Corner workstation

Materials: Corner workstation MIKAEL, some small paper or cd boxes MACKIS

Description: In the original corner worstation, I disliked the metallic storages, not useful and fast shambolic.

That's why, instead of, I fixed some small paper or cd boxes. Then, I painted facades to match them with the wall. To finish, I added LEDs to light the work-surface and fixed my internet box.

~ Fraineau Nicolas, France (Toulouse)

Baby Crib with open shelving

Materials: Billy, Gulliver, Perfect Adel oven panels

Description: I took Ikea crib Gulliver, two oven panels from Ikea kitchen line, and old favourite Billy book shelf. One oven panel became a headboard and another became backing for Billy, and Billy became a foot-board.

The actual, foot-board and headboard from Gulliver I used as a template to drill the holes on the oven panels. Use the existing heardware. And oven panel attached to Billy with corner mounting pieces (all four corners).

See more of the crib with open shelving.

~ Alissa C.

Somewhere to hang my ... glass

Materials: 1 BRALLIS cloths hanger, 2 "thumbscrew" design aluminum connectors (part # ADR11-B1 Thomas & Betts 'Blackburn' connectors), 1 flathead hand screwdriver, 1 power screw driver, 2 metal 1/4" dowels or headless bolts, 2 wood screws.

Description: Here's how a clothes hanger can become a modern looking, attractive storage for glassware:

Take a BRALLIS hanger,which is constructed of metal tubing, remove the 2 black rubber nubs from the two tube ends, insert 2 metal 1/4" dowels or headless bolts into these openings, and attach 2 "thumbscrew" design aluminum (part # ADR11-B1 Thomas & Betts 'Blackburn'connectors) -- these can be purchased in the electronics dept. at HomeDepot -- to the protruding metal dowels. Tighten using an (archaic) flathead screwdriver. And, lastly, screw the connectors and entire clothes hanger assembly to the underside of an above head shelf.

You can orient to your liking the "tracks" for the wine glass bases to slide upside down. The connectors act as stand offs to provide the needed gap between the bottom of the shelf and the "tracks" of the wine glass rack. The glasses hang upside down, slide on very handily, and conveniently store above head same as is done in the Pub. Cheers!

~ Don Deutsch, Minneapolis, MN USA

Wardrobe hiding wires and fuse

Materials: Billy, Besta, Tombo doors, Grundtal rails, brackets and hinges from hardware store

Description: In our 1903 apartment we were facing the typical problem of an ugly surface-mounted fuse box that we wanted to hide. As the ceiling is quite high, we couldn't find a piece furniture tall enough. So we took a Billy bookcase (79 1/2", 202 cm tall) and fixed it to the wall with metal brackets.

The fuse box is now hidden behind a Tombo door. All the extra wiring for the wifi-hardware is behind the door we built from one of the Billy shelves that we didn't need anymore.

To complete the wardrobe and get space for all our winter gear and helmets we hung a Besta shelf-unit/height extension (47 1/4", 120 cm wide) next the Billy, also with Tombo doors. The Besta had to be turned upside down because of the holes for the feet. The rod is made of two Grundtal rails. The Trones shoe storage makes the all-white wardrobe perfect. Unfortunately IKEA has discontinued the white Trones.

~ Jochen and Edith, Germany

EXPEDIT wardrobe with plants

Materials: Wxpedit, Dampa, Bigarra, Ikea plants

Description:
1) Assemble 4x4 EXPEDIT with only one vertical row of shelves on the left and without the bottom.
2) Before adding the right vertical panel put in two screws that stand out half an inch to hold the DAMPA curtain rod.
3) Cut the rod to the right size, put it in place, add the right panel.
4) Add three EXPEDIT inserts with doors on the left.
5) Add the plants in BIGARRA pots on top.

Assembling it is faster than assembling the whole Expedit.

This wardrobe is great to create a semi-transparent division between entrance and living room.

~ imaia, Vancouver

***

A. Student's version

Updated 30 August 2012

Materials: Expedit shelving unit (white 5x5), Hugad curtain rod (black, 210 - 385cm), x2 long bolts with nuts, x5 Drono box (black)

Description: I was planning on doing something similar to this but decided it was too small for all of my clothes so I upped it to the 5x5 version. I went with the cheapest options (white shelving unit and Drona boxes) which are probably what I would've gone with aesthetically anyway.

The instructions in the previous post pretty much covers it so I'll just refer you to that but there are a few things I did differently:

1. It's worth mentioning the wooden pegs used to hold the inner shelving units together. The pegs going into the outer frame are fine as they are but the other ones (picture 2) need to be shortened to prevent them from protruding into the rail space. Easily done with a few minutes of sawing before hammering them in.

2. I drilled a hole through the two sides of the outer frame and used thick 3" bolts with nuts to hold the rail in rather than a decorated screw. Thought it'd be more secure, which I think it is.

3. I also used the bottom section for stability. I think it looks better anyway. Bit confused as to why they didn't use it in the other post tbh..

Two things I'd do differently if I did this again:

1. Perhaps use a stronger curtain rail. Because of the length, this one does bend slightly in the middle. Not a problem and barely noticeable but depends if you're really bothered about maintaining immaculate straight lines.

2. Use wood glue on every wooden peg you hammer in. I've had no problems yet but the upper shelving may end up losing integrity years down the line. Belt and braces etc.

Easy peasy.

~ A. Student, Studentville

IKEA LACK Tables become wall art

Materials: 3 LACK side tables, at least 3 yards of fabric

Description: My roommate and I were perusing IKEA and saw a nice wall art display at IKEA. The store display used actual frames of some kind. Problem was, IKEA didn't sell those types of frames in their store (I don't even know why they displayed those frames in the first place). They did have fabric though, so we picked out a pattern that we liked.

On the way out we saw the LACK side tables on clearance for $5 each, so we decided that it would probably be less expensive to just wrap fabric around the tables rather than trying to find actual frames at a craft store.

We used a staple gun, clamps, at least 50 staples, at least 6 small nails, and at least 3 yards of a medium density wire.

To staple the cloth to the back of the table we stretched the cloth and clamped it on opposing sides. Using the staple gun we spaced the staples in the back about an inch apart. We repeated the process for the other opposing sides. Don't forget to cut off any excess fabric. To not have lumpy corners of fabric, cut the fabric at a 45 degree angle on the corner you're working with. Then pound in two nails two-thirds up the way on the back. Wrap some wire between the two nails and make sure the middle of the wire can extend to the top (or about the top 1/3) of the frame, to ensure it will hang properly.

And voila, art for the wall.

~ Dave T., Santa Monica, CA

Mood light panel

Materials: Pax Fevik wardrobe door, DIODER led lights, some wood and two hooks

Description: I have always been a big fan of mood lighting and the low cost of IKEA lamps has allowed me to experiment with creating the perfect balance of functional and mood light.

So I decided to make a light panel for my recently purchased toy, a large plasma TV.

I had two packs of DIODER coloured led lights from some previous experiments, and set off to IKEA to find a glass panel door. I wanted a frosted glass panel as I figured this would diffuse the rather harsh lighting of the DIODER led's.


I picked up a slightly damaged Pax Fevik wardrobe door of 2.29m for 29,95 euro (less than half price!) and set off home.

The challenge was finding a way to hang the door without showing any hooks or wires. After visiting a few hardware stores for inspiration I came up with a simple solution. I mounted two small wooden blocks on the inside of the doorframe, just below the top edge of the frame.

The blocks are about 4 cm thick, creating some distance between the door and the wall, allowing the light to be diffused along the edges on the wall as well.

I had to find the right length of screws that would go thought the blocks and into the frame, but not show on the outside. The door weighs 15 kilos so I used three screws per block to attach it to the frame.

Once the wooden blocks were in place, I attached a simple hook used to hang heavy paintings to each one. I drilled two holes in the wall above my TV, inserted a plug and screw in each, and voil� !

Now I attached two more little wooden blocks to the bottom part of the frame to ensure that the distance from the wall was equal on the top and the bottom of the frame. For good order I used a couple of IKEA stick-on floor protectors on the wooden blocks so that they would not damage the wall.

Next I attached four DIODER light strips to the top of the door, and four to the bottom, using the sticking pads supplied with them. It takes some measuring to find the best spacing between them allowing for optimal light coverage within the panel.

Then came the task of making running the wires along the back side of the panel. I used little strips of black duct tape to stick the wires to the backside to make them invisible. That took about 1.5 hours, as you have to use enough tape so that it won't come loose in a couple of days....I led all the wires to the bottom of the frame where they exited in the middle.

Fortunately I didn't have to worry about hiding the wires at their exit point, as my TV covers this bit.

The final result was even better than anticipated!

~ Marc, Amsterdam, NL