IKEA Toddler Tower Hack Bekvam £29 + Oddvar £13

[BakeOffRewatch]

Anyone tried it and would recommend? Can’t find any forum posts on it, only influencer posts. Very tempting at that price point, but am I just going to end up with something that doesn’t fit the bill.

ohhidiy.com/diy-learning-tower-ikea-bekvam-odvar-hack

Proper toddler tower are soooo expensive. This is one I’m considering from Etsy because at least it’s multifunctional, it’s still over £150 though 😱

Becoming an urgent matter because toddler is dangerously climbing up us or on drawer handles just to see what we’re doing.

Oh and if anyone has any other recommendations, I’d be delighted! Currently we move a big ottoman but it’s not convenient to move and still worrying.

Mine just stand on a solid chair. The front of the chair I put against the cupboard and the back of the chair protects from falling off backwards. The sides are open and they can climb up and down. My youngest is nearly two and has been able to climb onto a chair for at least 6 months.

Yes we’ve done it and it’s brilliant. One thing I will say though is that it’s only sustainable in the long term if you have a skinny child. DS is 4 and still only weighs 15 kg so can still just get in and out but if you have a chunky toddler they could struggle from About two years old.

on the other hand, it’s cheap and easy to assemble so I’d recommend giving it a go, you can always pass it on once it’s too small.

£80 for a Callowesse Step-Up Wooden Learning Tower was the best I could find. I don't trust my DIY enough to make one...

I don’t get it? We have the stool but that’s it and even my 15MO manages to get up and down ok. It wouldn’t have occurred to be that you’d need like a cage thing on top of the stool…

We just had the IKEA stool with no frame for toddlers. I reckon even little kids don't want to hurt themselves and can learn to stand on a big solid stool like that. I was v careful to keep pans out of reach and to teach the child to only grab the work surface and not the utensils.

That looks so unsafe.

Sorry I agree with PPs. What is wrong with a normal stool?

Surely a normal stool would be safer? That looks a lot less stable than the stool by itself, and I would worry that a child would rock/push/ fling themselves at the enclosure part and topple it over.

What’s wrong with a chair?

It seems to me it's spending money for the sake of it. Toddlers are toddlers for a tiny amount of time.
Save your money and put it in an ISA for when they are teens and will spend your money like water.

I used a small step ladder. The one with 2 steps and a platform and the bar on top.

But I wouldn't necessarily recommend what I did - I was often accused of being too laid back 🤣🤣

Toddler dd just uses a normal stool. Self preservation seems to serve her well and prevents her from launching herself from it...

If you have the kind of toddler who needs a cage like that, they will probably climb the cage too and topple the whole thing

I just used that Ikea stool - didn't build a cage bit on top. None of mine ever fell off!

I did it during the first lockdown , was pretty easy but to be honest we never use it , it's pretty cumbersome and gets in the way , so it was just moved to a corner and left there , I wish I just left the stool as normal

Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences with the hack @Greaterthanthesumoftheparts and @surreymum89 . Opposite ends of the spectrum! You should post it on gumtree if you don’t use it anymore, in London there’s someone who paints them in F&B colours and sells them at a high mark-up.

I’m not worried about the DIY aspect, just wasting time getting the bits and doing it, only to find there’s something inconvenient about the end result. Good to hear from people who have done it and also people who say the Bekvam on its own is fine.

I saw this dunelm stool too where the little step folds away
www.dunelm.com/product/wooden-foldable-step-stool-1000198541

@crispsandwichplease Did you get the callowese? Reviews online don’t seem so good.

There’s nothing wrong with a normal stool, I didn’t post “AIBU for wanting to IKEA hack a toddler tower” 😂. I appreciate everyone’s first hand experiences.

Talked myself into as can easily sell on - there’s gumtree listings for it at £60 so will recover costs at least. Think I’ll enjoy doing it too.

I got DD a Stokke Tripp trapp second hand on Facebook marketplace. Brilliant as a chair as it supports their feet but also works really well as a set of steps up to the kitchen counter for baking or whatever.

Yes they might fall off this set up but it's no more unsafe than the thing in the picture in your link. Basically you can't leave your toddler standing at a height regardless of what the contraption is.

Ah just saw I forgot the link to the transforming one I had been looking at, is a desk and chair too www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1163051691/transformable-kitchen-tower-kitchen

My dd was one of those babies/toddlers who screamed whenever not involved, so we bought a second hand tower thing (helper pod perhaps, can't remember the name). Bought it for £50 (can't remember exact figures as it was 5 years ago!) and re-sold it 2 years later for the same price. So although they're expensive, if you buy second hand they'll hold their value.

We did this hack but built the top from scratch as the table wasnt around then. It got a lot of use and is now in its 4th home and 6th child.

So long as you have the space go for it.

@INeedNewShoes i use a 40cm square solid (as in no legs, it’s a block) footstool at the moment and foot slips off edges if overexcited and stamp feet or tired and getting clumsy. Which are the two times they’re screaming to be at counter height, they just want to see what we’re doing and I think the rails add a sense of space and boundary and something for them to hold on to. Don’t worry, absolutely no intention of leaving them unattended in it.

I can’t find one second hand @seven201 unfortunately. I have been following on gumtree and fb marketplace for a while and only business sellers selling DIY ones at a high mark up or ones that don’t look as good as the Etsy one I linked but same list price.

@Greaterthanthesumoftheparts @surreymum89 @mogtheexcellent Could you please share the tutorial you followed? Did you use screws or wood/gorilla glue or both?

I put a wanted ad on my local Facebook group and then had a few people message me about selling theirs. Good luck with buying or making one.

I've made this, but I just got wood,cut it and attached it to the stool. Its a little rustic, but does the job.

I've been using it for years, before I could trust DS not to step back off a chair or open step. He's actually getting a bit tall for it, he's 90th centile and 4 in Sept, so it'll be getting retired soon to be used by younger DS.

For us it's safer as DS is a right wriggler!