Lindmon mosaic tiles

Materials: Lindmon natural, wood stain, grater

Description: This hack is using Lindmon blinds to make decorative mosaic tiles. The blinds used in these pictures are natural coloured ones and this is probably your best bet as these are minimally treated and the wood stain is sticking to them well. Even with one set of blinds you will get more than 1 m2 of tiles.

Start by cutting the strings for the blind assembly. Then cut the pieces so that you get tiles. One way to do this is to use a sharp knife and cut in to the wood on both sides and then break of the pieces. You could also use a fine saw or a band saw. To get the staining to stick you should sand the pieces or you could use a grater to rough up the surface. The tiles in these pictures are grated.

Mix the wood staining in a sauce pan and dip the tiles in the stain. Only dip a short while or you will distort them. Let them dry on paper towels. The powder based wood stains is cheap and you can mix the colour solutions how you like to get more colours. Some of the tiles in the pictures are dipped in several colour solutions to get a different effect.

Use the tiles to decorate, either by using wood glue or by using double sided tape. The Noresund have tiles around the rim.

~ Eric �, Gothenburg, Sweden

Cat Protector

Materials: LINDMON jalousie, flat ribbon

Description: Winter time is coming and the garden plants had to move into the house. But this year we're having a cat, too, and despite a climbing tree I installed between cellar and basement, the cocos palm that got its winter home in our living room was too tempting for our cat. It took only a couple of minutes before Rusty detected it, jumped into the middle of the plant and started biting the leaves. Needless to say you can't teach a cat not to do this!

We urgently needed a cat protector.

After some thoughts about using plastic pipes or thin brass deco sheets I remembered that there was this LINDMON jalousie with damaged ropes in the attic. Suddenly everything was clear - thanks to a look at the 2012 bamboo calendar from the local Chinese restaurant.

Calculate the diameter/length and add ca. 50cm
Cut 6 lengths of flat ribbon (I took 4 lengths of 6mm width plus 2 lengths of 10mm width)
Tie together in 2 bundles 3 plus 3 at ca. 20cm from one end
Place the bundles on a flat surface, spaced at the distance of the holes in the LINDMON lathes
Place first LINDMON lathe on the ribbons, over 2 under 1
Add more LINDMON lathes, changing the run of the ribbons each time
Knot the ribbons together after placing the last lathe - you have enough surplus here, to tie together start and end to form a closed tube.
Mount around the plant
Watch cat and laugh about its astonishment

~ Mike D, Austria

Blinding!

Materials: Lindmon wooden blind, wood glue

Description: Put the blind into the shut position so that all of the slats are lying flat, and lay this on the floor. Decide the size you would like your notice board to be: I opted for the easy size which is a square the same dimensions as the width of the blind, meaning no cutting or sawing needed. Gently cut the string at the top of the blind to remove the metal and at the bottom to remove the thick bottom slat, being careful to keep the rest of the slats in place.

Next, remove one slat to use as a measuring stick to decide the number of slats needed, and then remove any extra slats by sliding them out the side of the string.

With the spare slats removed, create a frame and glue together using 'No More Nails' or similar, as shown in pic.

Next, use a couple of extra slats to position down the middle to add support to the frame. Unfortunately I don't have a picture: excitement must have got the better of me!

Once the glue is dry, simply glue over the top of the frame and position the slats on top, ensuring all the edges are flush. Leave the string at the top and bottom hanging and then tie up when the glue is dry. I tied the string into a loop and use it to hang the board onto the wall.

Enjoy placing your photographs, ticket stubs, invitations etc in between the slats or attach with drawing pins. The wood is nice and light so easy to get pins in and out of.

See more of the Lindmon noticeboard.

~ Helen, Bellanaleck, Co. Fermanagh

Measuring Light

Materials: Lindmon venetian blinds, Ikea measuring tape

Description: I love going to the as-is section to find things I can use for school projects and I picked up some Lindmon venetian blinds to use as title blocks for a presentation. They didn't work out the way I wanted them to and put them aside. Finding them one night gave me the idea to make a frame out of them, which turned into this cute light.

I first cut off all the strings to remove the slats, layered them and glued them down. before i placed the last layer of slats, I made a basket weave of the Ikea measuring tapes and finished it off with the final layer. A small light fiture with a 15W bulb was placed in the back. After turning on the light you can see the print from the other side of the measuring tape right through.

Bright idea!

~ Nnolika, Toronto