People are turning a $200 Ikea cabinet into DIY greenhouses for indoor plants, and a man with 40 plants showed us his genius hack
- Seth Falk shared a DIY hack for turning a $200 Milsbo Ikea cabinet into a greenhouse.
- He added grow lights, fans, and a humidity gauge to the glass cabinet to help his plants thrive.
- Falk's converted greenhouse cabinet lets him grow tropical plants indoors without any natural light.
Zookeeper and small-business owner Seth Falk loves tropical plants. But he also lives in a windowless basement with no natural light, an environment where they don't normally thrive.
So he created an indoor greenhouse to give his tropical plants a little help.
His Ikea hack is part of a growing trend among plant enthusiasts - Ikea cabinet greenhouses.
"A lot of plant hobbyists use Ikea pieces to make greenhouses for their plants and their home," Brittany Goldwyn Merth, a woman with 80 plants and an Ikea greenhouse of her own, said in a recent interview with Insider.
An Instagram account called @ikeagreenhousecabinet and the hashtag #ikeagreenhousecabinet showcase many examples people have shared of how they repurposed Ikea cabinets for their houseplants.
Inspired by the Instagram account, Falk purchased the store's $200 Milsbo glass cabinet and got to work.
Falk turned the cabinet into a tropical oasis for his plants.
Falk, who bought all of his supplies from Amazon, estimates that he spent a total of $800 on upgrades for this cabinet, which houses several of his tropical plants.
Here's how he hacked the Milsbo:
Step 1. Falk used aquarium silicone glue to attach six fern wood panels to the back of the cabinet. Found in tropical areas, fern wood retains moisture. The fern wood also gives Falk's entire apartment a rainforest smell, he said.
Step 2. Falk filled the areas between the panels with loose tree fern. This also allowed him to hide cords for the lighting.
Step 3. He attached grow lights to the top two tiers of his greenhouse using Gorilla Glue.
Step 4. He removed one of the shelves to make space for his plants, added weather stripping around the doors to maintain the climate, and drilled a hole in the top-left corner so he could run cords through it. He keeps a power bar on top of the cabinet that supplies all of the makeshift greenhouses' power needs.
Step 5. On each level, Falk added mini fans to increase air circulation and prevent mold. Falk also uses a temperature and humidity gauge to keep the environment at 80% humidity.
Mini orchid species, sensitive plants, Alocasias, Bromeliads, and air plants live in the cabinet alongside two tree frogs and a gecko.
Falk told Insider he loves having a "mini rainforest experience" at home.