Kura Firetruck

Materials: Kura Bed

Description: My second son has a passion for cars, so the idea of recycling the bed of his older brother and turn it into a firetruck. I have added some plywood to create the door and the window, I set on the wheels of an old toy car and have painted in red, grey and white the different part of the "truck".

I have equipped the bed with a little fire extinguisher, flashlights on the top, a garden hose and some stickers. On the wall I painted a skyline with bright acrylic colors and in the sky I made the "Ikea sun" shine!!

~ Rosandra, Italy

How can I use Thee, Expedit, Let Me Count the Ways...

Materials: Expedit TV Stand, Bjursta, 5" corner braces, VESA swivel mounts, Custom Vinyl Subway Art

Description: My apartment has a strange living area layout (almost pentagonal), and, being one to need my separate spaces, I wanted to create a conventional rectangular living room with a functional triangular office space. Ikea to the rescue! Given that my apartment is only 650 sq.ft and has a monstrous bedroom and walk-in closet, I needed multi-functional furniture. The Expedit anchors the living area. From the front, nothing looks amiss - just an Expedit TV shelf with the standard trimmings (and an extra large TV! A Samsung LN42C650).

The first tweak is some functionality+art. Come around the side, and you find that the Expedit is actually a room divider. The large side panel made for a beautiful canvas in the middle of the room that seemed ripe for some custom subway-art, which I designed in Photoshop and ordered from Etsy as a vinyl applique ($60). The text itself is religious in nature and reflects the spirituality I like to have at the center of my life (which fits nicely with its location in my apartment). A little further around the corner and you'll find my office space where I can read and work away from the gorgeous time-suck of an HDTV armed with Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Video.

The back of the Expedit is rather boring. It's a giant blank panel of solid particle board - strong enough to bear some weight and definitely in need of some life. Unfortunately, the space behind the Expedit is limited and I wanted both a computer desk and a reading table, but also a way to stash one away if I really wanted extra space. I looked for a drop-leaf table and found a great option right at Ikea - the Bjursta in matching black-brown. By setting the table height right at the bottom of the TV back-panel, the leaf rises to the perfect height for a desk - 30". At that height, all the mounting screws for the Bjursta are actually screwed into the back panel for the Expedit long shelves. I grabbed two VESA swivel mounts from a local computer shop and drilled keyholes into the back of the TV panel to run wiring (hidden, conveniently, behind the TV) f or two monitors which fit beautifully side-by-side. The wiring emerges through the cable management gap Ikea so graciously built in between the TV and AV shelves. Lighting from above is provided by two Ikea Lagra spotlights attached to the shelves, and wired across the top and side of the Expedit.

Where, though, to put the computer? Originally I had it in one of the shelves facing the living room, but changing CDs (and even hitting the power button) was annoying because I had to walk around to do it. My slimline Gateway Sx2800-01 is only 4"wide and the Bjursta shelf protrudes 5" from the back of the Expedit. Realizing that it would fit perfectly with a natural conduit for wiring in the swinging arm of the drop-leaf, I bought three 5" corner braces from Home Depot and screwed them into the bottom of the shelf backing using #10 1 1/4" wood screws and set my computer on them. The extra inch means I don't really have to use any sort of restraint system to hold the computer in place AND it forces the drop-leaf to fall at a right angle when let down for a more finished look.

Now, I can easily swivel my chair between the reading desk and the Bjursta/Ikea computer desk, the small office feels double the previous size and fits my needs perfectly. I can drop the leaf and slide even further away from the desk or raise it to work on my dual-screen setup. Oh, and since you're wondering, the keyboard and mouse live on the other side panel of the Expedit, where I have a small bin attached and the Mohu Leaf HD Antenna powering free basic channels in hi-def. (Sorry, I forgot those photos!)

So let's see, this Expedit does the following:

1) Entertainment Center + Storage
2) Room Divider
3) Modern Art Piece
4) Dual-screen Computer Workstation + Mount
5) Antenna and Device Holder

Hmm... Now that I think about it, I'm not certain there are any more surfaces on this thing I can actually use. Well, what do you think of my multipurpose hacking of an Ikea legend?

See more of the multi-function Expedit.

~ Arpit

LACK Amp Table

Materials: Lack Side Table, Dioder, Capita Legs

Description: I needed a table to bring up my Mini Guitar Amp to a better height.

I took 2 Lack side tables, discarded
one set of legs, and cut the other set down to the height I needed.

I took a set of 4" Capita legs and mounted them (offset) to the underside of the "Legless" Lack, the other Lack got its own shorter legs mounted back it as it will be the "base" of this table.

I added a drop of glue to the underside of the Capita legs that would "stand"
on top of the "base" Lack with its own shorter legs.

I then added the Dioder to the back of the table so as to be unseen, and ran all the controller wiring into a cabinet that sits right next to the table, and I control it there!

2x LACK SIDE TABLES
1X 4" CAPITA LEG SET
1X MULTI COLOR DIODER KIT
DRILL
SAW
GLUE
ADHESIVE TIE WRAP ANCHORS
TIE WRAPS

~ Darren Horton, North Carolina

Socket in the MALM nightstand

Materials: MALM nightstand, double socket, extension cable, circle cutter

Description: We needed a socket in our night stand, so after I found my circle cutter it was pretty easy: Cut a hole in the MALM nightstand, put the double socket in, attach an extension cable at the back and you're done. I hid the extension cable under the toeboard, because the next socket to plug it in was 4 meters away.

On top, I drilled a hole in the small book shelf to hide a USB-cable behind it to charge my phone at night.

~ Martin Storbeck, Stuttgart, Germany

Expedit play stove

Materials: Ikea Expedit shelving unit, black contact paper, red and white electrical tape

Description: I was planning to buy a white Brio stove for my daughter but couldn't find a place for it in her room. One day I was organizing her bookshelf when the idea struck me: I could turn the shelf into a stove by using some contact paper leftovers. My daughter has been cooking all sorts of tasty soups and stews ever since.

See more of the Expedit play stove.

~ Katja, Finland

Adding light to Dave laptop desk

Materials: Dave laptop desk Jansjo light

Description: I have tried to add a light to the Dave desk, just have not been able to find one that clipped on right or sat on the top of the desk. I found the Jansjo light where the base was not attached to light entities, just screwed together well.

I threw away the weighted base. Drilled two holes in my Dave desk and screwed the light to that. Now I have light on my Dave desk that lights up my keyboard on my laptop.

~ Greg Baxter, Arizona

Work/Play/Storage For Two

Materials: [2] 2x4 Expedit, [1] 2x2 Expedit, [2] Lack 43" Wall Shelves, [2] Vika Amon 59" Table Tops, [4] Drona Boxes, [2] Kassett Boxes, Assorted Signum Cable Mgt.

Description: My wife and I were downsizing from a 3 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment, so we needed a solution that provided the following:

-Storage (#1 concern)
-Leave adequate room for an air mattress
-A large workspace for our needs/work (education & graphic arts)

I happened upon a similar hack, but I decided to take this one a step further and go for the most storage I could possibly get out of the unit (i.e. by not using basic legs, but rather shelves). The shelves are secured to the tops using simple L brackets, and the tops are held together in the middle by the Signum cable basket. The extra 2x2 Expedit is being used as the printer cart, and some more storage right next to the desk. We added the Drona boxes on the end and the Lack wall shelves for a little more styling.

I pulled the top away from the edge on one side (shown in photo above) for a few reasons: a little more leg room, and it also provided a nice "seat" for my desktop. If you have a micro ATX (like I used to have), you can probably stow the computer on a shelf below the desk fairly easily. Either way, that little shift of the desk top gave us an extra 8" of legroom, and the top is still securely resting on over half the shelf on that side.

In case anyone is wondering, this is inside a 10' x 12' room, and there is still room for a queen sized blow up mattress. The finished size of the top is a massive 59" x 59". Perfect semi-permanent solution for us apartment-dwellers (and education majors)!

~ Doug H., Phoenix, AZ