DIY process

diy ikea havsta hacks, banquette seat hack

Step 1. Assemble the cabinets half way

This step is pretty easy, just follow the manual to build up all the boxes. I used a power drill makes my life a little bit easier.

For the tall cabinet, it is actually made of 2 boxes stacking on top of each other. I strategically leave the doors and shelves out in this step as I want to install them when everything is in the right place.

Leaving them out will make anchoring the tall cabinet to the wall a lot easier.

At this phase, don’t fully assemble the TV unit either, since it will require some modification. I’ll talk about it more on step 3.

ikea havsta hack into banquette seat home renovation diy bench seating

Step 2. Arrange the cabinets to the desired location and anchor them to the wall

Because our wall width is the same as this cabinet combo, we push everything straight into the wall. In order for them to stay secure and not tip over, we used the plaster wall anchor to secure all cabinets to the wall, except the banquette part.

The banquette is so low that it won’t tip over. And because things fit tightly, it won’t shift left to right either.

ikea havsta hack into banquette seat home renovation diy

Step 3. Modify Havsta TV stand

Update: Ikea has since update their Havsta TV unit design, and there are a few new ways to hack it into a bench seat (yay!).

Check out the “Update” section to see how to convert it to a bench seat.

For the TV stand (soon-to-be-banquette), it is slightly trickier, but totally achievable. 

First, I build up the base frame – the thing at the very bottom that looks like a baseboard. Then after some measuring and calculating, I cut the three vertical boards shorter. The new height is  12 7/8″ for the two side boards, and 12″ for the middle board, no change on the depth.

Because the door track is built in on these boards, be sure not to over cut. Test the new height by sliding the door to make sure it can move freely on the track once the bench top is on.

You can see in the photo below, I had about 1 1/2″ above the front top of door track.

diy ikea havsta bench seat hack

The original back support was just two thin boards, definitely not sturdy for a bench. So I replaced them with two 1″ x 8″ pine boards siting on the base and stacking on top of each other to add more weight support.

I did trim the top pine board so it is top aligned with those vertical boards.

ikea banquette hack, ikea havsta hack, banquette seating, DIY home renovation
ikea banquette hack, ikea havsta hack, banquette seating, DIY home renovation

Step 4. Attach doors and shelves

Once the location for those cabinets are set, and tall cabinets were anchored to the wall. I started attaching the shelves and doors, following the installation manual.

diy banquette seating, ikea havsta hack, tv stand to banquette seating

Step 5. Add banquette top board

For the top board where people will sit on, I bought IKEA white laminate kitchen countertop for the sturdiness. They are 1 1/8″ thick with laminate finish.  

I cut them to size with a circular saw,  and paint it with a coat of primer which bonds with laminate surface well.

Then I used Benjamin Moore Advance paint in satin finish for durability. The color is 1601 Hearthstone, and I gave it 2 coats of paint.

ikea banquette hack, ikea havsta hack, banquette seating, DIY home renovation

I also spray paint all the knobs into a matte black finish with this spray paint.

I just think it looks more classic and higher end. And you might have noticed that we also added window molding to this window. It made a huge difference!

Actually this matte black spray is probably one of my most frequently used spray paints.

Here’s the after/before comparison of the knobs:

ikea havsta storage cabinet hack

That’s all for the DIY IKEA banquette project with Havsta hack! I hope you get helpful tips from this tutorial.

This dining banquette project turned out to be really successful and we have been seating on it daily ever since! No one seats on the dining chairs anymore! 

With the banquette seat and cabinets, we were able to add so much storage without looking visually crowded – I always prefer to make use of vertical space.

To get all the sources of my dining room furniture, decor and paint colors, you can visit dining room sources page.

And follow me on Instagram if you’d like to see more ideas on making your home functional and beautiful 🙂

ikea havsta cabinet, diy banquette seating hacks

Dining room source

Wall color: Benjamin Moore Simply White

Banquette seating with cabinets

Dining Table (purchased second hand and refinished using minwax classic gray)

Roman shades

Small wicker basket

More IKEA hacks

DIY Ikea Window Seat with Ikea Nordli Dresser Hack

5 Ways To Make Your IKEA Sofa Looks More Expensive + IKEA Sofa Buying Tips

Home office desk built-in with Ikea Alex desk and drawer hack

IKEA Kitchen Cabinets Honest Review

IKEA Kitchen Cabinets Organization Ideas and Hacks

Pin it for later

diy ikea banquette seating, ikea havsta hack, DIY bench seating

Filed Under: DIY, Interiors Tagged With: diy banquette seating, diy breakfast nook, havsta built-in, ikea banquette, ikea havsta, ikea havsta hack

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Comments

  1. Ashley says

    January 28, 2022 at 2:41 PM

    Hi Kelin! I’m so glad I found this! Our wall is a little shorter, do you think its possible to cut the centerpiece, the TV stand, a little on each side to make it fit? We’ll have to make new doors anyway since Ikea changed the design a bit!

    Thanks!
    Ashley

    Reply
  2. Jennifer says

    September 27, 2021 at 3:53 PM

    Hey Kelin! 🙂 Your tutorial and posts are incredible! You are so detail-oriented and it is very helpful and easy to follow along, to see how you complete your projects!

    I have a very long dining room wall that sadly doesn’t have a window – its just a blank ~199″ long wall, and I want to create a built in unit on it. I’d love to use two of the Havsta (bookcase/china cabinets) on each end, and create a bench seat in the center of the two. I would also upgrade our current 7′ table to a 10′.

    I’m trying to picture/imagine how these Havsta units would look with 3-4 of the $60 Nordli units in between as the bench seating. I’d be combining part of this tutorial with your other one from your bedroom window seat tutorial. My question to you is if I get both of these in the white finish (Ikea Havsta (2) and Ikea Nordli (3-4 as I am trying to decide on whether or not 4 is too many), will they look okay together? I am a little worried the styles are too different to use them together…but I really like the idea of the storage/drawers with the Nordli hack. The closest Ikea store is ~3 hours away from me, so going by “just to see” is not as easy.

    I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, or if you have another suggestion for my china cabinet/bench banquette idea!

    Thanks,
    Jennifer

    Reply
  3. kitza says

    May 21, 2021 at 10:20 AM

    Where did you get those pillows? And if my floor is uneven how can i level the cabinets out better?

    Reply
    • Kelin says

      May 25, 2021 at 9:18 PM

      Most of those are DIY, try search “DIY pillow” on my blog.
      You can shim the bottom to make the bench seat more even

      Reply
  4. Debbie says

    February 19, 2021 at 12:40 PM

    Hello,

    I could not find the HAVSTA TV unit at IKEA, May I have the product # please?

    Thank you!

    Reply
    • Kelin says

      February 24, 2021 at 1:51 PM

      Here’s a link. https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/havsta-tv-unit-with-base-white-40480371/
      Ikea has changed Havsta TV unit design and I have come up with new ways to hack it. Check out the updated section in this post.

      Reply
  5. Javier says

    December 30, 2020 at 2:12 AM

    It looks like the Havsta Tv base cabinet for this set now includes sliding glass doors which aren’t the best option for something behind feet and legs. Am I missing something or was the cabinet you used phased out? Thank you

    Reply
    • Kelin says

      December 30, 2020 at 8:23 PM

      Yes from Ikea’s website, it looks like they have changed their Havsta TV unit design. The new design is a lot harder to modify into a bench.

      Reply
  6. Lisa says

    December 3, 2020 at 7:36 PM

    Thank you so much for your detailed post! Our project had slight differences, but it came out great!

    Reply
    • Kelin says

      December 4, 2020 at 1:13 PM

      awesome! if you ever want to share your finished project with me in the future, tag on on IG @hydrangeatreehouse 🙂

      Reply
  7. Stewart Boland says

    November 11, 2020 at 11:53 PM

    Great project…..I need to add a radiator cover between my grey havsta, and I need to colour match.
    Have you any idea what the grey colour is called and where I could get it, thx

    Reply
    • Kelin says

      November 14, 2020 at 1:46 PM

      I found a similar color from benjamin moore. called hearthstone.

      Reply
  8. Samantha Young says

    September 22, 2020 at 6:49 AM

    Hi! I love your idea for this! I was wondering if you are able to extend the tv stand stand which you turned into a banquette bench?

    Reply
    • Kelin says

      September 22, 2020 at 6:23 PM

      You can extend it by a few inches by using filler pieces or double it up, but might be tricky to do in between sizes as you’ll loose storage space

      Reply
  9. Caroline says

    August 6, 2020 at 7:29 PM

    just want to drop a note and say thank you for this great DIY. We bought the two cabinets and our handyman built a bench in the middle and added a shelf on top to give it the custom built-in look. It’s amazing and even though we paid him, it was a lot cheaper than getting the whole thing custom made! Wish I could post a photo…

    Reply
    • Kelin says

      August 6, 2020 at 7:47 PM

      Wow I’m soooo happy to hear that! And yes this is such a great hack because it saves so much money comparing to hiring someone to build everything from scratch. If you happen to be on instagram you can tag me @hydrangeatreehouse of your photos, but otherwise no pressure 🙂

      Reply
  10. Deb says

    June 28, 2020 at 8:28 AM

    Hi – I love the banquette bench, it looks great! I wanted to ask why you only cut the center board to 12″ but the end boards were but to 12 7/8″?

    Thanks so much for your help,

    Reply
    • Brian says

      June 28, 2020 at 11:05 AM

      Hi, we have recently done the same hack, the centre board sits on the base board and the other two sit on the side of the base board, so the centre has to be shorter for them all to be the same height when the top is fitted. It makes sense when you see all the components. Hope this helps

      Reply
      • Deb says

        June 28, 2020 at 5:30 PM

        thanks for the reply, very helpful this does make sense!!

        Reply
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Hi there, I’m Kelin. I like making home personalized and pretty using a DIY approach and share everything I’ve learned along the way. Read More.

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