Vallo pendant lamp

Korneel from Belgium made this lamp from watering cans some time ago and is willing to give it away for free. Check it out.

"It is a hanging lamp, made out of two PS Vallo watering cans. I bolted them together, and installed a lamp holder in each of then. As a result, the center of gravity was above the holding point for the wire, and the thing would not hang straight. I solved this with some 'invisible' nylon wire.

I made this item some years ago, since then I moved to my new house. I am not using this lamp anymore and I am willing to give it away for free (not including shipping)."

Related hacks:
- Pour lighting
- Add light to this watering can
- Lamp from thermo flask?

Gorm rat cage

The Gorm is turning out to be ideal as pet cages. Here's another one for rats from Robin.

"My husband and I made this 4-floor cage for our pet rat (who can be seen sleeping on the balcony in the pictures). It cost around $30 for the Gorm shelf unit (5 of the 20x20 size shelves and 4 uprights) and another $40 at the hardware store for the wire mesh, hinges, wood trim that makes the door, and hook latches.

The mesh is attached to the frame with 1/2" wood staples. The hardest part of the whole project was making the door since we have no carpentry experience but we made good use of a Speed Square to mark out the angles and keep the corners square while we stapled the pieces together.

The ramps are made by sawing out one of the slats that make the shelves and reattaching them with little brass hinges. This means each of the ramps can swing up and be secured flat to separate the floors. We then glued down a few pieces of the hook-side of velcro and used them to secure felt strips to the ramps to give some grip. When they are dirty or torn up we can just pull them off and wash or replace.

We covered the floor with old t-shirts and towels which are easy to wash and keep little feet from slipping between the slats. I'd like to replace them with carpet scraps someday for a more finished look but they won't be as easy to keep clean."

See more photos of Robin's rat cage.

Related hacks:
- Rats chill at the Kullen
- Gorm for parakeets
- Ikea home for chicks

"McQueen" play kitchen

Michele gave her boy a McQueen kitchen. It's a fabulous alternative to the fairy tale play kitchens we've seen so far.

"I got the idea after seeing so many inspiring play kitchens on the Ikea hacker website. It sparked my creativity, and turned out to be a fun project to plan, easy to execute, and as you can see, the results are pretty good.  It all cost me about 95.00 Euros to make, not considering the recycled parts used (old bowl for the sink, an old faucet, doorhandles and fabric.).

I started with two simple Faktum (similar to Akurum) cabinets and two Abstrakt doors, cut a round hole (using a jigsaw) in the side of one cabinet for the sink, and flipped it on its side and connected it to the other cabinet. The bowl used for the sink is no longer sold by Ikea, and is great because it has a lip around the top that hides the uneven cutting job I did. I made a hole for the faucet with a drill, and added the burners (Panna � like everybody uses).

I then reinforced the two cabinets together by adding a rectangular panel behind both, covered with wallpaper and with a square hole cut into it for the window.

For the refrigerator I put shelves inside, added some metal baskets on the door (I don't remember the name) and added a handle.  The oven door was quite difficult. It involved cutting the Abstrakt door in half without chipping the laminate covering. I then used a jigsaw to cut a rectangular hole for the window. This was actually not cut very well, but as it was covered by a wooden white frame (front and back, separated by a plastic sheet), you cannot see how uneven the cut was.  The most important cut in this project was done by a friend who cut a round hole inside the oven door enabling me to put a second hinge (Integral) inside. This was done by a column drill and was easy if one has the right equipment. I then added an opening/closing magnet for the oven door. I would still like to add a light inside the oven, when I find one that goes off automatically after a few minutes.

At this point I added the curtains and some Ikea products � the magnetic bar on the backsplash (Kroken), a couple plastic holders and brushes and stuff like that. I also bought a few, but not many, Duktig products to add to the fun. Needless to say, my 3 year-old boy was excited to receive his "McQueen kitchen" on Christmas day."

How to zest up a children's table and bedroom side tables

Teresa and Caroline (thanks!) tip me on some cool hacks happening over at Apartment Therapy. Check out their dreamy bedside table, fresh and fun Latt table and a Lack window seat.

Children's Latt table transformation
At a glance, the Latt table and seat tops look like fabulous art pieces but in reality, it is an Ikea Annamoa fabric under a piece of perspex. Simple hack but huge wow factor.

See more on AT's ohdeedoh.

Frosta bedside tables Again, so simple but absolutely dreamy. Perfect for the bedroom.

See more of the Frosta bedside table.

Lack window seat
Great for catching up on your daily Vitamin D. Quite like what we've previously featured here and here. Also check out window seats from the Norrebo, Traby and Leksvik.

See more of the Lack window seat.

Making your own window seat? Get a bench cushion for your Lack.

Simple wall shoe rack using Babord

Jenise's first hack involves 50 lbs of shoes. Here's what she did.

"When I moved across the country, I had 50 lbs of shoes freighted to me on Amtrack, and that was half of my collection. Since then, I have scaled back considerably.  Regardless, when I moved into my apartment that had the least spacious walk in closet (complete with orange shag covered A/C ductwork going through it), I was definitely in need of some serious shoe racks.

Being a rental, I didn't want to spend a ton.  I was having a hard time staying under $100 with the typical bracket and shelf units sold at home stores.  Having no saw or skills in that arena, my husband and I needed pre-cut shelves too.  We found our cheap fix with the Ikea Babord, which is actually a freestanding two shelf wood shoe rack.  If I remember correctly, the Babord was ridiculously cheap at $5.

So we bought
(1) 3 Babord units, which tallied to 6 slatted shelves,
(2) the last 2 Ekby Tryggve solid wood shelves in the store (for my heels without boxes), and
(3) 12 50-cent brackets (unknown model) from Ikea.

The two wall brackets were from our local Ace hardware, which were cheaper and better quality than the Antonius units from Ikea. 

My husband rigged two of the Babord units to have only single shelves so I could fit my boots and large show boxes underneath.  The rest of the Babord shelves were attached to the brackets using plastic security ties. The 2 Ekby Tryggve solid shelves were screwed to the brackets like normal.  All in all, the total cost for my 8 shelf wooden shoe rack unit was around $30."

A recessed Bertby display cabinet

Rebecca hacks her version of the recessed Bertby display cabinet.

"We moved to a condo with limited space and we needed a display cabinet for some of our collections. We already bought a Detolf  from Ikea but the problem is it has only 4 shelves, which is good for some of our larger pieces. We need a shallower cabinet with more selves for smaller items. We came across the Bertby DVD/CD cabinet and it seems perfect for our purpose. Inspired by another project from Ikeahacker, we cut a hole in the wall and mounted the Bertby recessed in between the studs to save more floor space.

Instead of using the Ikea furnished installation hardware, we secured the cabinet from the side to the studs by using screws. We added lights at both the top and the bottom so our display can shine. As seen in the top picture, it sits now nicely in the hallway. The width of the "Bertby" is 7.5" and with it recessed in the wall, it protrudes only 3.0", giving it a custom look. The second picture shows how slim it looks and with the "Detolf" close by, they really complement each other well. We are very happy with the results."

Bench and coffee table in one

It's a bench but Melanie makes it do double (and triple) duty as a coffee table and some times computer table. I like that the "tables" are removable and can be repositioned to where you want them to be.

This is an Ikea hack I made some time ago. As I'm not a big fan of couch tables - and a very big fan of putting your feet up high when sitting on the couch. Though I write a cook blog, I am generally a creative and crafty person: I write, I sew and crochet and I occasionally build my own furniture.

My "coffee table" consists of an Ikea zebra bench (I think it's out of range now, it was in the office department), a white version of Flort remote control pocket and 2 simple U-shaped tables made out of plywood from the hardware store.

For the U-shaped red tables, I went to the hardware store with the measurements of the zebra bench. There, I had sets of plywood cut in the exact right size, bought metal brackets, Spax screws and red acrylic paint - and built those U-shapes at home in an afternoon. Now those little tables can be removed from or repositioned on the zebra bench - and each table has the exact size for a laptop or an A4 paper plus some room for a cup or a glass.

After that, I cut the straight part off the Flort remote pocket so that all was left were the pockets themselves. Some stitches to prevent the fabric from unravelling and then I pinned it with lots of fixing pins to the short end of the zebra bench. Now the remotes have their home."

Related hacks:
- Modular coffee table
- Retractable Lack coffee table