DIY fitted wardrobes – how to hack your freestanding flatpacks
DIY fitted wardrobes with MDF cladding and built-in desk
This DIY fitted wardrobes project is honestly one of my favourite budget DIYs ever. I hacked them as part of a boy’s bedroom revamp in my eldest son’s bedroom. He needed somewhere to sit and do homework (& gaming!) as well as somewhere to store clothes as he’d had a freestanding clothes rail for years which was a bit wobbly and the clothes that weren’t worn often collected dust.
We didn’t have the budget to commission a carpenter to build bespoke fitted wardrobes, but I love the built-in look and wanted to make the most of every inch of storage, so I came up with a plan to create the perfect DIY fitted wardrobes using two modest freestanding flatpack wardrobes that I found in the Argos sale for about £80 each.
The beauty of this DIY fitted wardrobes project is that you don’t need many tools as you can get the mdf sheets pre-cut and sent to you. This also saves a lot of effort in terms of the DIY and makes it an achievable project for a novice. If you knuckle down, you could complete this DIY in a weekend, but I actually did it in stages and spread it out over some weeks.
Materials and Tools You’ll Need:
Materials
- Two freestanding wardrobes (I found these in the Argos sale)
- CLS timber (for framing) – I used my usual timber from B&Q
- MDF sheets (I chose to use the beadboard variety stocked by Panels by Sofia. This item was a PR product more on that below)
- Screws
- Wall fixings
- Grab adhesive
- Coving
- Skirting board
- Handles
- Decorator’s caulk
- Strip moulding to cover the joins
- Sandpaper
- Paint
Tools
- Saw
- Drill
- Screwdriver
- Measuring tape
- Spirit level
- Caulking gun
- Wall scanner
- A second pair of hands (useful for lifting the freestanding wardrobes onto the frame)
Build and position your wardrobes
Before you begin, ensure your wardrobes fit well in your chosen space. Measure the ceiling height and the available width. It’s a good idea to sketch out your wardrobe design to visualize how everything will come together, although I often rely on the most basic of sketches on the back of an envelope!
The freestanding wardrobes I chose were on offer so were VERY cost effective, but they were very short, hence the frame I built for storage above. If your wardrobes are tall, you might not need that. If you also buy new flatpacks, you might need a second pair of hands to construct them.
Position your wardrobes where you want them, ensuring they are level. If your flooring is uneven, use shims to make adjustments, but don’t fit them yet as you are going to build a base to sit them on.
Build a CLS timber base frame
To give your wardrobes a sturdy and level foundation and lift them up to add some skirting (to finish the built-in look), construct a CLS timber frame for them to sit on. I was building a desk in between them, so only wanted the base under the wardrobes with a gap in the middle, if you are doing a wall of DIY fitted wardrobes, then build your frame the entire length of the wall.
- Measure the footprint of your wardrobes.
- Cut the CLS timber to size.
- Assemble the frame using screws, ensuring it’s level and secure.
- Fix the frame to the floor or the wall if you can (taking care to check for water pipes or electrical cables with a wall scanner) to prevent movement.
- Place your wardrobes onto the base frame that you’ve made.
Frame the gap between the top and ceiling
To create the perfect fit, fill the gap between the top of your wardrobes and the ceiling with a timber frame. This step was really important on my build as the freestanding wardrobes I’d bought were short so there was a large gap up to the ceiling. If you have tall wardrobes, you might only need to fix a baton along the top of the wardrobe edge or onto the ceiling to attach the tops of the MDF cladding sheets to. Below are the instructions for the frame as I built.
With the frame, I made sure not to have any timber at the front along the base as I didn’t want to have to lift anything I stored above the wardrobes over it. That’s why I chose the shape frame I did.
- Measure the gap between the wardrobe tops and the ceiling.
- Construct a simple CLS timber frame to fit this space.
- Secure the frame to both the wardrobes and the ceiling with fixings. My ceiling was untested artex, so I didn’t want to screw into it for fear of disturbing asbestos fibres. Therefore, I secured the frame to the top of the wardrobes and the wall instead.
This will give your built-in wardrobes a seamless, custom-made look and provide a sturdy structure to secure the MDF and coving to.
Clad with MDF Sheets ( the magic step for DIY fitted wardrobes)
Attach MDF sheets to the wardrobe sides, front frame, and top gap to complete the built-in look. Ad info: the MDF sheets were provided by Panels by Sofia as a PR product. I’ve purchased their fluted MDF for previous projects and loved it, so I was keen to try this new product they offered. It comes pre-primed which was amazing and saved a lot of time, effort and cost and they even offer a cutting service if you don’t want the hassle of cutting the sheets. You input your measurements at the time of ordering and they send them ready to install.
Note: As I was creating a built-in desk in between the DIY fitted wardrobes, I attached a large MDF panel to the wall in between. This honestly made such an amazing impact and was the perfect backdrop for the desk.
- Cut MDF panels to size if you haven’t sourced pre-cut MDF.
- Use grab adhesive and screws to fix them to the freestaqnding wardrobes and CLS timber frame. I chose locations where the screws would be least visible. You could countersink them and then fill the holes over the top, but I used screws with small heads and embedded them in enough to fill over.
- Ensure all edges align neatly for a seamless effect.
- Once you’ve added the side panels, you’ll need to cover the joins which I did by attaching a piece of ribbed strip moulding over the edge (see below) or watch this video…
At this point, your own wardrobes will start looking like beautiful DIY fitted wardrobes.
Fit an MDF desk between the wardrobes
If you want to incorporate a desk between your wardrobes like I did, then follow these steps…
- Measure the space between the wardrobes.
- Cut an MDF panel to fit as the desk surface.
- Fix the desk securely to the wardrobe sides using brackets or additional CLS supports (be sure to use a spirit level when you attach the CLS supports to ensure that the desk top is level once fitted.
- Caulk around the edge of the desk and smooth with a clean finger and allow to dry.
This built-in desk makes a big difference in both aesthetics and functionality and my not-so-little one loved it.
Attach coving to your DIY fitted wardrobes
Adding coving at the top of the MDF sheet where it meets the ceiling gives the appearance of truly built-in bedroom furniture and allows you to create a really neat finish.
I used the pre-cut corners because they are quick and easy to attach and save the need to get a super tall mitre box to ensure the coving sits at the right angle. I currently only have a short mitre box which isn’t ideal for cutting coving corners.
You’ll need to calculate how many inner or outer corners you need for your build. By adding a desk in middle, I created two extra outer and inner corners, if you create a wall of fitted wardrobes then you’ll only have corners at each end.
- Cut the coving corner pieces in half to create one inner or outer corner.
- Apply grab adhesive to hold the corner pieces together then position above the wardrobes.
- Once the corners are all in place, measure and cut coving to fit accross the wardrobe top and meet each corner.
- Use adhesive to secure it and use a spirit level to check the coving is level
- Fill any gaps with caulk
- Sand smooth once dried and repeat if any further caulking is required
Extend the wardrobe doors to ceiling height
At this point, you have some almost convincing fitted wardrobes, but there is a gaping hole above each one. I overcame this issue with a simple hack by attaching floor to ceiling MDF panels to the existing doors. This was the piece de resistance and created the fitted look.
Important note: Because of the way the doors were fitted on the freestanding wardrobes that we used as the shell, I wasn’t able to attach panels that were the full width. The existing door edges went inside the carcass of the wardrobe, so by adding a further 9mm of depth with the MDF panels there wasn’t room for them to fit inside the edge upon opening. I came up with a simple solution for this challenge and that was to cut the doors to be a couple of cm narrower that the existing doors so they met at the inside edge but there was a gap down each outer edge. I made this look like a design feature by painting the visible slither of the existing doors and the frame above so when you looked at the doors straight on the whole area was blue and there was a cut-out channel down each outer edge.
- Cut MDF panels to match the width of the wardrobe doors (or allow a gap like I did if the outer edge of the existing door goes inside the wardrobe when fully open) and extend their height.
- Attach the panels to the existing wardrobe doors using grab adhesive. I used the Panels by Sofia grab adhesive and it was amazingly strong.
- Lay flat while the glue sets to ensure no movement and weigh down or clamp the MDF sheets onto the wardrobe doors.
- Once the glue is set, re-attach the doors and you’ll need to play around adjusting the hinges to get them straight, level and aligned with each other – as you can see, I took the images above before I’d adjusted them!
Paint the DIY fitted wardrobes
To complete your DIY wardrobes:
- Fill screw holes and seams with wood filler and allow to dry
- Sand everything smooth.
- Apply primer if your mdf panels weren’t pre-primed
- Apply at least two coats of paint to the wardrobes and desk if you built one, allowing sufficient drying time in between.
- I used Valspar’s Blue Tea shade as it was perfect for my son’s room and not too dark or light. It has a slightly grey undertone, which worked perfectly with all the grey Lego models that I displayed on the walls.
- Install handles to the doors once the paint has fully dried. I used these super bargain ones from Amazon which you could attach using adhesive pads, they are a game changer.
Fancy making some DIY fitted wardrobes of your own?
This DIY project was such a satisfying one. It cost very little considering the final results and saved hundreds compared to the cost of creating bespoke furniture from scratch. By building a simple CLS frame, cladding in MDF, and adding wardrobe design elements like coving and extended wardrobe doors, you can achieve a high-end, built-in wardrobe look.
For some more info on this project, check out this Instagram reel I made…
