How to turn wardrobe into a temple?

diy_abhi

Hi everyone,

I need a bit of guidance from this amazing community.

So, I made a promise to my wife that I’d build a beautiful Indian home temple for our house — something serene and traditional. As a base, I’ve picked up the IKEA PAX wardrobe (pictured in white below), and I’ve also purchased four white corner shelves from ANKO.

I’m using the second image (the warm-toned wooden temple) purely as inspiration. I know I can’t recreate that exactly, but I want to capture at least some of the essence and bring in key elements:

🔹 Plan so far:

• Mount the four corner shelves inside the PAX.
• Create a decorative centerpiece with a laser-cut panel (with an "Om" or mandala design).
• Build an elevated platform at the bottom for the main deity idol.
• Use USB rechargeable lights for illumination (keeping it simple on the lighting front).

🔹 Challenges:

• The backboard of the PAX is extremely thin — it’s just a basic ply board and won’t support the weight of corner shelves.
• I need recommendations on how to reinforce the back, or alternative ways to mount the shelves.
• For the laser-cut centerpiece, what type of ply/MDF/wood should I use that will hold well, and can be cut at Bunnings (or elsewhere)?
• I’d also love ideas on how to build a simple elevated base or plinth for the main deity — either using timber or other materials.

🔹 What I need help with:

• Specific products or materials from Bunnings that would help me with:
  • Reinforcing the back
  • Corner shelf mounting
  • Decorative panel (MDF, ply, etc.)
  • Elevated deity base
• Any in-store services at Bunnings (like cutting, laser engraving, or timber shaping)?
• Tips from anyone who has done something similar — I’d really appreciate your insight!

I've got the motivation (and pressure 😅) to make this happen — I just need some practical ideas to get it to a stage that will meet my wife’s expectations. Thanks a ton in advance!

Inspiration for the temple:

Current State:

Corner shelves (4 in number):

Cheers
Abh

JacobZ

Hi @diy_abhi,

What a fantastic project, I'd love to help out where I can.

Unfortunately, Bunnings does not offer any kind of laser cutting or intricate cutting services. You would have to look into a laser cutting service or maybe a woodworking or cabinet making shop with access to a CNC router for this part of the project.

Outside of this, there are a few reasonably simple solutions to your issues. 

For the back of the cabinet, I would replace the thin backing sheet with a sheet of CUSTOMpine 16 x 2400 x 1200mm White Matt Carcass Particleboard MR. At 16mm thick, there is plenty of holding capacity to support those shelves. Our cutting service can be used to cut sheet stock to the nearest 100mm. Therefore, unless the cupboard is sized to the nearest 100mm, you will need to cut it to size yourself. To do this, you can use How To Cut a Laminate Benchtop as an example of the technique you would use.

Once cut to size, it could be screwed to the back of the cupboard using Zenith 8G x 30mm Countersunk Rib Head Chipboard Screws. You should use a Sutton Tools 3mm Viper Jobber Drill Bit to drill pilot holes in your material before driving in the screws.

For the plinth to support the deity, you could use the same particleboard; you may even have some off-cuts that would work. Simply cut 5 strips and a panel to sit on top, 2 for the width and 3 for the depth, with a sheet on top.

You would use the same screws and drill bit to put pilot holes in the material. You could also use a countersink bit to drive the screws below the surface of the material. They can then be covered with Taskmaster 15mm White Self Adhesive Screw Caps. If there are any exposed sides, they can be covered with iron on melamine edging.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob