what about an ikea classifieds?

since i'm always buying new ikea stuff, i'm also always looking for ways to re-use or dispose of the old. which led to me think of starting a new free service - kinda like an ikea classifieds. in fact, a reader did write me a while back to discuss some thing similar but we didn't get very far. tim, are you still working on it?

i'm not in for anything complicated just an online space for you people who want to sell their ikea stuff, even their hacks. who knows, your old stuff could be some one else's new love.

anyways, i'm not sure whether anyone besides me really wants it. so, if i get enough 'yays' i'll figure out a way to get it going. if you have suggestions how to go about it, do let me know too. at the moment, i'm just thinking of letting interested parties post via email to the site. it will greatly reduce the need for me to sort email and post up the classifieds.

if not, well, there's always ebay.

ikea spotting: NY west village studio

ah ... i digress. and what a sweet one it is.

was over at apartment therapy this morn and i spotted ikea all over this cute west village studio. i confess that ikea-spotting is one of my bad habits. when i visit friends' homes or flip decor mags, i do the "hey, that's a billy / jerker / lack / whatever" under my breath. thank God i still have enough sense to not mutter it out loud, lest i never get invited anywhere. ever again.

anyhoo, enjoy the view. a small studio but so pretty, isn't it? laura's putting it up for sale here.

so, i spy with my little eye bonde shelves, a klippan sofa, stripa wall shelves ... what do you spot?

tags: ikea, west village studio, apartment therapy

add a spot of colour to your room

lisa who blogs from shelterhome sent me these wonderfully blue pieces. am loving the deep marine colour. makes you wanna dive in, doesn't it?

she says: "my hacks are pretty simple but i think they add a lot to my apartment decor. i found myself buying most of my ikea pieces in the birch veneer and other pieces i would buy in unfinished pine, hoping to one day paint them once i decided on the colors. well, years later, i finally have." lisa has written on her painting experience here, here and here.

tags: ikea, shelterhome

hot legs for plain chair

since we're on dining chairs, here's a little tip from chicago apartment therapy.

spice up a plain ikea dining chair (can't tell exactly which from the pic) with a neat leg job. simply paint the bottom of each leg with the colour of your choice.

it does add a touch of luxe, doesn't it? if painting is not your thing, silver leafing the bottom of the legs is an option. link.

tags: ikea, dining chair, chicago apartment therapy

please do not try this at home

who would have thought an ikea dining chair would be so much fun. design students at the university of the art in berlin were asked to create an interactive extension for a simple ikea chair.

like this one, unprepossessed by martin frey (right), has speakers on each side of the chair so you can hear two different voices telling different aspects of the same subject. hmm, modern day angel-demon-on-the-shoulders scenario?

but the waiting for godot chair by magdalena kallenberger is the one that takes the cake. "as a person approaches the chair, a motion sensor triggers a voice module inviting him/her to take a seat and 'wait for godot'. as the person sits, the pressure of the bodyweight activates the pressure sensor, which in turn triggers the walkman to play a voice that says 'have a seat, please... please wait a little ...godot is coming soon... please wait a little...'. if the person rises from the chair, the voice goes 'what a shame to leave now. godot will be here in just a few more minutes!' and then repeats itself again with the words 'have a seat, please... please wait a little ... godot is coming soon... please wait a little...' hilarious. though i'm not sure i (or your guests) want to meet this chair in real life. [via we make money not art]

tags: ikea, dining chair, we make money not art

from bowl to bucler

i found this on the dragon preservation society homepage. woohoo! just proves that Ikea comes in handy in the strangest of ways.

and a bucler. whatzit? my guess is that it's a shield thingamajig but it looks kinda small to protect you from ... erm ... dragons. if you figure it out, do let me know. if not, i think it'll make a great toy or a prop when you need to play "sword-fighting".

to make one, you'll need an ikea julen salad bowl, a brico gate handle, some washes and a steel drill. bend the handle to fit the bowl and screw it in. and voila! bring on the fire. link.

tags: ikea, julen salad bowl, buckler, dragon preservation society

ikeahacker in blogger beta

i've just moved ikeahacker to the new blogger beta. so things might look a bit screwy till i figure out how it all works.

at first glance, the beta looks good, with some nice (long overdue) features like categories. yay!

a polish for fiberboard?

eric recently purchased the lack coffee and side tables from ikea and has a question: "as you might already know, they are composed of a thin fiberboard finish and i was wondering if there was some sort of polish or any other product i could apply to it to prevent those dang surface scratches. it's been less then a week and is already showing signs of wear. any thoughts?"

personally, i've never polished my coffee tables (aiks!) so i'm not sure what is available. anyhoo, any martha-esque person out there who can offer eric a clue?

> view all previous hacker help questions.

tags: ikea, hacker help, lack coffee table, lack side table

one white armchair, two black cats and a greenish brew in the tub

how does a doodlebug solve the problematic combo of 2 black cats and white slipcovers?

"the klappsta armchair is a halfway-respectable looking chair, and very comfortable. you can buy heavy cotton slipcovers for it, which I highly recommend, since the upholstery only comes in unwashable off-white. unfortunately, the only color choices for slipcovers are white, navy blue, or tomato red. the knoppe footstool comes with a slipcover as well, in a similarly limited color range ... i think there might be four choices instead of three. since, at the time, navy blue and tomato red worked with pretty much NOTHING in my home, i went with the white.

white headache

so there i was, with two black cats. and white slipcovers. horrid. i eventually decided to throw the dice and try dyeing them. i used two tins of dylon hot water dye. as an apartment renter, i don't own my own washing machine, so i had to do the dyeing in a big rubbermaid storage bin in the bathtub! boiled water in every single pot and kettle i owned, and went for it, spending a full half hour stirring up the fabric (three pieces - chair cover, chair seat cushion cover, and footstool cover) with a bamboo pole. turns out, it's probably better to do this in a proper washer for reasons beyond the physical labor aspect.

the color i picked was called 'olive green' and i wound up with lime green instead. or maybe that's dylon's idea of olive green. or maybe i should have used one more tin to make it darker. regardless, i decided i liked the color (after my first initial fit of hysteria), and many friends have said my dye job has caused them to reconsider some ikea furniture they passed up previously!"

green envy

and now they lived happily in doodlebug's crafty jungle of a home.

do sneak a peek. it's lovely in there. a snug little place bursting with plants, pizzazz and personality. check out her diy stuff like the bamboo mat headboard, bookshelf console, the brilliant kitchen makeover and oh yes, the mural (below). awesome, doodlebug. and lucky kitties. link.

other armchair slipcover hacks:
> customised ikea armchair slipcovers
> hate the fabric colour? just paint it!
> claire's quick chair cover up

tags: ikea, klappsta armchair, knoppe foolstool, dylon, fabric dye, doodlebug

christmas comes really early at ikea

ahh ... holly always gets the worm. seeing her post on the ikea '06 holiday range, i momentarily forgot the soaring temperatures outside. so, i dug around the ikea site and found more pictures. what catches my fancy are the isig items - particularly the lantern and tea light holders. love the lacey patterns which are the rage now. at under $12 for the lantern and $1 for the tealight holders, it's a steal. keeping my fingers crossed that they look as good in person.

hope you enjoyed the early holiday feast for the eyes.

tags: ikea, holiday range, christmas

space for hacking

julie is turning out to be quite a hack digger. earlier, she found cool stuff like this and tipped me on it. and now, this fab series on canadian tv called space for living. it has a genius of an ikea marketing idea titled "foreign exchange". the promo blurb reads "we give three creative people from three different cities and/or countries one ikea item. they can transform the item in any way they choose. there are no rules, except the finished product needs to function, so the possibilities are endless."

excited yet?

wait till you see the stuff they come up with - it burns up my hack-o-meter. julie's fav is this super gorgeous billdal mirror in the hands of an artist in halifax, an art professor in guang zhou and a team of fashion designers in calgary.

mine is episode 26 where they hacked - what i previously thought - the rather unsightly children's nosa bench into a thing of beauty.

me nosa ugly anymore

go trawl. it's worth the effort.

tags: ikea, space for living, billdal mirror, nosa bench

magnetic key holder

this just in from fredrik of sweden. woo! from the land of ikea itself.

this neat key holder used to be a magnetic knife holder (from the grundtal range, i think). now, it finds new meaning keeping keys in place. pretty nifty for small spaces or if you want some thing different from the usual hooks and key cabinets in the shape of houses.

though, fredrik, i must say what dainty bunches of keys you have. mine are like a prison guard's.

tags: ikea, magnetic knife holder, key holder, fredrik jakobsson

emily's gorgeous shoe storage

this one's from emily - classy shoe storage hacked from kitchen cabinets. behind its good looks, you can hide a whopping 20 pairs of shoes (yes, emily, i counted!) on the side, i also love the wall decor. just perfect for the space.

emily says: "i hung a 36"x30" kitchen cabinet on the wall, added the new rubrik glass doors in white, and bought two packs of shelves. so simple! i'm going to add a perfekt abstrakt white cover panel as a 'counter top', so that the screws on top of the cabinet don't show, but i haven't quite gotten around to that yet."

from what i can see, it's already looking pretty good.

note: can't seem to locate 'rubrik' or 'abstrakt' on the ikea site. the above link leads to an abstrakt look-a-like, the applad.

Updated! February 25, 2009
Abby's Akurum shoe rack
She says, "We went with a 30" and a 39" Akurum (21" wide to fit in the space). We also got extra shelves to maximize the shoe-age! This was our first real hack, and I'm just glad they ended up level and flush!"

See more of Abby's shoe cabinet.

another shoe hack:
- magiker magic

tags: ikea, perfekt abstrakt, rubrik glass doors, shoe storage

see! new shiny logo

my plea for help with the ikeahacker logo has not gone unnoticed. first, paul from canton, mi, sent me a painstakingly cleaned up version of the logo (thanks, paul!) and then clifton of reactorstudio sent me this cute one.

it's a hack on the logo. and a twist i really like. thanks, clifton. you get 3 big hugs from me.

now, if only i can get the "lamp" to turn on when i mouse over it. ;-P

tags: ikeahacker, reactor studio

a simple ikea bonde av hack

david freccia mailed me a simple one. especially handy if you're thinking of adding more shelves to your ikea bonde media unit.

the complete unit

use L brackets to slice in more shelves

"we started with the basic specifications: two bookshelves, with the three hanging shelves across the top. after a few days, i bought another set of hanging shelves, but instead of using the supplied mounting hardware, i just used basic L brackets (see pic above) to create the shelves at hip height. they are the perfect depth for av components, and maintain the clean look of the unit. nothing fancy, but it works! one neighbour asked if they were built in, and didn't believe it was an ikea hack!"

other av hacks:
> lack table audio cabinet
> movable dvd storage
> hip ikea mobile music console
> hacking gaje speaker stands

tags: ikea, bonde, av storage, david freccia

claire's quick chair cover up

while browsing flickr i came across this snazzy chair by claire of poopscape. she not only does good with this hack, her site is chock-a-block with crafty stuff and cheeky inspiration. go check it out.

and here's how claire's chair got some chic.

"for the past two years i've been sitting on a molded plastic student chair at work because the school where I teach doesn't supply teachers with decent furniture until you make a gigantic stink about it. i went ahead and bought an ikea bonny swivel chair that was on sale and then proceeded to do my crafty thing all over it.

the reupholstery job i did was pretty easy - perhaps a little too easy and i'm still waiting for it to come apart, but so far so good. i'm sure there's a way to take the chair apart and do the job properly, but i didn't want to screw up my new chair. the way i ended up reupholstering it is pretty much reversible if i decide to remove it later on.

i used some reproduction barkcloth remnants i had left over from another project. since the cushions are somewhat flatish, it was easy to lay the fabric on them and measure that way. i cut the fabric several inches too big on all sides and tucked it into the plastic lip of the chair base using a screwdriver - i love it when i can multipurpose my tools! the plastic lip kept the fabric in place pretty well, but i squished some hot glue in a few places between the fabric and the plastic base to help anchor it. i tested my crappy reupholstering job by getting my 3 year old to bounce around on it. sound as a pound."

another chair hack:
> hate the fabric colour? just paint it!

tags: ikea, bonny swivel chair, reupholstery, claire chauvin poopscape

how to make your own swedish meatballs

well, this isn't a hack but i was a tad hungry. so here you go - the recipe for meatballs with cream sauce

how to make your own meatballs:
ingredients:

• 250gm minced beef
• 250gm minced pork
• 1 egg
• 200-300ml cream and water (or milk and water)
• 2.5 tbsp. finely-chopped onion
• 50ml unsweetened rusk flour
• 2 cold boiled potatoes
• 4-5 tbsps butter, margarine or oil
• salt and pepper

instructions:

1. heat the onion till golden in a couple of tablespoons of lightly browned butter.
2. mash the potatoes and moisten the rusk flour in a little water.
3. mix all the ingredients until there is consistency and flavour generously with salt, white pepper and (optional) a little finely crushed allspice.
4. use a pair of spoons to shape the mixture into relatively large, round balls and transfer to a floured chopping board.
5. fry them slowly in plenty of butter.

how to make the cream sauce:
ingredients:

• 100ml cream
• 200ml beef stock
• chinese soya sauce
• 1 tbsp white flour
• salt, white pepper

instructions:

1. swirl the boiling water or beef stock in a pan.
2. add cream and thicken with white flour if preferred.
3. season well with salt and pepper.
4. serve the meatballs with the sauce, freshly boiled potatoes, uncooked lingonberry jam and salad.

yummy!

but if you're like me, a total klutz in the kitchen, these pre-made swedish meatballs are good to go.

link. recipe taken from ikea's real swedish food book

feline physique: get an ikea stolmen cat gym

more pet decor. seems like ikea should create a new furnishing category for our animal friends. julie tipped me (thanks julie!) on this cat gym put together from parts of the ikea stolmen storage system.

i like the way it blends into the living room and gives the cats a seat in family get-togethers. the instructions are not in english (danish? finnish?) but the pictures are pretty self-explanatory. link.

other ikea pet hacks:
> look! it's a cat pod
> hide the cat box with ikea gulliver table

tags: ikea, cat gym, stolmen, niksa.net

no pooper cat litter

well, i've never had a cat, being a dog person and all. but after viewing these great ideas from apartment therapy's pet decor contest, kitties are purring closer to heart. here's another entry that uses ikea furniture to cleverly hide the catbox.


dana's entry says: "since the bathroom is so tiny, the only place for the catbox was the kitchen - ugh. my solution is to be hyper-vigilant about changing it, and keeping it hidden with a fancy non-catbox-cover cover. the table is a little kids' play table from ikea (the gulliver); it fits the dimensions of the enclosed catbox perfectly. i topped it off with a window shade from cost plus, a plant, some candles, and of course, some cat-related art. the candles do double duty to make the place oh-so-romantic and enchanting and to hide any residual cat odors left over from my previously mentioned hyper-vigilant cleaning. i've had people over for dinner who didn't notice it until it was pointed out. the perfect crime!" we agree, dana.

other ikea pet decor hack:
> cat scratching pole cum cubby hole

tags: ikea, gulliver children's table, pet decor, catbox, apartment therapy

look! it's a cat pod

apartment therapy's pet decor contest concludes and this entry - darlyn's smart scratching pole cum cubby hole for cats - gets a bronze! congrats, darlyn.

darlyn says: "i've had the ikea ps gullholmen chair for 3 years, and the cats immediately adopted it. the back has an opening which makes the interior the perfect 'cat pod.' they also, unfortunately love the material it is made of and after a while the chair turned into one big scratching post..." link.

other contests:
> kieren's flatpack rearranged in the british council's annual student design competition.
> driller thriller in design*sponge-fred flare's spring spruce up contest.

tags: ikea, ps gullholmen, chair, cat scratching pole, apartment therapy