Fold up workshop

Materials: Bekvam kitchen cart

Description: I used the kitchen cart as the core of a fold up mobile woodshop or craft station. I also use the same cart for mobile tool stands after making the necessary modifications.

~ Donald Henderson, Orleans Ontario Canada

Bookcase with scratching post and hammock

Materials:Expedit Bookcase, LACK Wall shelf, Shelves Carriers, Material from an old scratching post

Description: I took an Expedit bookcase and a LACK wall shelf to create a storage cabinet which also functions as a cat playground.

~ Siebrenna

Chest of drawers to a bed

Materials: 4 drawer Malm x 2 and a saw

Description:
Moved house and needed a new single bed.
Removed the draws measured 20" from the top down to the base of the second front cross piece.

Mark and saw in half....same again to the second set of draws.

Screw them all together make a new top (making the bed base) for the lower halves add an 8" by 37" shelf to the bottom replace the draws and you have lots of storage and a single bed base new mattress = a comfy single bed.

We will use the remaining draw fronts to make open shelves in the same bedroom.
All will be primed and painted white.

See more of Suz's Malm dresser bed.

~ Suz, Shropshire UK

Woodsy, antique ikea table

Materials: Bjursta table legs, Ivar chairs

Description:
- Remove legs from cracked wobbly old table
- Replace with bjursta legs but use original antique harware and drill new holes
- Whitewash table and throw on some old boards from the attic
- Sand and varathane entire piece
- Paint dark wood Ivar chairs and antique chairs white

~ Athea Boyes, Britannia Beach Canada

Malm Dresser Up-Do

Materials: Malm 6 Drawer Dresser, chair rail molding, drawer handles, claw feet,

Description: I started with a black/brown Malm 6 drawer dresser.

Knowing I wanted to lift it off the ground with these claw feet, I needed to re-enforce the structure so the particle board wouldn't shatter. Using 2" x 2" "furring strips" from home depot. I made a frame out of the furring strips that I screwed into the inside lining of the bottom of the dresser.

Next, lift the dresser and put the feet under it. Line up the feet, and drive 3" construction screws through the furring strip frame and down into the feet.

Next, screw a 1" thick, 3" wide strip of wood to the front of the dresser just below the bottom drawer- this way you'll have a flat front to the dresser.

Using chair rail molding, make frames for the drawers, I just used a miter box to make the 45 degree cuts.

Sand, Prime, and Paint the dresser. Then glue or screw on the molding frames you made to the front of the drawers. Add drawer pulls/handles if you like!

~ Alex P, Atlanta, Ga

Bedroom dress boys

Materials: Two Bertil chairs, cleat, glue, screws, drill, circular saw, paint.

Description: Our bedroom is tightly spaced, and we needed a place for clothes in between wearing and ready for laundry. Inspired by a design from Laphoeff I bought two second-hand Ikea Bertil chairs and made them into dress boys.

I used a circular handsaw to cut the seats in half. A French cleat under the remaining piece of the seat holds the chairs to the walls, making them easy to remove for cleaning etc. Doesn't take up much room but holds quite bundle of clothes, de-cluttering the room. The chairs were originally black, I painted them white to match the colour scheme.

~ G.V.M., The Netherlands

Queen-size MALM Murphy Hack

Materials: Queen size IKEA MALM bed, 1 8x4 sheet of wood, nails, hammer, 2 70 lb bags concrete, gate hinges, fishing line

Description:
1. Secure the bed slats on the MALM bed with fishing line.

2. Chop off the legs.

3. Build a box to put concrete (for counterweight) and attach hinges and bed to.

4. Attach bed to hinges and box.

5. Cut out 2 opposing side legs that correspond to the height of the hinge that the bed is attached to.

6. Attach new legs to hinges.

Optional:
7. Calculate the spring constant, k, of the gate springs.

8. Pick optimal spot to attach gate spring to bed and weighting box using spring constant. Warning: most of the bed frame is actually hallow. I recommend using the edge of the legs.

~ Clay Woolam, San Fransisco

Enclosed Lack entertainment center

Materials: LACK Coffee table

Description: Turning the Lack coffee table, into an enclosed entertainment stand.

before

1. Measured to make the Lack coffee table flush with bookshelf.

2. Measured bottom shelf to fit flush with the legs.

3. Measured composite pieces to surround TV.

4. Primed.

5. Cut.

6. Assemble.

7. Paint!

8. Put everything back on it!

See more of the Lack entertainment unit.

~ Michael Simons, East Boston

Nature-inspired Enje roller blind

Materials: Enje roller blind, hacksaw, scissors, acrylic paint

Description: Washroom windows are always a challenge. We wanted some privacy, of course, but I love natural light and did not want to cover up the window with opaque curtains or blinds. So we bought a white IKEA Enje roller blind. Enje roller blinds are great because they provide privacy but still let in a ton of light.

Our project involved a two-part hack. First, we had to cut the roller blind as it was a bit too wide for the window. We measured the inside dimensions of our window frame as the blind mounts inside the frame. We then removed the fabric from the roll and cut it to the right width. We drew a faint pencil line along the fabric and carefully cut along the line with a pair of sharp scissors. We then used a hacksaw to cut the metal rod that the curtain rolls onto as well as the metal piece at the bottom of the curtain. The rod is easily removed from the hanging hardware and the metal piece at the bottom of the blind has removable little caps on the ends, so even if your cuts are a bit rough it won't be noticeable.

After we hung up the blind, we thought it looked a bit plain, so I decided to decorate it with some paint. I drew a tree design with pencil and filled it in with brown acrylic paint. The paint took to the fabric really well. We still get lots of natural light during the day and it looks great at night too.

See more of the nature inspired roller blind.

~ Steph @ BirdHouse Family, Canada

Alex Credenza

Materials: Alex Drawer Unit (40196241) & AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet (#00158439)

Description: I have for a long time wanted to have an old style credenza with modernist influences. I though the Alex file cabinets were very elegant and often overlooked so i wanted to utilize them for this hack. The Alex file cabinets were however, too tall to make a sleek and modernist credenza, so in order to make it work i had to chop off the two bottom drawers and shorten the height of that product all together. Then, once that was done for both cabinets the fun began.

The AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet was perfect for my purposes since it had a beautiful roll front with a metallic finish - the roll front is actually really sturdy so even when i decided to flip the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet so that the roll front was on the top, it can still actually hold pretty heavy objects (including a flat screen TV if necessary).

With the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet, however, the depth and "height" was smaller than the Alex cabinets, therefore two pieces of plywood (1/2 in thick) had to be placed on each side. This actually helped strengthen the credenza, however, it did require me to veneer the surface once all the pieces were attached.
Once the pieces were secure to each other using wooden screws, I veneered the plywood pieces with a nice Maple veneer and gave it a couple of light clear coats to preserve the natural color.

The final touches were getting the legs from Home Depot (or your local hardware store, they cost about $2 a piece) and mount them on the bottom and painting them black. I opted for an arrangement of 3 legs in a triangular fashion on each side - I think that works best since the piece is quite heavy (actually, it is really heavy so lift with partner if possible).

I was happy that my vinyl record player fit the compartment in the AVSIKT Roll-front cabinet and i build a little shelf with the spare drawers parts from the Alex cabinet - underneath it is the speaker and wiring, all hidden from sight. I have many pictures of the process but can't supply them all at the same time on the site, if needed please let me know and i'll share them right away!

~ Mark Soares, Connecticut

Patrull air cleaner hack

Materials: Patrull air cleaner, switch

Description: For some bizarre reason, the Patrull air cleaner doesn't have an off switch. It's annoying to always have to pull and insert the plug, hence this hack.

I cut the cable and added a generic cable switch. Problem solved

Note: I'm sure this hack voids your warranty. I don't explain the details because you shouldn't attempt something like this if you're not knowledgeable enough about electronics that you'd need an explanation...

~ Eli, Belgium

From trash to tea table

Materials: Florera candle dish

Description: I think this was once an ashtray, but the tray part was missing when some jerk dumped it by the side of the road. Those cherubs looked so irresistibly tacky that I knew I just had to do something with it.

I found an 18 inch stainless steel Florera candle dish at half price at Ikea (I think they are discontinued). I drilled a hole in the middle, and voila : instant conversation starter! It also makes a serviceable table for my teapot and cups (It's more stable than it might look).

~ Eli, Belgium

Turn your blah Fjellse into a FAB upholstered bed

Materials: Fjellse bedframe (double)

Description: Now that I'm living like a grown up after college, it's time for my sleeping situation to look the part too. So although the Fjellse bedframe has great bones (solid pine, not particleboard!) and the price at $50 cannot be beat, it's just a bit too plain and cheapie-college looking for my taste. Although I could just slap on some nice paint and call it a day, my inner interior decorator really really wanted a luxe upholstered bed ever since I laid eyes on them.

Here's how to do it too:

1) Prepare your wood to be painted and primed by wiping it clean and filling in any grooves in the wood knots with wood filler. Sand down the wood filler when dry.

2) Apply 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of latex paint allowing enough time to dry between coats. I used Martha Stewart Living in Sharkey Grey.

3) Build the wood frame add on to increase the height of the headboard. Use 2 inch wood screws to attach the 3 pieces of wood like so. You only need one screw on each side. For more strength, add some wood glue between the joints:

4) Now attach the plywood to the frame you just built using 1 1/4 inch wood screws. Attach that to the bedframe by screwing the plywood to the Fjellse frame using more 1 1/4 inch wood screws. Attach mending plates to strengthen the joint between the add on and the Fjellse frame. It should look like this:

5) Next, attach your foam by stapling it into the plywood at the bottom edge of the headboard and then stretch the foam over the top edge and staple onto the back of the headboard. Do the same with the quilt batting. Make sure to pull everything taughtly and evenly before stapling so you'll get nice smooth edges. When you're done, it'll look like this:

6) Lastly, align and staple your fabric onto the headboard pulling taughtly. Make sure your fabric is straight if you're using a print and take your time on this part to make sure everything looks smooth and professional.

Now you're done and your Fjellse is looking fantastic! :) If you wanna see more pictures or are confused about any steps, see my blog post where I talk about it more extensively.

See more of the DIY upholstered bed.

~ Trinh, New York

The dreaded Kids Train Table with a new twist

Materials: Lack Shelving Unit, Casters, Interior Door

Description: We had used the Lack shelving unit as a playtable (on it's side) for our 2 year old twins, because it had the perfect height and lots of storage underneath.

When the kids asked for a train table, I just simply added the caster, for more height (because they had grown) and for the ability to roll it away from the wall so that the kids can play on both side.

When they are done playing, we simply roll it back against the wall to have more space.

I painted a standard door from a Home Improvement store and screwed it to the the top of the Shelving unit, patched and painted the holes. The trainset is not glued to the top, so it can be taken apart and the table can be used for other things: cars, dinosaurs, Lego etc.

~ Brigitte, Miami