Kids Mezzanine area

Materials: Ikea loft bed and some MDF

Description: Cut 30cm off the legs of a double loft bed and the ladder. Got some MDF boards cut to go on the runs instead of putting a mattress down, and added some thinner decorative mdf along the sides - i just nailed it on. This now serves and an area for setting up and playing Playmobil, but it would work well for LEGO, trains, cars, barbie dolls etc.

See more of the kid's mezzanine area.

~ horrisanddeedle, sydney

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Cooking with Rast!

Materials: Bedside rast

Description: I've assembled 2 Rast bedside tables. I place them on their side and put one against the other creating 2 big cabinets and one narrower in the middle. On the left cabinet I inserted some compensated shelves.

On the right side I added a door creating a pantry and on the other side I built a frame where I glued a clear plastic sheet which is the oven door. The back of the cabinet is made by a compensated base where I laid a wooden bar to hang the kitchen tools. It is all being painted with water colours. It has a real bargain tap. Total price approximately €30.00.

~ Erika

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Kura bed hack makeover from deep sea to outer space

Materials: Kura bed & Trofast steps

Description: To give you a bit of background, we moved into this house when Ebi-kun was 2 years old, it was perfect timing because he transitioned from co-sleeping to going to his own room. As he was only two, he didn'€™t have much say in the design and I did it with a "€˜under the sea" theme, Ikea helped a lot by having a lot of great fishy items at the time. (See original sea themed room here)

Now he is 7 and 2nd grade at school we decided he needed something a bit more grown up, he said he still liked the fish but it felt a bit babyish. So, we sat down and had a talk and decided on a space theme.

The top of the bed has wooden rails screwed to it then the space ship windows are made from orange plastic.

The side of the spaceship uses silver vinyl and the orange glittery door is fabric stuck on with strong glue - as is the triangle logo. The number plate is printed on sticker paper (I imagine I will have to replace that in time). The whole thing was nailed to the bed frame using round headed tacks.

The bed frame was painted with silver metallic acrylic paint as was the bookcase which also doubles as steps.

At the head of the bed are Stripa shelves - I'm not sure if these are still available, actually meant as picture shelves but they are the perfect size for precious bits and pieces!

See more of the Star Wars room.

~ Jo Ebisujima, Japan

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Kura bunk bed with underbed storage

Materials: 2 Kura bed, 2 Malm drawer

Description: We cut one of the structure of a Kura bed and we put it under a complete Kura bed.
Then we created the space under the structure for two drawers with wheels Malm.
We decorated with colored paper applied with spray glue.

~ Kiki&Zoe, Italy

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Expedit = Play kitchen

Materials: Expedit

Description: Play kitchen is created from one Expedit. We lowered the sides and cut off the top and then put the top plate back on. The sink is an old water bowl.

The door to the "stove" is made ​​of plywood. We cut holes in it and inserted plexiglass.
Knobs are screwed into cork, so those can be turned on.
The cook top is plywood that is cut out and painted.
Photo ledge serves as storage for cups and mugs :)

See more of the Expedit play kitchen.

~ Jeanette M Lindvik, Norway

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EXPEDIT Loft Bed

Materials: 2x EXPEDIT 4x2, optional PERFEKT plinth, optional GULLIVER or other junior bed

Description: Here is my latest Ikea hack, where I'm using a pair of 4x2 EXPEDITs to make a single loft bed. It seems that the 79cm width of EXPEDIT is a perfect match for a UK 'small single' mattress which is 2'6 wide by 6'3 long, or any of IKEA's junior beds that are around 77cmx168cm long.

Note - I'm fully aware of the fact I'm mixing feet/inches and mm - just go with it!

Ingredients

2x EXPEDIT 4x2
Either: 1x junior bed e.g GULLIVER
OR Small single bed frame (2'6x6'3) made by me from timber, or alternatively:
4x CLS timber 63x38mm
6x Planed Smooth Timber 38x18mm
2x Planed Smooth timber 144x18mm
+ Optional: 2x PERFEKT ABSTRAKT plinth (or 2 more 144x18 timber)
Big bit of 6mm Perspex and some aluminium profile that I had lying around

Recipe

Build both EXPEDITs as per instructions
EITHER Build a bed frame using the following cuts:
2x CLS timber to 6'3 (structural sides)
2x CLS timber to 2'6 (structural ends)
2x PS timber 144x18 (or PERFEKT plinth) to 6'4.1/2" (containing sides)
2x PS timber 144x18 (or PERFEKT plinth) to 2'6 (containing ends)
12x PS timber 38x18 to 2'6 (slatted bed base)
OR: Build the junior bed (GULLIVER), cut the legs off, and use either PS timber or PERFEKT plinth to make up a solid side guard, bolted at each end to the side.
Bolt everything together, and to as many walls as are available. I actually used 4x wall fixing brackets from PAX wardrobes, opened up the holes in the short part of the "L" to marry up to the fixing bolts in the top of each EXPEDIT, and screwing the long part into the sides of the bed, from the inside.

Outcome

I've built the bed frame myself so as to fit a small single and to make the best use of the available space in my boy's room. I didn't have PERFEKT plinth available and didn't have time to go back to the shop, but would have used it on the front fascia had I had it since its one less thing to paint and would be a gloss finish to match the gloss turquoise & white EXPEDIT units. I also built the ladder using CLS timber that will need painting too. Finally, the entrance to the bed at the top of the ladder in this case definitely needs another grab rail on the wall so as to make it easier to get in & out so I'll be adding a couple of long LANSA handles later; in the mean time I've added a spare IKEA handle (now discontinued).

See more of the Expedit Loft bed.

~ Theo Gough, London

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Mala magic

Materials: Mala easel , piece of batten , 10 screws , drill, hack saw.

Description: Remove screws and hinges . Cut arms off paint tray. Drill holes in the top and mid sections either side of each board.

Screw the blackboard and white board to the wall separately. Place the tray beneath which board you choose and mark .

Cut a piece of batten to fit beneath the tray so it is held in place and screw into legs .

~ Bridgee, Qatar

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Cuddle elephant to costume

Materials: Ikea elephant Kapplar http://www.ikea.com/be/nl/catalog/products/80223313/

Description: My 4-year-old asked for an elephant costume for carnival. Since I prefer to make her costumes myself, but did not have the time to shape an entire animal out of fabric, I was looking for a shortcut.

Cleaning up my daughters toys, I discovered Ikea's cuddle elephant Kapplar could contain a toddler, with some clever adjustments.

I made sleeves and leg warmers out of his legs and used his head to make an elephant mask. A very durable costume, not for toddlers only: with a little effort, it even fits me!

See more of the elephant costume.

~ Riet, Belgium

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Simple crib with storage

Materials: Ikea Gulliver Crib

Description: We bought the Gulliver crib from Ikea for $100 and we went to the hardware store and loaded up on lumber. He removed the legs of the crib and built a drawer to form a new base. The end result? The most awesome crib, ever!

See more of the crib with storage.

~ Emily

Malm Lego Table

Materials: Malm 2 drawer chest, large dowel, spray paint, Lego base plate, glue

Description: I was looking to make my grand-daughter a Lego table. The ones I saw were either too large or I didn't like the storage. The Malm 2 draw chest was the perfect size. I spray painted it Lego colors, cut the large dowel into approx 2 inch "slices" and glued them on the front to make "giant Legos", and glued the base plate onto the top.

~ Kathy T, Long Island NY

BEST� TV Stand Turned Kids Corner

Materials: BEST� TV stand, sander, hammer, nails, piece of foam, paint, staple gun, fabric

Description: We purchased a BEST� TV stand a few years ago, but when we moved we mounted our TV so we had no need for it.

Here is how it went:

Step 1: We sanded, primed, painted & sealed the TV stand to turn it from wood to a charcoal grey.

Step 2: We painted the inside of the TV stand with chalkboard paint.


Step 3: Then I measure and cut my foam to make a nice seating area in the TV stand. Covered it with fabric and stapled it down.

Step 4: Nailed in a magnetic board I got for $2.00 in the As Is area in Ikea (gotta love Ikea).

Step 5: Let your child go have some fun now!

This is to show when we actually used the TV stand as well a TV stand, lol!

We used it for our son's storage for toys and such before we painted it.

Priming and painting.

The finished product with all his toys stored.

Thanks for your time! Have a great day!

See more of the Besta kid's corner.

~ Kim Sasse, Washington

Antilop children bike adapter

Materials: Antilop chair, 3 wheels bike

Description: Take an Antilop chair, remove the legs, fix it to the bottom of the rear basket of a 3 wheel bike, child facing rear side.

Remove the basket's rear side. You are ready to enjoy country rides with your child in security (don't remove the original belt :)

~ Antoine Le Villain, Bozcaada, Turkey

Manly DIY Play Kitchen

Materials: Malm nightstands, Bygel rail and hooks, Lansa drawer pulls, Duktig utensils and pots/pans,

Description: I made my two year old son a bitchin� kitchen, inspired by the likes of Bobby Flay, Tyler Florence, and Anthony Bourdain (who�s kitchen I�ve never seen, but I can only imagine). The kid loves cooking SO much, I knew this would be a home run gift he would enjoy for years.

But of course I couldn't just buy one and put it together�where's the fun in that?!

I hunted down gently used furniture I might be able to turn into a culinary haven. I finally scored two Ikea Malm nightstands.

I won't lie, there were several challenges during this project.

First challenge? Little to no work space. We have a tiny basement and no garage to set up tools or a work table. And with the winter weather on our heels, the driveway/backyard weren�t awesome options. We were scrunched, to say the least.

Second challenge? It was not my intent to get two different cabinets. I got the small one first, then a week later picked up the bigger one, immediately realizing the problem. They were both "Malm nightstands" but I should have asked for measurements�lesson learned. Though at $20, I decided I could make it work and bought the big one anyway, hoping to solve my height variance issue later.

I moved forward with paint. After sanding everything down (just to rough up the shiny veneers), everything got a coat of my fav primer�it adds more "stick". I then sprayed the small cabinet with aluminum paint and brushed the big one with white trim paint, the drawers with black chalkboard paint. Everything but the aluminum was leftover from other projects, saving me big $$.

When all painting was complete (which seemed to take FOREVER) I hit everything with a coat of polyurethane �especially the oven. The aluminum had a tendency to rub off on hands/clothing/anything and I wanted to be sure it stayed put. I hit the knobs and burners with poly too.

Third challenge? The tile backsplash. It took me about a minute to find the tile I wanted, a glass, greenish, subway variety at Home Depot that I've been drooling over for years. But since we haven't done a tiling project in about 7 years, we were supply-less�there in lies the challenge. Good thing I was able to talk a nice Home Depot flooring expert into doing this part of the project for me...whew.

Which brings me to the Fourth Challenge. The oven door.

Let me start by saying we are in NO WAY wood-workers. (Pretty sure that will be eminently clear in the next paragraph) While I've been reading and learning from the likes of Ana White, I'm long from being confident with this fine art.

So if you think it's possible to cut a hole in the middle of a piece of oak plywood (leftover from a train project of some kind), you'd be dead, dead wrong. Believe me, we tried, and failed miserably. We hurled the result in the trash after two days of attempting some emergency wood-filler-and-primer surgery�it was so bad I didn't even take a picture.

It caused some major frowny faces, arguments, guffaws of frustration, some reading time on Ana White�s website, and another trip to Home Depot where I took up a whole aisle laying out my pieces and measuring everything at least 10 times. Luckily the weather cooperated so we could work outside on "Oven Door Part Deux".

The results were PERFECT.

Luckily, there were a few "piece of cake" parts. Like the sink (a dog bowl from Amazon), faucet (recycled from Stu�s grandparents), burners (wood discs and dowels from Michael's), knobs (painted wood discs from Michael's), and oven legs (large wooden dowel cut down) all came together with no problem.

A few touchups, some hinges, handles, oven rack, and knob attachment finished the project. I couldn�t help but make them Wolf red.

The piece behind the knobs is actually an original drawer cut down and gorilla-glued to the top of the oven opening. To attach the knobs we drilled holes slightly larger than our screws. A tiny pilot hole in the back of the knobs helped the screw go in without cracking the wimpy wood disc. The knobs turn freely without falling off.

I built the oven rack out of a small metal cooling rack. A couple screws (which I painted black) hold it in place nicely.

A piece of plexi finished the oven door (easy buy at Home Depot but I had to cut it down myself). I was sure to drill pilot holes in the plexi AND wood to prevent cracking. A magnet holds the door closed. And, my favorite part, I added a cheapy motion sensor light that turns on when the door is opened. Fabulous!

Glue, scissors, and some paint made the burners look like they could pack some heat.

I used my favorite drawer pulls from Ikea, the same ones we used in our old kitchen. They make perfect tea towel holders too!

We�re so pleased with the turnout and can�t wait to try all the yummy food Ethan will make us for years to come!

Check out the full story at my blog: http://preparingforpeanut.com/ethans-manly-diy-play-kitchen/

Product list
Tile: Home Depot; Cutting Food: Melissa & Doug; Toaster: Hape; Stand Mixer: Hape; Utensils: Ikea; Pots & Pans: Ikea;Handheld Mixer: Pottery Barn Kids; Red Hanging Bucket: Ikea; Hanging Rail: Ikea; Drawer Pulls: Ikea; Cabinets: Originally Ikea, found on Craigslist; Faucet: hand me down; Sink: dog bowl from Amazon; Burners: DIY; Knobs: DIY; Wooden Crate: leftover packaging from christmas gift; Oven Rack: already owned; Metal pitcher: Ikea; Espresso Cups: Ikea; Baking pan set: Pottery Barn Kids; Aluminum Spray Paint: Rustoleum.

Check out the full story at my blog.

~ Becky @ Preparingforpeanut.com, United States

SNIGLAR into red truck bed

Materials: Sniglar bed frame with slatted base

Description: MDF sides, front and roof were screwed into the bed frame.

The front grill is a bathroom vent and the lights are battery powered push lights, from our local DIY store.

The cupboards with green fronts were also IKEA, and conveniently matched the paint used on the walls.

A simple enough design, but our kids love it.

~ Edward's dad

An EXPEDIT Bed for kids!

Materials: 2 2x2 EXPEDIT, MALM, SULTAN LUR�Y, SULTAN HUGLO

Description: After deciding to renovate my children's bedroom, and searching this site and coming across some fantastic posts, I thought I'd give it a go.

You may recognise a lot of the hacks like this, this, this and this!

It comprises of a MALM chest of drawers, 2 x EXPEDIT, SULTAN LUR�Y bed base, a SULTAN HUGLO mattress and some 125 x 25 timber and some 25 X 25 timber spurring.

So first things first.
I needed to do a test fit of the items together with the mattress. I knew that I really needed to give the bed some stability by fixing the top to at least two walls, but with the 2 2x2 Expedit's and the MALM set of drawers the overall bed length would be too long. I will come to that later.


Bed Construction.

So as I said earlier, I needed to make sure the bed was firmly secured against the wall on two sides. I constructed the main frame from some 125 x 25mm timber (5x1 in olde English!!) and fixed it to the wall using frame fixings (The same used to fix door frames and windows etc to walls). I did this on two sides and then screwed and glued the other two sides together

As you can see from the picture, I then glued and screwed some 25x25mm battens to the base of the frames. These would act as the support for the bed slats. Also in the picture above, I have already attached one of the Expedit units to the wall. This was done again using screw fixings through the edge of the units as this is where the internal timber supports are.

You may have already noticed that the height of the MALM is lower than the overall height of the EXPEDIT, but this was rectified using a thin piece of MDF and a cut down shelf from a LACK table!!

The LUR�Y Slats resting on the 25x25

The next task was to fit the slats. As IKEA sell these separately it was just a simple case of laying them out on the battens that were in place

The battens over the MALM drawers were screwed down with 2 50mm screws. This ensured that the screws penetrated the battens, the filler pieces on top of the drawers and the drawers themselves.

The next task was a bit of a tidy up job. The gap down the side of the MALM drawers was filled in using a piece of white faced chipboard

Of course, then came two sticking points. The first was how does my son get on the bed?

That turned out to be easier than I thought. I just cut down the ladders that he originally had on his large cabin bed so they fit and after a few well chiselled groves in the bed frame, they slid into place.

The second was that my wife panicked that he would fall out of bed. After informing her that he would probably only do it once and after recovering from a black eye for such a "stupid thing to say" I went with a fence style bed guard. This were constructed from some timber that I had in my garage and two left over slats from shortening my daughters FJELLSE bed.

What about the gap at the end of the mattress you may ask. Well after some consideration I decided to turn this into a shelf. I had some left over white faced chipboard which I cut to size, screwed down and sealed around the edges. I then made a 'Headboard' of sorts in order to stop his pillows falling off the mattress.

I also constructed a desk for him and added some VIKA ALEX drawers underneath.

See more of the Expedit children's bed.

~ Simon Millward, Basingstoke, UK

Large Lego workspace from Ikea parts

Materials: Expedit Bookshelves, Desk. Trofast bins

Description: This is a large Lego table/workspace I made for my kids from Expedit parts mostly.

Full details are here.

First I made legs for the "table" from 2x4's. They are glued and screwed to the underside of the Expedit desk.


Then I painted the legs black

I cut the moulding to size and painted it black

Cut, glued and nailed the moulding to the top of the table and Expedit bookshelves.

Installed Lego base plates and glued them (lightly).

Installed the storage bins and that's about it.

See more of the large Expedit LEGO table.

~ Thibaut Colar, Seattle, WA

Rast doubled & dolled up!

Materials: Rast, ikea material & paint

Description: I've been looking for a bedside table/bookcase for my little boys room that they share. I wanted something fun & unique to match the decor, so i got hacking!!

I got two Ikea RAST turned one upside down, drilled 8 holes (two on the bottom of each side of the legs that are going together) & glued 2 dowels on each side into the holes. I then doubled the rast up & they're held in place with 'no more nails' glue & the dowels - they're very sturdy.

Next I painted them white & the shelves orange & I tacked a piece of Ikea material to the back, to match the decor & so things wouldn't fall off the back of the shelf.

I love the outcome, it's unique & fun & it matches the room perfectly! Most of all the boys love it!

~ Peita

BR�DA & LAGG Portable Tabletop Play Stove

Materials: BR�DA Laptop Support, LAGG Trivet, DUKTIG Child's Cookware Set, DUKTIG Child's Utensil Set

Description: My friend wanted a play stove for her daughter but didn't want one that would take up floor space.

Inspired by IKEA Hackers' play stoves, I was off to IKEA to see what I could come up with. After spotting the DUKTIG cookware set and utensil set, I wandered the rest of the store to figure out what I could use for the stove: the BR�DA laptop stand turned around lays flat on a table and the LAGG trivets look like pretend burners!

I used replacement lid knobs for pots for the stove knobs and a small plastic tea canister for the utensil holder. The trivets and knobs were glued on with crazy glue (the knobs were backed with the soft part of a round velcro piece to provide a surface for the glue), a locking "velcro" type fastener was placed on the bottom of the utensil holder, and decorative sticky page markers were used for the label on the utensil holder and for the stove knobs.

~ Alicia

Princess throne

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: MAMMUT child chair

Description: The backrest is made out of solid metal and polystyrene.
Been glued to paper (wallpaper paste). Then painted with acrylic paint color.

~ J�rgen Behrens, Wiesbaden Germany

Vika + Micke = Workstation

Materials: Vika Amon, Micke Desk, Snille Chair, Spontan Boards

Description: #1 & #2 son quickly outgrown the activity table they have been using as a desk - as you can see from the "before", #1's PC dominates 1/2 the table.

My wife and I use a hacked Galant workstation (will post it here soon), and I was hoping something similar for the kids, but the size of the space, and frankly cost, was a factor.

I spent far too much time with the catalog and the website trying to find something to fit to no avail. For some reason I saw Vika, but not Micke.

We wandered over to our local Ikea this weekend, and were pleasantly surprised to find the Micke desks + a Vika Amon table would fit the space perfectly! (Plus, it was "free lunch" weekend, so that was a nice added bonus.)


The final assembly is two (2) Micke Desks, without the long drawers, one assembled to the left and one to the right, joined to a Vika Amon table.

Unlike Galant, the Vika and Micke are not solid tops, they are some sort of hollow-core arrangement, so that did not give me the screw grip I had hoped for with the mending plates (Home Depot T37).

To provide more stability and strength to the Mickes while still allowing for full leg clearance, I turned the side brackets 90 degrees and fastened them to the back as a rear leg. To do this I measured and tapped holes to allow for the standard stud and cam attachment system. This worked well and made for a sturdy connection. As advice, I'd say adding the dowels with some wood glue would not be a bad idea. (In fact using wood glue on all the dowels wouldn't hurt).

Some caveats to the mending plates - the Mickes tops are about 1/8" (3.1750mm) smaller then the Vika top - to compensate I used washers as spacers. Next time I would probably use fiber or nylon spacers instead. You also have to be very careful when tapping the screws, since as I said these are hollow-core tops. Aligning everything, especially on carpet, can be a challenge as well. I wound up having to shim one leg of the Vika with a 3/4" (19.05mm) piece of wood to get it all straight because of a low spot in the carpet.

The result is sturdy and should hold up well, but I still may look into getting some light box steel and making some sort of Galant-like frame near the back, attached to the Vika's legs.

Since the long drawers attach to the sides of the Mickes, we elected to put them aside for now. We're considering either using them back-to-back on the long side of the Vika, or possible altering one to fit between the Vika's legs to open to the front of the table.

I will also be adding some sort of cable management to the backside of the workstation - because of the heating duct, there's about 4 inches of clearance, so that's a good place to hide wires.

We finished things off with two Snille Chairs, and two Spontan magnetic boards.
It's amazing how closely this fit into the space - I knew if we kept hunting we'd find something that would fit well and serve the purpose while looking typically Ikea-sharp and modern.

The total cost was less then $400.

~ Bob Williams, Chicago Area