Book Sling using Grundtal Towel rail

Materials: Grundtal Double Towel Rail

Description: I measured my fabric for my sling, adding a generous allowance on all sides for the casing and hems (1 inch in my case). I then hemmed the (short) sides of the rectangle (making sure the finished width matched the width of the rail) and then sewed the casings for the rails on the long sides. I then simply unscrewed the rails, slipped the sling on and...voila!

See more of the book sling.

~ leila@rook

Working It

Materials: Besta base cabinets, Besta Chrome Underframes

Description: Creating a budget-conscious work station for two for our small Miami apartment required some thought...and several runs to IKEA.

Materials:
- Besta cabinets and doors (3)
- Besta underframes (6)
- Wood slab top

Two IKEA Besta cabinets on each end serve as our individual storage, with a third cabinet in the center for a shared printer, computer router, and supplies.

Each cabinet was assembled per instructions without the back panel to allow for ventilation and cord management. To make up for the stability of the missing back panel, L-brackets were screwed inside to stabilize the cabinets.

Using two sets of the Besta underframes in chrome for each cabinet (one as the base and one on top) raises the work surface to counter height. The top frames rest securely on screws drilled into the cabinet tops.

The counter top is a 12' slab of bobinga purchased from a lumber yard. By having the lumber yard cut one raw edge off (placed at the back wall), but leaving the front raw edge, we have both an organic look, and an ergonomic, soft edge for typing.

~ Ritch Holben and Ken De Loreto, Miami

Crummy Cube with a View Storage Closet

Materials: Trofast frame pine, Trofast storage boxes, wooden closet rod, 4) 4x4x1 wood blocks, 4) 2" rigid casters, Lansa handle, stainless coat hooks, coat hangers, misc screws, oil based paint, and an electric drill for pilot holes

Description: My daughter recently moved into a new office cube with a window. Having a window was definitely an upgrade but the building support beam, not so much. She lost valuable desk and drawer space to store all of her required work gear. The little cubby hole on the other side of the beam was too narrow and deep for any cabinet we could find. Searching my Ikea catalog, I came across the Trofast frame. If we turned it sideways it would just fit into that little spot.

I bought the Trofast frame in pine so it was not as heavy for her and easier to paint than the white one. I put it together per the instructions then added a piece of wooden closet rod at the top. I drilled a pilot hole through the frame and into the rod then screwed it in place with 2 1/2" screws.

At the bottom I attached a 4x4x1 inch block of wood flat in each corner under the frame with screws. The 2" casters were screwed on to the wooden blocks raising it just off the floor. In another situation, I would have preferred larger wheels but I wanted to keep it as low profile as possible.

I lightly sanded and painted the whole thing with dark brown oil based paint for a more durable finish. After it dried for a few days, I added a 7" Lansa handle to the outside front (in this case). The frame was not quite as deep as the cubby hole so I added two coat hooks to the outside back for a little extra storage. And I added a couple of Trofast storage boxes.

Now she has a rolling closet to store all of her jackets, boots and other gear. It works great. She pulls it out when she needs something, then pushes it back and it's out of the way. And she loves the view too!

~ Karen Snow, South Houston, Texas

TV-bench for Henriks breakfast

Materials: BORGHAMN-TV bench, 2 IVAR-Cabinets white paint with STRECKET-Handle, VARDE wall cabinet, 2 VYSSA SLUMMER-Mattress for cot + SOFIA Fabric broad-striped

Description: For my son I needed a seat in our very small kitchen. I combined old and new IKEA furniture.

~ Bianca Reinecke, Hannover, Germany

Repurposing spice racks into children's bookshelves

Nothing hacked but it's a nice idea which I thought deserved to be shared. ~ Jules

Materials: BEKVAM Spice Racks

Description: We wanted bookshelves for our children's room that had books facing out, but all of the existing shelves we found were entirely too expensive. These fit the bill and fit perfectly into the small space available to add them.

Not much needed in the way of instructions. Hang as you would the spice racks - you put screws in the walls and hook the shelves on the screw using the space that comes pre-installed on the shelves.

See more of the Bekvam kid's book shelf.

~ Lillian

Animal Stroller Chain

Materials: S�t Barnslig

Description: I put the four small stuffed animals on an elastic chord and attached them to my babys stroller. Use a needle and some nylon thread to make a hoop in the little fellas.

~ Louise, Copenhagen

That's a wrap - coffee table

Materials: Lack coffee table, Mod Podge, gift wrap, 1-2" foam brush, high density foam roller, polyurethane

Description: The finish on this coffee table had a way of collecting and showing off dust, fingerprints, and crumbs like you wouldn't believe. It was driving me nuts so I decided to decoupage the top to add color, texture, and dimension to an otherwise boring table.

1. Use heavy-weight gift wrap,the non-shiny kind you buy by the sheet works really best for this project. Measure and cut to cover the surface of the table.

2. Gather your mod podge supplies. You will need a foam brush, a high-density, ultra smooth roller, a container to pour your mod podge into, and a damp cloth for wiping away extra glue.

3. Carefully roll on a thick coat of mod podge with the roller. Working quickly, start at one corner and line up your paper with the edge of the coffee table and carefully unroll it on to the layer of glue. Using your hands, smooth away any wrinkles or bubbles that appear on the surface. If you notice your glue is drying before your paper goes down, try working in smaller sections using the foam brush to get between the paper and the table as you unroll it and press it down.

4. Wipe away any excess glue and let dry for 30 min. Add 2 more coats of mod podge letting it dry completely between coats.

5. Finish off the table with a coat or two of polyurethane using another high density foam roller and you're done!

See more of the decoupaged coffee table.

~ Jennifer, Seattle, WA

Spring Has Sprung IKEA Stool

Materials: Stool

Description: This was a boring blue stool that I bought at IKEA around 2000 (sorry don't remember the name). It didn't match anything in my current house, so I painted it a bright turquoise to match my dining room chairs. I took the seat off, attached some foam, and then upholstered with a bright orange and white laminate fabric. The entire project took about 2 hours, and voila! I have a crisp new stool to welcome spring!

~ katharine briscoe, Alexandria, VA

Spotty step

Materials: Bekvam stool paint, black card and clear varnish

Description: I painted this stepin cream and punched out 1" circles out of black card and stuck them on and varnished it 2 years on and they still look good in my kitchen

~ S Franklin, Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland)

Light in Malm bed

Materials: Malm king size bed, 2 lamps (as normally used in kitchens), screws, wire and switch

Description: We had a baby and since we have to feed him at night we decided some "soft lighting" was needed in the bedroom. The idea was to install 2 lamps, as the ones normally used in kitchens under the bed structure with 2 screws per lamp. The wires go to a switch screwed in the back of the bed. The light reflects in the floor and provides enough light to feed, change diapers and so, without "blinding" none of the people in the bedroom!

~ Pedro Farinha, Aveiro, Portugal

Crochet Grono Lamp

Materials: Grono lamp, cotton yarn, crochet needle

Description: I just love my lamp even more now... it's very easy to do if you can crochet.

It's based on this pattern.

~ �l�f Lilja Ey��rsd�ttir, Iceland

Expedit Wine Rack

Materials: Any expedit, spare expedit shelves (or just any other wooden shelves), saw, paint

Description: As I wanted a wine rack, but had no place left to put one, my eye turned to the Expedit I had in use as a room divider. Noticing how it might accommodate four bottles in a # design, I set out to make an Expedit style wine rack.

Really all you need is four shelves, a saw, and some patience. Spare Expedit shelves will do great, since they're already in a matching color and of the right
size*, but any shelves will do.

Saw two slots into each shelf at exactly 1/3 and 2/3 of the width (see schematic). Paint the shelves as required, then slide them together and insert into Expedit. That's all!

* actually, if you go with Expedit shelves, have a mind to take out the saw and make them square, instead of rectangular. I didn't realize at the time that the Expedit "squares" are not cubes - their depth is greater than height and width. Using square shelves will leave you with about 3 inches of extra storage space behind the bottles, and the shelves will still be longer than any wine bottle you'll put in.

~ Joost, The Netherlands

Pink Glittered Tovik Table and Vitamin Sushi Seat

Materials: Tovik, Vitamin, Paint, Glitter, Resin, Sherpa, Fleece, Thread

Description: I wanted to fancy up my ikea work space with a little whimsy and sparkle!

For the Vitamin stool I made a slipcover which looks like a sushi roll from sherpa to represent the rice with it's fabulous texture and appliqued fleece for the avacado, salmon and cucumber. The seaweed wrap is also black fleece. All sewed up, it fits over the top of the stool very nicely.

For the Tovik table, I painted it with some leftover paint I had from my babygirl's nursery, then proceeded to coat the painted table with a variety of glitters and sealed it all with resin...following the instructions on the resin package.

So there you have my ikea hacks. I have a wicked-fun craft room to get creative in!

See more of the glittery workstation and sushi chair.

~ June "isewcute", USA

This week in March '07

Every week end, I hope to bring you back to the past. We'll revisit the good stuff Ikea Hackers featured way back then. Here are three that caught my eye. Enjoy!

• Winnie's upside down man lamp: For a lamp that lights up your day, this is the definitely the one.
• The uncluttered jerker desktop: The start of the minimal desk, with all the uglies brilliantly hidden away.
• Triple toilet paper roll storage: For the times you really have to go, go, go.

Ikea fruitbowl lamp

Materials: IKEA STOCKHOLM bowl

Description: Last year we redid the bathroom and toilets, and that included the corridor upstairs, which got a place for 3 wall lamps, instead of the hanging lamp that did not illuminate much.

So we spent lots of time looking for lamps (more than 6 months) and never found anything we liked. Even the painter, with whom we have a subscription (he should pass by every month to fix this and that), complains with us that we still did not get lamps...

To put an end to that, during a visit to Ikea, my wife had an Idea(TM - ideas from Ikea) for making a lamp...using a fruit bowl.

So we got one, and I started devising a way of installing it in the very small junction box. The final solution was a very simple 2 long M4x40 screws, which screw directly onto the junction box screw holes, on which the lamp then hangs. I installed a white lamp holder, and here is the result:

You can see the two screws on the top - I want to dip them in tippex or white paint to make them white... - there is actually just one place of all the flowers where it is possible to secure it like that (for this particular size of junction box).

You can also see the black hole of the junction box - that is to be covered with a piece of white rigid plastic.
What you can also see, are the 3 little rubber feet of the fruit bowl...I did not take them out as I am afraid the paint will come out...but they will have to come out sooner or later.

It is difficult to photograph the real effect, but I can assure you that it looks very nice!

See more of the fruit bowl lamp.

~ Alex

Melodi for the birds

Materials: Melodi Lamp, shape print out, stencil sheets, stencil knife, thin brush, acrylic paint, tape

Description: When I bought this lamp, I already knew it was in for some changes. I didn't know exactly what I'd be doing, but then a light bulb went off (pun intended): stenciling!

I found the images that I wanted online, adjusted the sizes and printed them. The next step was to cut out stencils from the printed shapes. Using the inside of the stencil cut out, I used painter's tape to secure the shapes to the inside of the lamp. I then used acrylic paint and a thin brush to paint in the outline.

~ Santa Martin

Classic grasscloth headboard

Materials: Hemnes queen bed frame, Anno Sanela blind, pre-finished polystyrene molding, liquid nails, saw and miter box, and clamps

Description: We bought the Hemnes bedroom furniture suite but recently started feeling tired of the baby crib-like bars at the top of the headboard, especially since that's all we could see of the headboard once all of the bed pillows were in place. We wanted to maintain the classic and clean lines of footboard and nightstands without adding a lot of weight or taking apart the bedframe. We found our solution with the Anno Sanela blind at Ikea, it was light, large enough to cover the headboard, stiff enough to hold its shape without wrinkling, and had a great seagrass texture that completed our bedding.

1. We bought 2 pieces of 3" x 8' pre-finished molding that were a little fancy and 1 1" x 8' strip for to finish the bottom. The advantage with a polystyrene molding is that is very light so all you need is glue and it is prefinished to almost the same finish as the rest of the bed so you don't have to paint.

2. The molding was cut to spec with a miter saw so it fits right over the existing headboard. Tip: for each side piece cut long enough to it can rest on the horizontal for more strength.

3. Spread glue on the bedframe where the 3" wide molding will go. Make sure the glue that you use will give you time make adjustments before setting. There is no need to glue more than the edges, but you could just make sure that any glue that squeezes through the Anno Sanela can be sponged off and will dry clear.

4. The width of the Anno Sanela is perfect for this project, just make sure that the length is short enough so that only overlaps about a 1/2" of the glue (see picture). This way the molding gets the other half of the glue and finishes the edge of the Anno Sanela. Clamp everything and leave to dry. Tip: the Anno Sanela is slightly transparent so you might want to back it with some blackout material before mounting it. I realized this after the fact but it's not a big deal to me.

5. To finish the bottom, spread glue on the 1" molding and press into place. Clamps can't be used here but it is light enough that strips of painters tape is enough to hold it in place until it dries. The bottom of the molding should just kiss the top of the mattress.

6. Fill the corners where the mitered molding cuts meet with silicone caulk. I also filled the seam in the back where the top piece meets the original bed frame for strength.

This was such a simple update and we're thrilled with the results. We even used some of the leftover material to top the nightstands.

~ Felicia, Seattle, USA