Materials: Ikea Gulliver Crib, Bassinet Mattress
Description: My wife and I are expecting a second baby in a couple of months and we've naturally been rearranging our home accordingly. Like most people in New York City, we live in a small apartment, so the placement of furniture is like a game of Tetris. The new baby will be sleeping in our bedroom for the first six months or so, but since there's no way that a full size crib will fit, we needed to find a smaller solution.
We looked at various mini cribs on the market and they were all slightly too big for the space in our room. We also looked at bassinets and decided that they were all either too ugly or too expensive. So we decided to build our own mini crib.
I picked up a good, used Gulliver crib from eBay and then checked the interweb to see what mattresses were available. We settled on a 15" x 33" bassinet mattress and placed the order. With my target dimensions for the crib dictated by the mattress, I started measuring and marking up the crib.
The long side pieces are the easiest to modify. Using a handsaw, I cut them down to 33" in length and then drilled new holes for the dowels, bolts and cylindrical nuts. I used a doweling jig for accuracy. If you don't have one of these, get one, they're great.
The end pieces are slightly harder to modify. As shown in the diagram, I cut at two of the joints through the wooden dowels to separate the end piece into two pieces. I then shortened the remaining large end piece so that the top cross bar was longer than the lower. With the aid of the doweling jig again, I drilled new holes for dowels and glued the shortened end pieces back together. When the glue was dry, I drilled new holes for dowels and bolts. I also used the opportunity to add two more sets of holes for the base piece so we could have the mattress higher than Ikea intended.
The last piece to modify was the base upon which the mattress would sit. I used my circular saw to reduce the size to 15" x 33" and then used my handsaw to shorten the cross members by roughly 2 cm. The cross members are just secured by staples, so it's easy to pull them out to rearrange them. I then reassembled the base board and reinforced it with wood screws and a couple of corner brackets. After drilling new holes for the bolts, I was done with the base.
The mini crib assembled just like the original Gulliver crib, which is to say pretty easily. I used a bit of touch up paint to cover up where I cut through the end pieces, but very little was required.
The crib will now fit our room and fit our baby. Overall, I'm pleased with the results, although the perfectionist in me slightly annoyed by the lack of symmetry in the bar spacing. Oh well, I think I can live with it.
~ Doug, Brooklyn
Materials: BESTA
Description: I drew the exact size of each component needed to create the boombox and I cut the door to accommodate the stereo, speakers and other components.
To power and customize the boombox I used the following items:
1) Car stereo
2) Speakers
3) Regulated Switching Power Supply
4) Toggle Switch
5) Volt meter
6) Cable grommet
After connecting the wires I assembled the rest of the unit and fastened with screws and caps the door.
Now the car stereo has become a boombox and I can listen music with tuner, cd player, usb and iPod dock in the house or wherever I want.
~ Stefano, Rome, Italy
Materials: Granas coffee table
Description: Maanzzon found this on Youtube and tipped me. It's really cool way to display your wares. I didn't know there was a whole world of Granas coffee table hacked into display cases for Star Wars figurines to the Godfather. Check out this link to the SideShow Collectors Forum and also the video below.
Link to video on Youtube.
Materials: 3 x Trones
Description: Hi, I do have those nice Trones Boxes at home and thought about using them on my balcony for growing plants in it.
But I do not know exactly how I should do it - and therefor I am asking you all :)
I do have 2 ideas -
1) making holes on the top of the Trones but that would force me to lose space to put other plants on it.
2) open the Trones fill them up with earth - let the plants grow and if the winter comes - cut them of - close the Trones and everything is clean and ready for winter.
So what ideas do you IKEA hackers have for my Trones when the summer comes and the winter is gone :)
Cheers
~ Herbert Feutl, Austria
Materials: Gyllen lamp and Ikea Stockholm Blad fabric
Description: My entrance was insignificant and dark, and I didn't like the lights and the old closet, so I decided to buy Gyllen lamps, but I didn' like the default panels...
First idea: buy normal glass panels and cover them with Blad fabric.
How to do that:
1. Buy glass sheets (56 cm) from your local glazier;
2. Cut the fabric with an extra edge and fix it with silicone;
3. Mount the lamp on the wall!
Second idea: make panels for the closet en pendant. How to do that:
1. Buy wooden slats to measure and, of course, the fabric, use: glue (vinavil), nails and tapestry stapler, silicone to fix;
2. Nail down the slats to make frames for the panels (fix them with glue);
3. Fix the fabric on the frames with glue and with staples all around, and cut off the borders;
4. Fix the panels with silicone on the closet's doors and let them fasten putting them on the floor, one on each other;
5. Remount the doors....done!
Now you have lamps and closet en pendant!
~ CyberLory, Pisa - Italy
Materials: Expedit 2X1, 4" PvC Pipe, Under Cabinet Drinkware Holder
Description: I wanted a small, contemporary wine rack to hold my modest stores of wine. I simply build and Expedit bookcase as is, cut 12" lengths of 4" PVC pipe - painted all but one.
Since I don't usually have a ton of wine, I didn't need to add more space for that, so I purchased an inexpensive 13" under-cabinet glassware rack for the top shelf.
Two push-on LED lights and I was done!
I think it turned out well, and I know nobody has anything just like it :)
~ Amy, United States
Materials: Ikea floor lamp DUDERÖ
Description: You need an old and shabby DUDERÖ floor lamp and about 150 pieces of folded fortune tellers glued onto it - And that's it..
With colored light bulbs you can get a large number of moods.
Have fun
See more of the DUDERÖ lamp shade.
~ Marc Zahn
