Changing table topper Build it yourself
Fits your IKEA chest of drawers
Hurray – you’re expecting!
Jump to related topics
- Materials required & shopping list
- Tools required
- Limmalands’ ‘ changing table topper’ for the IKEA HEMNES
- Safety precautions
- Changing table topper Build it yourself: Instructions
- Step 1: Build the top
- Step 2: Connect the top section and the chest of drawers lid
- Step 3: Build the changing table shelf
- Step 4: Attach the shelf to the chest of drawers
- Conclusion: Build your own ‘ changing table topper’
- Converting measurements for other IKEA chests of drawers
Tools and materials
Identifying the wooden panels
Tools
- Wood screws
- Screwdriver (if available: cordless screwdriver)
- Cordless drill
- Saw (if available: (router) or (surface) planer)
- Sandpaper (if available: router or sander)
- Optional: Primer & furniture paint
Limmaland’s changing table topper for the IKEA HEMNES chest of drawers
Incidentally, it’s much easier with our changing table topper for the HEMNES chest of drawers from IKEA. All you need is a cordless drill and a screwdriver; we’ll prepare everything else for you. The changing table topper is incredibly easy to assemble and attach to the HEMNES. And the result is impressive – the changing table topper nestles elegantly against the chest of drawers and becomes an eye-catcher in any room!
More reasons why the changing table topper is worth it :
- Rounded corners and edges minimise the risk of injury to your baby
- Maximum safety thanks to additional wall mounting
- Generous changing surface and plenty of storage space for maximum convenience
- Easy storage of changing essentials thanks to the practical back panel shelf
- Easy to clean surfaces
- Significantly more cost-effective to buy ready-made. Compared to a DIY changing table ( changing table topper), you save €28.45*
Find out more about the ' changing table topper' here: :
Changing table topper DIY: Instructions
Have you got all the materials and tools for your DIY changing table topper ready? Then let’s get started!
We’ll show you step by step how to build your own ‘ changing table topper’ for your ‘ chest of drawers’. It’s best to follow the individual steps in these instructions carefully; then nothing should go wrong during assembly.
Before you can start building your own ‘ changing table topper’, however, you should take a few important safety precautions.
Safety precautions
As with all manual activities, especially when working with wood, we also recommend taking certain safety precautions and using important protective equipment. This includes:
- Goggles to protect your eyes from debris such as flying sawdust and dust
- Protective clothing, such as protective gowns, gloves and safe footwear
- Hearing protection can be helpful for those sensitive to noise if your drill is particularly loud.
- Sufficient lighting is important for working precisely, cleanly and safely
- A safe working environment is extremely important to ensure safety during manual work. It also makes your work much more pleasant. Move obstacles such as chairs and tools lying around out of the way and always make it as easy as possible for yourself when building.
- Technical and manual expertise is required to operate tools and machines safely and properly. Only use technical equipment according to the instructions and be aware of your skills!
If you want to build the changing table topper in the home yourself, you need to be particularly aware that working with wood can create a lot of mess. To counteract unhealthy wood dust in the air as much as possible, you should always ventilate well, or preferably even work with the window open.
Profit tip: moisten the wooden boards with a little water before pre-drilling to nip any dust in the bud.
Protection for changing table topper and the surrounding area
To ensure the changing unit is used safely, you should always place it on a surface such as a rug to prevent the wood from being damaged or scratching the floor. You should also only use screws, drill bits and other tools designed for working with wood. This prevents the wood from splintering, splitting or producing an uneven finish when drilling or screwing.
Part 1: Building the ' changing table topper'
The first step is to build the part of the changing unit that will later rest on the chest of drawers.
For the unit, you will need boards A, B and E
- Pre-drill the boards at the points marked in the diagram to prevent the wood from splitting later
- Next, take the wood screws and join boards A and B via the pre-drilled holes to form a ‘U’.
- Now you can screw board E to the U-shape from below.
- Finally, sand down the edges of the assembled changing unit to minimise the risk of injury to your little one. Use a router or a sander for this. Alternatively, you can use standard sandpaper. Start with coarse-grit sandpaper and finish with a fine-grit to achieve a smooth finish.
Optional intermediate step:
If you’d prefer a different colour for your homemade changing table topper than the natural brown of the wooden boards, now is the right time to prime your finished changing table topper and then paint it in the colour of your choice.
Priming protects the wood from liquids and improves the adhesion and coverage of the furniture paint.
You can use
standard all-purpose primer to prime your DIY changing table. You can find this at any DIY store or online.
In this example
, we are using VINCENT All-Purpose Primer in white.
Part 2: Connecting the top section and the chest of drawers
- To do this, first remove the top of the chest of drawers. As this step may vary depending on the chest of drawers, you should follow the original IKEA assembly instructions.
- Pre-drill the top and the top section, then screw the removed chest of drawers top onto the changing table topper from below. The boards A should now rest on the top, and board E should seamlessly extend the top at the rear end.
Important: Do not reattach the chest of drawers lid, together with changing table topper, to the chest of drawers just yet. This will be the final step in these instructions.
Part 3: The shelf for the changing table topper
Once you have finished building the ‘ changing table topper’, you can now start assembling the matching shelf. The shelf will sit behind the ‘ chest of drawers’ and serve both as a practical storage solution for nappy-changing essentials and as a support for the ‘ changing table topper’.
For the shelf, you will need boards C, D, F, G and H.
For clarity, we’ve split the assembly of the shelf into two parts: first, we’ll build the base, and then attach the front and back panels ( backsplash) to it.
Step 1: Build the base
The base consists of boards F, 2xG and 1xH.
- If you haven’t already done so at the start of the assembly instructions, now cut board G in half to obtain two identical pieces.
- Pre-drill and then screw the two newly created G boards together with board F to form a "U".
- Now place board H on top of the U like a lid
- If board H is slightly wider than the G boards, that’s no problem. Just make sure the excess is at the back so that the shelf connects seamlessly to the chest of drawers later on.
Step 2: Assemble the walls and floors
Now you will need the remaining boards C, D and 2x H
- Now attach the pre-drilled front board C to the open side of the base
- Next, screw the shelf boards into place. Tip: place the shelf horizontally on the floor; this makes assembly easier. Pre-drill the remaining 2xH and screw them onto board C at any height along their long side.
- Now attach board D to the front of the shelf ( back side). The board rests on the base
Optional intermediate steps :
- If you have sockets on the wall, you can now cut suitable recesses into the backsplash D before fixing it in place
- . You can then prime and paint the back wall shelf, just as you did with the changing table topper. Use a suitable surface for this to avoid scratching the floor or getting it dirty with primer.
Part 4: Fitting the shelf and the ‘ changing table topper’ to the ‘ chest of drawers’
Once the shelf has been assembled and, if necessary, the primer and paint have dried, you can move on to the next step: screwing the shelf to the IKEA ‘ chest of drawers’.
- To do this, first set up the chest of drawers and make sure to pre-drill the holes. Be particularly careful, as a drilling error could damage the chest of drawers. Tip: For an ‘ chest of drawers’ made of soft wood (HEMNES and SONGESAND), it’s best to use a thin drill bit at high speed to prevent fraying. You should take care with veneered wood, as is the case with the IKEA MALM. Here, a slightly lower speed is recommended.
- Now take some wood screws and drill the shelf onto the back side of the chest of drawers via the front board C. Make sure there is a seamless transition.
- In the final step, all that remains is to reattach the top panel, along with the changing table topper, to the chest of drawers. To do this, follow the official IKEA assembly instructions again.
Pictures of the finished changing table
Conclusion: Build your own changing table topper
And that’s it – you’ve built your very own changing table topper! In these instructions, we’ve shown you, step by step, how to build your own changing table top. You can repeat this process as often as you like and for almost any chest of drawers, because you can never have too many changing options! What’s more, having several changing tables adds a bit of variety to your daily life as a parent!
To ensure your baby doesn’t have to be changed on hard wood, you’ll also need a suitable Changing pad. Our new Changing pad, designed to match the changing table topper, is wonderfully airy, soft and machine-washable at 60 degrees thanks to its 100% breathable cotton. It also fits perfectly with the dimensions of your homemade Changing pad!
Everything you need for your Changing pad :
PUR WINDING KIT
PUR WINDING KIT
Converting the measurements for other chests of drawers
If you’d like to build the top section for a different chest of drawers than the IKEA SONGESAND, you’ll need to convert the measurements from the shopping list for your chest of drawers. This is particularly easy for the IKEA HEMNES and MALM.
Please note: to ensure you don’t only realise your mistake once you’ve already bought the expensive wood for the changing table topper and are just about to start building, you should bear the following in mind when converting the dimensions: it’s not just the dimensions of the respective chests of drawers that change, but also the ratio of the individual dimensions to one another. This means the new dimensions cannot be determined simply by calculating the differences! Bear this in mind and nothing will stand in the way of your DIY changing table topper.
Not interested in fiddly calculations and costly risks? Then it’s worth using our changing table topper for the IKEA HEMNES; we’ve already introduced these to you in this article.
Alternatively, you can also find our changing table topper here :
More topics related to changing tables
Alternatives to a changing table
Comparison: Which IKEA ‘ chest of drawers’ is the best changing table?
Setting up and organising a changing table
Decorations for your changing table
