A cute catbox . . . finally!

Krista joins the many Ikea hackers who finally found a cute solution to a messy problem. It is a more compact version of this PS litter box hack and offers a side entrance, instead of making kitty climb up through a hole in the floor of the cabinet. If you don't have much space at home, this could be it.

Krista says, "So here's our solution - finally - to the litter box issue.

First there is the question - where to put the litter box. Then, how to clean it easily.

And can it be cute?
Can we hide it in plain site?
Without too much odor?

It has taken us lots of moves, lots of trials and errors,and lots of hacking, but finally, we figured out a simple, convenient cat box solution that also fits our decor. Hooray!

We used a PS cabinet on casters cut a entry hole in one side, sanded and taped the edges, and put a litter box inside.

We and our 4 cats, are now quite happy."

Related hacks:
- Entryway cat litter and bench
- Flaren stealth litter box
- Quick and easy cat litter box
- Snack cat litter boxes
- Compact kitty box
- No pooper cat litter
- More pet hacks

Mondrian coffee table

Lee had the idea for a long time but finally got round to designing and ordering supplies for the hack. Basically it is a Lack coffee table with a tile top. Quite a Mondrian, isn't it?

Related hacks:
- Mosaic Lack coffee table
- A touch of glass for the humble Lack side table
- Make mine a mosaic table

Another Bekvam

This was done earlier, now, Elena does her version of the Bekvam.

"The first one was simply painted, partly with stencil and partly free hand,then coated with varnish.

The second one was a bit more complicated, I first started ...


with Ikea stencil but it didn't work out too well, so I preferred covering it entirely with paper towels glued on it with "vernis-colle" (acrylic glue, becoming transparent when it dries, commonly used in the paper towel technique).

As a finishing touch, I added some anti-slip band on the steps."

Hackea: Lack bar cart

This one's for the green saint. Say cheers to this easy bar cart which you can put together in half an hour. Thanks to Typhanie.

"I'm sure someone has done this hack before because it's really easy but I'm still proud of what I did. This can be a bar cart or a bedside table."

The Lack side tables are attached with Liquid nails.  

See more of Typhanie's Lack bar cart.

Mikael unwired

Beth gets the wires out of sight on her Mikael desk.

She says, "I just did a nice little ikea hack and thought I would share. It's involving the Mikael computer table on casters in the all white color. I was beyond tired of being able to see the nasty tangle of computer cords hanging down in the back. Cords are a necessary evil, yes, but still evil! So I decided to cover the back of the computer desk to hide them from view.

I went to Lowe's and bought a piece of precut wainscoting for $7.46. I then had it trimmed down to the right size (26" tall by 29.5" wide). Once I got home I realized I would have to cut out a panel so that my computer wouldn't overheat. So I trimmed it 8.5" from the top and 8.75" from the right.

Then I pre-drilled some holes in the corners and on the sides and nailed it on to the back of the computer desk. I also took off the top panel that came with the desk so that you can see the wainscoting throughout. Problem solved, you can't see the ugly cords anymore! Plus it gives it a nice polished look, kind of mixing modern with traditional styles. All in all it took about 2 hours and cost less than $10."

The many faces of Rickard

Emily has been hard at work modding the Rickard chair for her thesis. I like Citizen Cane, a nice mix of old and new. Pretty solid ideas, I must say.

She says, "I've been hacking away at the $19.99 Rickard task chair. I'm working on my MFA Design thesis exploring ways to extend the useful lives of task chairs, and how to create infrastructure to recover the parts for recycle at the end of the chair's useful life. One big reason people chuck out this kind of chair is that they get bored of it, so to combat that I've been trying to breathe new life into them and make them fresh, pushing the limits of what a task chair can be.  Here are some pics of my hacks so far...

Flower Child chair covered with Ikea's own flower pattern fabric, embellished (by me) with hand embroidery.

Citizen Cane chair with covers made with reclaimed caning from two old discarded chairs, and recycled wool felt. They're removable, the back cover is held on with velcro and the seat cover slips on like a shower cap, with elastic around the bottom.  

Wrap chair, this one's just a piece of stretchy fabric pulled all the way over the chair with an elastic holding it around the waist.  When you sit, the fabric stretches to allow regular sitting but when you get back up, it bounces back into this shape. 

The Maria, a play on the leather executive chair. For this one I increased the size of the back using foam-core that I taped onto the back, then covered the whole back in quilt batting and upholstered over it. The covers are made from recycled leather jackets - one maroon bomber jacket and one black leather trench coat. I kept the zipper and pockets of the bomber jacket and used them as a detail on the back of the chair. The pockets and zipper are still functional, so you can hide things in them. 

This one's named the Miyazaki, in honor of my favorite animator. For this one I again extended the back using foam-core taped onto the back, then padded it with quilt batting, and upholstered over it. The U-shape in the top is a neck cradle, so you can lean your head back into it, a little like when you're getting a shampoo at the hair salon - only more comfortable and without getting wet. I covered the legs and cylinder base in matching fabric to add to the cartoon-ish quality. The fabric is from Ikea as well. 

I'm currently working on a wingback version, stay tuned for that..."

Bekvam steps up

A simple tweak from Malin makes a huge difference to the Bekvam step stool.

Just a coat of paint and some gorgeous wall paper for a fresh new look. Love it.

See more of the wallpapered step stool. Also check out the play kitchen.