Double desk, light and full of storage space

Materials: Vika Alex, Capita, Micke

Description: My girlfriend needed to have her own space, but I needed to have a place for my Personal Computer.

I found the creative-ikea-desk on Ikeahackers, and it gave me inspiration.

So I used 2 MICKE drawer units for the both ends of the workstation, and VIKA ALEX in the middle to hide my personal computer.

Thanks to capita legs I have been able to add a table top above the 3 consoles.

The next steps are :

- A USB hub encased in the shelf
- Ventilate the console hosting the PC.

~ Guillaume, France, Rennes

From dull to soul!

Materials: Expedit, Micke Desk, Branas Baskets, Hemnes Shoe storage

Description: So we started off by building the steps over the slope where the stairs go up and under the room. This is a very small third bedroom and was wasting a lot of space by having this slope as nothing could sit over it, so thought of ways we can build over the slope that has purpose. So after building the steps, we screwed a length of wood under the desk for the desk to sit onto at the right level, as the floor was uneven.

Before!

We then unscrewed one the square leg of the desk and sat it onto the custom built steps, fixing it with screws.. then put up 3 Expedit bookshelves over the desk leaving the 4th square free f or desk space.. on the opposite wall i just used a Hemnes shoe storage which i am using for fabrics instead of shoes, not much of a hack involved there! :-P

~ DrakeFace, UK

Micke & Byse Built in Desk

Materials: Vika Byse, Galant Leg , Micke

Description: We wanted a built in desk for our 10x10 foot office. We decided to buy two Vika Byse table tops and cut them down to size. For the middle drawers we used the all white Micke drawer unit and for the outside legs we bought the Galant Legs. There are a lot of great leg choices at Ikea but the Galant legs are adjustable, and that was important to us so that it can be used for any drawer unit, no matter what the height. We think it looks great!

See more of the home office.

~ Maria Hilas-Louie, United States

Hack them with contact paper

Materials: Enetri shelving unit, Micke desk

Description: Some link love today. I stumbled upon these beautiful yet simple hacks by Jonathan of Happy Mundane [via Apartment Therapy] that had me wishing I bought reams and reams of contact paper the last time I was Home Depot.

Jonathan covers the classic Enetri with contact paper with walnut wood grain and painted the silver frames a darker shade. I've always thought the Enetri had good bones but some how it never struck me as a stunner. But now, just giving it the right shades makes it a head turner. Don't you think?


The genius of contact paper is that you can start a stick-a-thon. Jonathan goes on and faux grains his Micke desk. The beauty is knowing when to stop. The desk would have been a tacky mess if totally covered in walnut contact paper. But just a touch and it turns from meh to marvellous.

See more of the contact paper makeovers on Happy Mundane [via Apartment Therapy].

~ Jules

Ideas: An Organized Micke Desk

Materials: Almhult cutlery tray

Description: I bought a micke desk (width 55 7/8; depth 19 5/8; height 29 1/2). However, the drawers became cluttered. While walking through Ikea to get some inspiration and pick up a few items I found the Almhult cutlery tray ($2.99). I pick up two of these and trace my steps back to the work station exhibit to find a Micke desk to see if these trays would fit, and they did with space at the side. As you can see from my photo they are five compartments that allow you to store all your needs to have an effective work station.

~ Liza, New York

Decoupaged Map Ikea Desk

Materials: Micke Desk, Vintage Maps

Description: Assembled desk, located vintage maps, decoupaged to fronts of drawers!

See more of the decoupaged desk.

~ Laura Putnam, Finding Home

A colorful makeover for a work station

Materials: MICKE work station, ELISABET fabric, teachers tape

Description: I love my MICKE work station with a magnetic board, but I wanted more color so that it could brighten up a little more.

I simply cut out the wanted amount of an IKEA-fabric i liked, and taped it to the magnetic board using teachers tape. Of course the magnetic board took no damage and works just as fine :)

~ Tina, Oslo

mATX computer in a MICKE drawer unit

Materials: MICKE drawer unit, computer chasis, dremel tool, screwdriver

Description: After being sick of looking at my ugly black Coolermaster Cavalier case in my mostly white bedroom I decided to do something about it. I didn't want a regular computer case as it would probably make me sick sooner or later, so after looking through IKEA folder I decided to go with the MICKE drawer unit which seemed to be big enough to fit an mATX motherboard in the bottom drawer. I ordered a cheap mATX case that I could use as a donor for the frame and motherboard tray, picked up an all white unit from my local Ikea store and got to work...



1. Cut a piece of plywood for the drawer's bottom as the drawer part that this unit comes with won't do the trick.

2. Cut the computer chasis so you have the motherboard tray along with what has left off of the frame. It's important not to cut too much as the frame will be usefull to hold HDD cage, usb ports and drawer's front. I used dremel for cutting.

3. Screw the frame to the plywood and install all the hardware. In my case it's a Gigabyte motherboard, rather outdated AMD X2 4850e, Asus GeForce 250 GTS and 2 HDDs (2TB storage capacity in total).

4. Place the power button somewhere convenient (I used double sided tape for that) and 'front' USB ports so they are accessible after opening the drawer (zip ties helped me here).

5. Attach the drawer front to the frame (I had to use some spacers to make the front even and flush with the rest of the drawers) and you're done :)

Final notes:
- PSU is at the very back, lying on the plywood - not the greatest solution but works for me,
- I don't have room for an optical drive - don't really need it,
- a pretty non existing airflow resulted in the CPU temps under full load hitting 80C with stock cooler so I decided to get something better which brought the temps down to 50C, also got a replacement for the noisy vid card cooler,
- dust is an issue,
- MICKE drawer unit is perfect for such mods. If you don't really need the storage and won't mind giving up the two bottom drawers, you can fit pretty much anything in there.

~ Zbyszek, Wroclaw, Poland

IKEA Micke Cabinet Revamp

Materials: MICKE IKEA Cabinet , map, 1/4 cup white glue, 3 tbs water (mix in a container), foam brush, scissors, pencil and something to smooth the paper (I used a lid form a tin)

Description: I needed extra storage on a budget so I purchased this boring MICKE IKEA cabinet for $59.99. To make it more interesting I "wallpapered" a map from my recent trip to NYC on to the drawer surface.

Click to see full instructions and more pictures on the revamped Micke.

~ Elena Koidis, Toronto, Ontario

Homeoffice, Dust and Cable free

Materials: Micke, Vika AMon, Pax, Expedit, Markus, 3 Cabinets DIY-Store

Description: 2 Micke Drawer(for PC without drawer) and one Micke storage for W-Lan Laserprinter under Vika Amon, 2 Cabinets from the near IDY-Store)encased with Ekby Hemnes left and right), Expedit diagonally with doors to hidden PC-Speakers an Cables for Dioder.

Behind the Door for Telephone/ DSL, Electric Motiondetector and Nightlight also a cabinet from the DIY-Store

~ Nice Uncle, Germany

Hacker help: Any suggestions on what to do with Micke corner desk?

Materials: Micke corner workstation

Description: I've recently moved and my new place doesn't have a normal shape and is also too small for the Micke desk.

So I'm hoping some Ikea hacker out there will have some cool ideas for what I should do with this great desk.

Thanks,

~ Michelle, Saint Paul Mn

Custom computer desk for whining husband

Materials: Expedit bookcase 2X2, Micke desks

Description: My loving husband was annoying me to get a bookcase to place his precious books in our office, nothing a quick trip to our local IKEA can't solve!

We already had the MICKE double desk, so i bought a second one but the small one, and only assembled the top and left side (no drawer).

At the hardware store I bought corner braces and mending plate, and also short wood screws (short so they won't go through the whole desk)

I assembled the second MICKE desk to the first with the corner braces ( I used 2) and the EXPEDIT bookcase on top of that.

It's that simple!

~ Cartouche, Montreal

Micke Printer Hutch

Materials: Micke Desk, Ekby Jarpen Shelves (x4)

Description: I recently purchased a new printer (HP Officejet 7500A) and discovered that it is the largest electronic in my room. I had my old printer in my Billy bookcase, but my new one is far too large.

I decided since I was not using much of my bookcase that I should replace it with a hutch to house the printer, while reducing my shelf space.

I decided on the small Micke desk for it's price and style. I have noticed that a lot of hacks don't attempt to keep the thickness of the materials similar to create a fluid look. I researched online the thickness of the shelves Ikea has available, and I decided on the Ekby Jarpen shelves. They are as close as I can get from Ikea, at 1/8" too thin.

The rest is simple, I trimmed two shelves to become the top and the shelf of the add-on unit. I kept the two side pieces their original length. (These are the 7" deep shelves, btw.)

I'm keeping ink and paper in the drawer, I found a home for my ottoman underneath, and I donated my extra books.

Hope you like it! :)

~ Paige, Canada

Micke Desk fine tuned to high end glory

Materials: Micke desk, walnut scraps, mdf, wood glue, paint

Description: I cut a sheet of mdf to the exact size of the top of my Micke Ikea desk. Then I took the walnut strips which were off-cuts from my dad's wood working business and glued them on the mdf. Sanded, sanded, sanded. Finished the top with a tung oil, linseed oil, varathane combo and glued it onto my roughed up (with 120 grit sandpaper) desk. Then I primed and painted the whole desk Benjamin Moore's Timid White. Sprayed the metal leg with Rustoleum metallic paint and added some drawer pulls.

See more of the high-end Micke desk.

~ Marci

Hopen and Micke decoupage restyling

Materials: Hopen wardrobe, two little Micke desks

Description: Hi! I'm an architect and I love interior design and IKEA furniture. Sometimes I use to modify and personalize furniture by Ikea to adapt them to my projects...

Here you can give a look at one of my last works, the restyling of a children room. You can see a lot of furmiture by Ikea and the most beautiful ones are the one that I've modified with painting and decoupage. Micke desks and Hopen wardrobe!

If you want to see more visit my site about interior design.

This site is full of great ideas... i really like it!

~ Arch. Rachele Biancalani, Italy

From NEY to YEY

Materials: Micke desk, designer wallpaper

Description: My husband bought this desk for our sons room (he is 2.5 years old) and in his room there are a firecar-bed which is red, closets are white and some textiles are blue.... and this horrific desk was orange!!!! So... I just beautified it.

I have used wallpaper from PIP STUDIO (the birds, butterflies and bugs) and a leather-look wallpaper I don't know the brand of and the door is a wallpaper-test i got from a local painter-shop.

All together, I would guess it cost 50 kroner, less than 10 euro or 10 dollars.

And best of all: Our son can now learn to draw, paint and write at a desk that is made for him.

See more of the Micke desk.

~ Trollmora, Norway

Classy built in bedroom

Materials: Effektiv, Hopen, Micke, Vika

Description: Once I figured out what I wanted to do this hack was pretty simple, knowing is half the battle. I used the Hopen 5 drawer units for the base Then I set the Micke drawers on top. On top of Micke I put an Effektiv cabinet with frosted glass doors. I mounted the Effektiv unit to the wall and screwed in two Vika legs under for extra support. Considering that I am going to be sleeping right next to this Ikea tower.

To add my classy details I used 2 rolls of damask printed wrapping paper from Target. On the glass drawers and doors I simply taped it on the inside. On the Micke drawers and on my wall I used Mod Podge (one of my favorite mediums) it can be found at any craft store.

~ Liz, CA