Hackeas: Simple hacks

More hackeas - quick hack jobs you can do easily.

Panel headboard
Markus says, "Once again the 'as-is' territory pulled through! I came across this $.99 natural Anno panel curtain. I love the material and knew I could find something useful to do with it. I cut it in half and made two panels with it. Instead of using them as curtains over a window I thought they would look nice just hanging up on the wall above the headboard. It really adds a nice touch to the room and makes the room feel a little taller.

Simple sideboard
Stephen says, "I bought some pieces of the Ikea Bonde system. When I 'reorganized' my living room, I happened to have a shelf unit with glass door leftover. I wanted a side board at the wall behind the table. So I thought, 'Why not make use of the shelf?' Two brackets, some screws and hanging the shelf sideways did the trick. The hinges keep the door shut.

See more of his bonde sideboard.

Simple nightstand
Stephen says, "I like this nightstand I made better than any stock Ikea ones. It's two simple elements: a Bravad approximately-cube-shaped wall shelf with Capita 6" legs. If you use the stock screws with the legs, you need washers or something similar to keep the screws from going all the way through the wood.

It's probably the easiest hack imaginable, but the resulting product is pretty great."

Simple knife stash away
With a circular saw, Tricia cuts a slot into her Bekvam trolley and voila! You have a knife slot.

Simple coffee table
Martin says, "I have a Lack TV unit which I now use as a coffee table. I did not attach the original legs but screwed on some casters (height about 1 inch). And that's it.

Magnetic photo gallery
Maria began looking for interesting, easy-to-make creative solutions when she started decorating her home. Here she shares two of them with us. She says, "I used Gruntal magnetic containers to create my photo gallery and customized fridge magnet. The background for the old photos is coloured paper."

Quick wall decor
Amy says, "I covered five Malma mirror frames with 1" square and 1" x 2" ceramic tiles. I attached the tiles with Elmer's glue after layout. "

Kid's art display
Chica and Jo uses the Jabba laundry holder (hey, this hanger is becoming popular!) as a piece to display art in a child's room!

Pink trash can
Jennifer, "So...I had this lamp shade from Ikea that did not fit any lamps in my house. I loved the color and shape so I just kept it in my 'I will do something with that later' pile. I also had this random piece of wood that I had been practicing a painting technique on. After recently rearranging my studio a little and the only room for my trash can was on the other side of the room... I knew I needed to fix that problem. I combined all three to make my 'pink trash' can.

I ripped out the guts of the lampshade, turned it over and glued it to the wood base. I wanted to cover the seam, so I added a cute pink ribbon around the base to hide the glue. I then was left with this ribbon seam because I had not planned it out properly. I grabbed a bright green pipe cleaner and made it into a little pipe cleaner rosette and glued it on. My partner thinks it looks like a Caterpillar that has crawled up to sleep. Go figure... I finally decided it needed something on it, so I came up with the cute play on words of 'pink trash'. I can now put trash in my desktop trashcan and dump it into the larger trashcan when it gets full."

See more of the pink trashcan.

Toy storage cabinet

Usually Pax wardrobes are matched with Komplement interior fittings. Andy discovered that the Trofast is pretty snug too. 

Andy writes, "I wanted to share how we have used some Ikea furniture as toy storage. It's not really a hack as we haven't changed anything but it's more of a way of using a piece of furniture differently.

We wanted some way of storing our kids toys so that they were neat, easily accessible and easy to sort out. I had always liked the look of the Trofast storage range but the size of the units is pretty small. So I decided to use a Pax wardrobe and line it with the plastic buckets instead. I wanted to put 10 buckets in it but due to the placement of door hinges I could only fit eight of them. I don't have lids on the buckets so that I can fit more in. I made some labels on my computer for the outside of the buckets."

More toy storage photos here.

Changing table today, shelving unit tomorrow

This is a good one. It's space saving, looks great (love the stripes and dots) and can be repurposed when baby grows up.

Ariel shares, "Here's something not quite to purpose I did with the Gorm shelving system. We have very little space for a baby, and all the changing tables I saw seemed both huge and low on actual storage space. So I built this instead--the deeper Gorm shelf is just the right size for the standard foam changing pad. I used Vacker storage bins for drawers, and the Gorm apple crate for storage of bigger items - big packages of diapers and nursing pillows.

I also added wooden dowels from the hardware store to provide quilt storage on the tower, and so I could hang a laundry bag (Vacker, again) and a basket to hold diapers (Bygel kitchen organizer) off the end. To maximize space without sacrificing stability, I notched out the bottom shelf of the tower by removing a couple of boards so it fits around the diaper bin. (There is still enough shelf space behind the bin to hold an industrial-sized box of baby wipes and more). The most time-consuming part of the project was making padded bumpers to protect against sharp bolt edges and splinters, but even that wasn't especially difficult.

It's totally functional, stores a ton, and when the kid outgrows a changing table in a year or two, we will have a perfectly usable shelving unit instead of a useless bulky changing table to get rid of. I'm planning on putting a cabinet top on the lower surface and using it either as additional counter space and storage in the kitchen, or as a sewing table.

There are a few more pictures, of its first stages, here on Flickr."

Knock on this door if you need a computer desk

Jonas wanted a new look for his old Galant desk and found this high-gloss alternative. Looks way cool.

He says, "I didn't wanted to use my old (Galant) desk top so searched for an alternative. I found a high gloss cabinet door for the Pax cabinet system for 20�. As table legs I reused my old ones from the (Galant) table.

So I needed something to widen the table in depth I used two (Lack) racks. Installed them just above so there would be enough place to hide the cables and so on. I plan to put some lights under the racks but haven't found time yet."

Sizing down the Norrebo

Erol Altan cuts the Norrebo shelving unit down to size and joins it up into a long media stand. He gets 2 bedside tables as bonus too.

Easy way to liven up a bookcase

Ikea furniture is like blank canvas. Add colours and ka-pow! it ain't cookie cutter furniture from that yellow and blue big box no more. Jan does her Kilby a favour, turning the drab grey back to a mix of bright bold colours.

Jan says, "Cheapy-cheap Ikea Kilby bookcases fit the bill for my office but come with a back that is the dreariest color imaginable: putty gray. That said, when I got a second one, before nailing the back onto it, I marked it where the shelves would hit. I then painted each section a different color. It made a world of difference, changing the bookcase from merely functional to feature-able. It makes a nice showcase now and livens up a lot of previously dead, gray space. (Luckily, my original drab Kilby stays completely hidden behind my office door.)"

The boring Kilby

The snazzy one

Night light for a nursery

Kozbi wanted a night light for her baby's nursery and made this cute one from Benno CD shelf. I love the little shoes peeking out between the lights.

She says, "We started with the Benno shelves in white, which we've had for CDs and other stuff for years. And we had the Ikea Non lights.

When we started doing our baby's nursery, we moved the shelves in there. We wanted to create a subtle light to use at night time, and we didn't want a baby-ish nightlight. The whole nursery is non-traditional, and the color scheme is creamsicle (orange, white, khaki). So, we came up with turning the first three cubbyholes into light boxes. :) We love it and the light is the perfect brightness. We plugged the cord into the outlet that goes to the wall switch, so it ends up being the main light unless we need to pull the chain on the ceiling light.

The whole project cost about $5. We had to buy three pieces of clear acrylic that my husband cut to cover the front of the cubbyholes. We bought orange glaze to glaze the acrylic. And we stuck the now orange acrylic covers up with Velcro -- so now we can change light bulbs without major effort. We drilled holes through the back of those cubbyholes to put the cords through."

See more of her nursery night light or view the entire nursery here.

Related hacks:
- Kid's bedroom is the place to play with ideas
- Boring room for your kid? Here's what Jo did
- Geeky dad, funky kid's room

Uncluttered TV stand

Likkitp's TV stand has been hacked twice. I can't figure out how the original one looked or know its name. Perhaps you do?

He says, "I hacked my Ikea TV stand/entertainment center twice - when we first bought it (2005) I mis-measured the height between the TV shelf and the next shelf located above the TV area. I had to drill new holes for the bolts and raised the upper shelf to fit my 50" TV. Two years passed before I thought to hack it again. Then about 2 weeks ago I decided that I needed a less cluttered look for my entertainment center - so I cut the tall posts that held the upper two shelves down to a ideal height for tv viewing and reused the cut portions of the posts into shelf support/dividers. Ultimately I left one of the upper shelves off with the payoff being a lot less clutter on or around the TV area. Behind the TV for ambient lighting I have one set of Dioder lighting strips attached for a nice glow during TV viewing.

But here's my issue - my wife and I bought this TV stand in the spring of 2005 at Ikea Seattle - and I have no idea what it is called. We only saw it the one time we went shopping for a stand and never saw it in the catalog. Anyone have an clue?"

An Antonius rack for baby

Daphna creates a cabinet for baby stuff using the Antonius high unit.

She added polypropylene side panels to the frame. The panels are sandwiched between pine strips and the Antonius frame. A curtain from a Index panel hanger covers it up and keeps it looking tidy.


See instructions and details on her blog and construction pictures on flickr.

Be bright! Get one of these easy-on-the-pocket chandeliers

Stand up for a chandelier
Heather says, "I love a lot of Ikea's ceiling lamps, but I'm unfortunately a renter of an old-ish building and so attempting to put anything in a wall, let alone a ceiling is a leap of faith I'm not willing to take.

I've made a chandelier floor lamp from a number of Ikea products. Starting with the Not Floor uplight/reading lamp which I bought awhile back, I added a ceiling pendant chandelier lamp which no longer seems to be sold on the Ikea site and I can't remember its name, but I believe I bought it in the past 1 or 2 years.

Additional supplies included long plastic crystal garlands which were on sale at Ikea the Christmas before last (all the Christmas decorations have the same name) for about 1.99 each and a small Ikea lamp shade meant for the mini lamps with candle bulbs. I removed the shade from the metal frame of the lamp, glued it to the plastic shade which came with the ceiling lamp and placed it on top of the metal frame of the Not floor lamp. Then I attached the modified (I've added some more plastic crystals to the ceiling lamp to make it look more dramatic) over the top of the plastic shade and also chained together some extra plastic crystals to form a netting over the smaller reading lamp."

DIY antler chandelier
Hank says, "I was looking for a rustic but functional light to put over a dinning table in a mountain cabin. I wanted one of those great looking antler chandeliers you see in all the mountain home magazines. That is until I saw they cost $5,000+. So I bought this Ikea light (Lerdal, I think) and bought some natural shedded antlers and created my own antler chandelier. I am pleased with how it turned out."

Chandelier gets funky
Guia has this kitschy one. Made from a Jabba clothes dryer. Oh, I can so see it in the blue and green dryers as well.

Luxury looking chandelier for much, much less
Alison says, "I just finished a chandelier made from the Rimfrost glass crystal strands. I think it looks more substantial and expensive than the regular Rimfrost lights - plus it has that 'real' chandelier shape that I really was looking for.

I used 6 Rimfrosts in order to have enough crystals (at only $12 each, it really wasn't that much for the end result) and everything else was super cheap - a wire wreath form and a jewelry chain, plus some small key rings to attach it and super glue to secure the strands in equal distance apart from each other to make the light look fuller."

Ikea fashion parade II

You don't normally associate Ikea with apparels but some have found ways to wear their Ikea. The bright, happy Ikea pillowcases, table runners, curtains, duvets, you name it, get a fashion makeover.  

When you need to wow 'em
Kerri joined a club at school that used to be called "the future homemakers of America" but has since changed its name to something more politically correct. Clubs weren't her thing but they had a fashion competition, so she thought she'd give it a shot.

"I didn't want to be conventional," she says, "I wanted to make something as outlandish and absurd as I could. So where did I head to for my fabric? Ikea, of course! I bought this crazy, colorful floral print fabric and turned it into a fabulous, twirly skirt!"

Do you have this in grown-up size?
Mirre makes this adorable little top from the Alvine Spira pillowcase. I've always liked the embroidery on that pillow too and now, in this top it is just too cute.

The back uses ribbons. The pleats from the pillowcase became the hem.
See the pattern she used and how she put it together here.

What to wear for a night out
Ikea fabrics is no stranger to Peter and Carina. I don't have very much more information about them as they just sent me a link to their site. But after browsing it, I found these gems. Very nice indeed.

This dress is made from the Fialena. See more here.

Pretty one from what used to be a quilt cover.

See more here.

Dressed up girls

Alexa says, "Here are my daughters, Lena and Maria, in their Ikea dresses. Maria's is in Gunvor's small orange 'watermelon' pattern fabric. I couldn't find Lena's fabric in the 2008 catalog. (I suppose we'll have to go back and get Lena some Lena fabric, along with a few yards of Sofia for her cousin.) Both get comments wherever we go. They were both done with patterns I drew up myself.

I used the larger print of Gunvor watermelons to make baby slings as well.

Click for sewing instructions on babyslings.

Got the guts for a bold skirt?

Melissa is back again with a skirt made from a table runner (name unknown). She even had enough fabric left over for a shopping bag.

See more of Melissa's skirt and bag.

Related hacks:
- Duvet cover to jacket
- Ikea fashion parade I 
- Shower curtain dress
- Pillowcase skirt
- Inez blad skirt and bag

Jerker does it again

Happy Monday. Hope the week is starting out well for you. Thought I'll feature 2 Fredrik (formerly the inappropriately named Jerker) desks/workbench. The desks are heaping masses of geek stuff on steriods. Not quite the space I can work with but it seems to for Aud1073cH and Steve.

Electronics tech workbench with a little bit of disco
Aud1073cH converted the Jerker into an electronics tech workbench.

Lots of stuff were added to it:
- Jerker side shelf, right side
- LCD mounting arm (left side)
- 4' long, 12 outlet power strip (on under side of shelf)
- standard 6 outlet power strip (right side of left support post)
- overhead shop light and tool bar (made of Rubbermaid shelf brackets, attached to the support posts)
- "handy box" light switch
- speaker mounts from small shelf brackets

Mirror ball to complete the look.

View the electronics tech bench on flickr (with notes).

Jerker Frankenstein
Steve runs a small software company from home. To get his set up running, he ran to Ikea and brought home the Jerker: 2 Jerker tables, the Jerker shelving unit, and several add-ons. "I loved that they were big enough for my dual monitor setup and still left me a large amount of desktop space," he said.

I had a small TV and DVD mounted on a Jerker side mount shelf. The only problem was the DVD player was too wide to fit without running a real risk of it falling off. Since the Jerker is infinitely modifiable - I call it the Frankenstein desk, I took a walk through the as-is section of my local Ikea, and found the solution. I combined an Antonius shelf ($1), with a Summera keyboard tray (which I had and mounted the hole thing on one of the Jerker side mount shelf's bracket.)

On the other side of the desk I needed some more shelf space for 2 printers, but again the Jerker shelf unit was discontinued. So I combined a Stolmen pole and 2 shelves. This allowed me to place the shelves high enough to clear a storage unit below it, and only required a couple of bolts and nuts. Except for the white shelves it almost looks like it was designed that way."