Cane Webbing Cabinet IKEA Hack

For those that asked about this cane webbing IKEA Hack I posted about the other day... 

After searching all the local stores and hours on the internet to find a boho cabinet with cane webbing, I found they were all very expensive. I was looking for a cabinet for Tess's room to hide all of the books that were overflowing the baskets they were in. It didn't make sense to spend that much money on something that would be in a 4 year old's bedroom, as it would likely become broken or covered in marker at some point. I basically gave up on the idea of something cute and functional and bought a wood cabinet Facebook Marketplace. I was not excited about my purchase, but for $100, it would do the job. Once I got it home, I realized it was IKEA. I had seen some IKEA hacks online, but all required some DIY. After a little research, I decided to try one of the hacks I saw. This hack involved changing out the doors to the cabinet and glueing in cane webbing. 

The cabinet I purchased secondhand was the IKEA BESTA cabinet in the wood finish. It came with flat panel Lappviken doors, also in the wood finish. I ordered 3 white Hanviken framed doors because they have the middle portion cut out. This is where the cane webbing will go. The hinges were able to be transferred from the Lappviken doors onto the Hanviken doors. If you do not have the IKEA doors with hinges already on your cabinet, you will want to purchase the hinges for each cabinet door from IKEA too.

There are many options for cane webbing. The hacks I saw purchased theirs from Amazon but it was sold out when I was looking. I ended up ordering this cane webbing from The Online Fabric Store. For my 3 cabinets, I ordered the 24" wide Open Box Weave cane webbing in a quantity of 6. After I placed my order, I found out the product was on backorder. It arrived after several weeks.

The blog posts and YouTube videos I had planned to follow cut the cane webbing with scissors. They measured and fit each piece precisely to the opening in cabinet door and used glue to adhere it. I was extremely nervous about messing this part up. I am so happy I waited for my parents to come to Orlando and help me. My dad is a contractor and suggested using spray contact adhesive instead of the Gorilla Glue and foam paint brushes I had purchased. We would spray the opening in the cabinet and the back of the cane webbing and stick them together. Then, use a utility knife to cut around the edge so the webbing would lay flat.

​I jokingly told my dad that I was going to document this brilliant idea in case other people wanted to try it. I should have taken a video or actually used my camera but I didn't really think anyone would care. But here we are with the low quality iphone photos because several people actually reached out for a tutorial!  

We cut (with scissors) the cane webbing into 3 large pieces that we knew would be more than enough to fit each opening. The cane webbing is pretty stiff and mine was rounded from being rolled up. We rolled each piece up backwards and secured it with rubber bands and let the rolled up webbing sit for a couple hours. We ran to Home Depot to get the spray adhesive, yellow tape and a utility knife.  We taped the raised portion and sides of the white cabinet doors with yellow tape. We made sure the hinges were flipped downward so they wouldn't get spray adhesive on them.

​My dad sprayed the opening of the front of each door. The spray came out with much more texture than expected so he gently wiped it with a paper towel. Do this very gently or the paper towel will get stuck! He then sprayed in inside edges with another coat of adhesive and wiped again. There is a 10 minute window for the adhesive. If it dries for too long, it will loose the ability to bond. We learned this from experience!! 

​We taped again (over the tape that was still attached) so the cane webbing would not stick to the adhesive that got on the first layer of tape. Then, sprayed the back of each piece of cane webbing. ​

We gently laid the cane webbing on the cabinet to make sure it was straight and started pressing from the middle out to the edges and corners to make sure it would stick everywhere and there were no bubbles. My dad then took a utility knife and cut around each edge as I pressed the edges down while he cut. We did not have to wait for anything to dry. He attached the cabinet doors and it was done!

​I really cannot claim that I was very much help in this project but hopefully this post is helpful to anyone looking to do something similar!