IKEA Hackers

In time for summer: BBQ pit hack

2013-05-23T14:30:00.000-04:00

Materials: Linved Table and Foto Pendant Lamp

Description: I took the table top and using a sheet metal nibbler, I cut a hole the same as the metal lamp. I then drilled 8 holes that pierced both the rim of the lampshade and the new inside edge of the table top. I then riveted the two components together.

To form a stand for the BBQ basin, I sawed each the supports that hold the table from the table legs allowing for the basin to sit comfortably within the three legs. The small under table was left to add support for structure and to collect the falling charcoal.

The removable basin is now easy to clean and store.

See more of the BBQ pit hack.

~ Jack Holloway, London, England

Faktum as walk-in closet

2013-05-23T11:25:00.000-04:00

Materials: Faktum, Besta, Rationell, Härlig

Description: When we moved in, we finally had place for every woman's dream: a walk-in closet.

As we are renting the place, we don't have a lot of possibilities for a walk in closet. We first bought a wardrobe (Pax from Ikea) and as I didn't want to go more than 1,80m into the room I needed 40cm depth cabinets.

That's why I decided to use Faktum kitchen cabinets (Ikea). They are cheap, sturdy and with two cabinets on the top of each other, I was able to build it to the ceiling.

Here's what I needed to complete this project:
[2x] Faktum 60x70x37cm cabinet
[2x] Faktum 60x195x37cm cabinet
[6x] Härlig 30x70cm doors
[2x] Härlig 60x195cm doors
[As needed] Rationell 60×35 shelves
[1x] Besta 180cm rail system

The DIY after I came up with this idea is pretty easy.

First , I mounted all the cabinets according to the manual and placed the bigger one next to each other. I attached the cabinets and the added an attachment between the last cabinet and the wall for safety.

Then, I mounted the smaller cabinets on the top and fixed them also to the other cabinets. Finally, the Besta rail was fixed on the bottom and the top of the 3 bigger cabinets.I attached wheels onto the doors, placed the smaller doors like usual and placed also the shelves.

As the back is not really pretty with Ikea's classic brown compressed wood panels, I covered it up with wallpaper!

See more of the Faktum walk in closet.

~ Laura, Liège

IKEA Rast Hack {new nightstands}

2013-05-23T07:19:00.000-04:00

Materials:
Rast dresser
Wood putty
Sand paper
1x4 the width of the dresser
2 1x6 the width of the dresser
About 40 feet of lattice (per dresser, if you're doing two dressers, get about 75 feet of lattice)
Drawer pulls
Stain
Paint
Floetrol
Polycrylic

Tools needed:
Miter saw
Nail gun
Putty knife

Description:
This is the IKEA Rast dresser. Pretty plain and boring, but solid wood and perfect for dressing up.

First thing I did was build up the bottom so that I could attach the base molding to something. I used one 1x4 and a piece of lattice behind it to build it out.

Then I cut the base molding and lattice to trim out all of the drawers and sides. I used my new miter saw I got for my birthday. Love it!

I then filled all the holes with wood putty and sanded, sanded, sanded.

Then I painted two coats of white paint. I put Floetrol in my paint to minimize the brush strokes. I used Sherwin Williams Antique White paint color.

I pre-stained the top "tray" that I put on the top of the nightstand. I placed two 1x6's and 1 1x4 side by side on the top and used the nail gun to fasten them to the top. And then I used stained lattice to trim around the edge of the top.

See more of the Rast nightstand.

~ Laura

Modern dry-erase standing desk

2013-05-22T14:18:00.000-04:00

Materials: Linnmon high-gloss white tabletop (59x29½); Expedit 4x2 shelving unit; 2 Expedit drawer inserts, high-gloss white; 2 Expedit door inserts; 12 Capita legs; Lack shelf, high gloss red (43¼x10¼)

Description: My wife and I have wanted to put together a standing desk for a long time, and took our recent move as an opportunity to finally do it. After spending a lot of time on Ikea Hackers and ikea.ca, a couple of visits to Ikea, and several draft designs, we've ended up with this, and we think it's pretty awesome. Our favorite part is that the desk itself functions as a white-board.

When designing yours, you'll want to keep in mind the target height of your desk, and account for it by varying the legs you use. Ikea offers the Capita legs in 3 different heights, so by combining them you should be able to get pretty close to your desired height. In our case, I'm about 5'11" and my wife's probably 5'3" or 5'4". Accounting for the thickness of the tabletop itself, our final desk height is 41", which is pretty comfortable for both of us.

Ingredients:
- Linnmon high-gloss white tabletop (59x29½): $39.00
- Expedit 4x2 shelving unit (approximately 31x15½ x58½ ): $79.00
- 2 Expedit drawer inserts, high-gloss white: 2 x $25.00
- 2 Expedit door inserts (high-gloss red & high-gloss white): 2 x $15.00
- 12 Capita legs (4Â¾â): 3 x $16.99
- Lack shelf, high gloss red (43¼x10¼): $24.99

Recipe:
- Build the Expedit, in our case leaving out one of the smaller shelves to make room for the computer.
> NOTE: Looking at the Expedit in the horizontal position, the vertical separators are indispensable. In my opinion, you would be ill-advised to leave out any of those, as they provide structural support.
- Drill 6 Capita legs into the bottom of the Expedit. The Expedit seemed to be made of solid wood, so a drill was necessary but the capita legs feel nice and stable.
> Ikea makes a caster set designed specifically to support the Expedit in its horizontal position, and they use 6 casters, including 1 pair to support the middle of the unit. Based on that, I decided to use 6 Capita legs, including 2 for support in the middle.
- Break out the Linnmon tabletop, and line it up on top of the Expedit. Figure out where the Expedit will be below it, and mark the widest (most stable) possible locations for the other 5 (yes 5) Capita legs.
> Given that there wouldn't be much weight on the desktop and that I wanted to use the space between the Expedit and Linnmon for storage of stuff, I decided not to use a Capital in the middle in front. You can sort of see in one of the photos what I mean: There are 3 legs along the back of the tabletop, but only 2 in front.
> When you're thinking about how you want to position everything, keep in mind that the further back you set the Expedit under the Linnmon, the harder it'll be to get at those drawers. We set the Expedit about 4â back under the tabletop.
- Drill holes for the capita legs in the Linnmon, and screw them in. Note that the edges of the Linnmon are solid wood, so the outside 4 legs are good. But the center of the desktop is fibreboard, or hollow filled, or whatever, so be gentle with that center Capita. It's only there to provide support, and you're only drilling it in to prevent it from sliding around.
- Now figure out how high you want your monitors. "Ergonomics" says that the top of the monitor should be right around eye level when looking straight forward.
- If you're going to use the lack shelf to support your monitors, FIND STUDS IN YOUR WALL. If you screw the shelf into drywall or particle board and put two monitors on it (possibly even one monitor), it's liable to just rip right out of the wall, wrecking everything from your wall to the Expedit below, including your monitor. If you donât know how to find studs or aren't comfortable, you have lots of other options: prop the monitors up on books; get another piece from Ikea (we considered the Alex Alex shelf with drawer) that you can just sit on the desktop), get a monitor riser from another shop.
> Quick note: If you're going to rest your monitors directly on the desktop, they're going to add a lot of weight to the back of the desktop, and depending on how you've placed your Linnmon on top of the Expedit, it may not have a lot of support at the back. If this is the case, the monitors might be heavy enough to flip the desktop up. You can address this in a number of ways, but one option is the Vika Byske legs which extend tall enough to provide support at the back of the tabletop. Even one in the center of the table would probably be enough.
- There you have it. Load in the drawers and doors (if you're using them), connect everything, and you're good to go.

~ Liohn Sherer, Montreal, QC, Canada

Stereo System with 4 Bland Matt bowls and 2 Lack Shelves

2013-05-22T11:58:00.000-04:00

Materials: The Loudspeakers: -4 Blanda Matt 28 cm Bowls -2 full band 4" speakers -4 binding posts -6 drawer knobs -Stuffing material ( optional ) -Electric wire. The Amp and Preamp: -2 30 cm Lack shelves -Amp board + 220Vac/12Vcc power supply -Stereo potentiometer 2 x 20 Kohm - Binding posts, RCA connectors, blue LED + R 820 ohm

Description: I'm talking about a pre-amplifier, a power amplifier, and 2 loudspeakers (music source: my MP3 player).

The loudspeakers were built by using 4 28 cm Blanda Matt bowls.

The power amplifier is fit inside a 30 cm emptied Lack shelf.

The passive preamplifier, a simple 2 x 20 Kohm stereo potentiometer to regulate the music volume, is fit inside another 30 cm emptied Lack shelf.

You can find step by step building instructions for loudspeakers here.

file : casse monovia semplici, economiche alto WAF.doc ( one way, simple, cheap, high Wife Acceptance Factor loudspeakers )
Sorry, it's written in Italian, but is full of pictures ;-).

Amp and preamp here. (this time in English!)

Thanks a lot to IKEAHackers site for giving me inspiration.

~ Luca, Monza, Italy

Mr. Hektar & Mrs. Arstid

2013-05-22T07:51:00.000-04:00

Materials: HEKTAR & ARSTID ceiling lamps

Description: This is a really neat hack for office / bar / working spaces we thought about while looking for a low-budget lighting solution for our new offices.

It takes about 5 minutes to prepare this hack.

Make sure you have: 1 HEKTAR ceiling lamp and 1 ARSTID ceiling lamp.

Ingredients:
- Three 5mm screwing rods; 30 cm length
- Six nuts that would fit them.
- 40 cm electric wire extension + standard connector.

1. Drill three 5mm holes through the top surface of the HEKTAR lamp (the end closer to the ceiling).

2. Screw in the screwing rods into place.

3. Cut the electric wire from the inner HEKTAR light socket and connect the 40 cm wire extension by using the standard connector.

4. Attach the extended electric wire to the ARSTID electric supply panel.

5. Now you are ready to connect the three screwing rods to the ARSTID lamp's ceiling plastic connection plate. (There are three ready-made holes there that were meant for attaching the ARSTID lamp to the ceiling).

6. Secure the six nuts into place. (three at the top end of the rods and three at the bottom of course)

Enjoy your new stylish, industrial chic lamp :)

**It looks even better if you hang two or more in your office.

~ Yonatan Vagman

Hacker help: Kvissle as diaper caddy?

2013-05-21T15:07:00.000-04:00

Materials: Kvissle cable management box

Description: I want to use the Kvissle cable management box as a diaper caddy and hang it on the wall above the changing table in my baby's room. There are no holes in the back of the box, though there are holes at the bottom. A Huggies wipes container fits almost perfectly, it sticks out a tiny amount at the back. Any ideas as to how to hang it? Thanks!

~ Amanda

Cat cubby window seat with Ikea Akurum Kitchen Cabinets

2013-05-21T14:11:00.000-04:00

Materials: Akurum Abstrakt kitchen cabinets and Ikea red pillows

Description: Akurum Abstrakt 36" wide x 24" deep x 15" high cabinets, which would normally be used above a refrigerator, were placed on the floor on a 1-1/2" high base covered with a matching Akurum base kick ripped down to size.

Holes were cut in fronts of 2 of the doors in the corner cabinet and trimmed out with the iron-on Ikea trim strips. The 2 kitty cats in the household each have their own cubby space with red Ikea pillows inside the corner cabinets.

Additional cabinets of the same size are installed around the remainder of the room perimeter and topped with custom cushions and red Ikea pillows to make window seats with storage inside the hinged door Akurum Abstrakt cabinets.

~ Lynn Bichler Architects, Mequon, Wi

Cooking with Rast!

2013-05-21T11:04:00.000-04:00

Materials: Bedside rast

Description: I've assembled 2 Rast bedside tables. I place them on their side and put one against the other creating 2 big cabinets and one narrower in the middle. On the left cabinet I inserted some compensated shelves.

On the right side I added a door creating a pantry and on the other side I built a frame where I glued a clear plastic sheet which is the oven door. The back of the cabinet is made by a compensated base where I laid a wooden bar to hang the kitchen tools. It is all being painted with water colours. It has a real bargain tap. Total price approximately €30.00.

~ Erika

LACK Side Table - Night Table

2013-05-21T07:59:00.000-04:00

Materials: LACK Side Tables; Wood blocks, wood glue, nailer

Description: I was on a tight budget. After trying to find suitable night tables in second hand stores and online, I came across ikeahackers.net. I was impressed with all the ideas. I went to IKEA and found 4 LACK side tables on sale at $4.99 each. I bought the basic white.

The first step was to assemble 2 tables, to serve as the base of the 2 nightstands.

The second step was to cut down the legs of the second set of tables. Then I assembled the tables. They would serve as the top of the finished tables. I cut them so the overall height of the finished product would be 27".

Once I cut the legs, I discovered they were hollow. This was my first IKEA purchase, so I was unfamiliar with their product. No worries. I cut small blocks from a 2"x4" plank, and glued and air nailed them to the corners of the base tables. Then the cut legs would slide over the blocks. I then fastened the legs using the air nailer to the blocks.

~ Sue Allen

Full wall Besta media unit

2013-05-20T16:39:00.000-04:00

Materials: BESTA shelves

Description: I needed storage for DVD's, photo albums, CD's, games controllers, board games and a display shelf. I had enough space for six Besta units.

There are two taller units on the sides acting as pillars. Middle shelves on these needed to be fixed with angle brackets to the sides as the weight from the units on the top started to bow the side panels.

Above the TV is one unit to tie the pillars together and I was able to get two more units on the top of the pillars, so to use the full height on the room.

By using the glass doors in the middle, the height is broken down and it works well as a display shelf.
47 inch TV sits on the sixth unit with enough space for media units.

~ Design by Mika, UK

Hallway storage from Pax wardrobe

2013-05-20T11:34:00.000-04:00

Materials: Pax wardrobe

Description: We have a side door that never gets used. Stuff got piled in front of it all the time, so it was time to do something.

I cut a Pax wardrobe half and fixed it in front of the door. I needed two doors, which were cut half. I used one door for side filler panes to make it look like built in unit. Second door was used in a shoe rack project.
Top needed to be more solid than wardrobe top. I used a kitchen worktop for finishing.
Inside I have one rail for coats and space for shoes.

~ Design by Mika, UK

Wall mounted shoe rack from Pax door

2013-05-20T08:32:00.001-04:00

Materials: Pax wardrobe door

Description: Shoe rack for any size shoes.

I had a a half of Pax wardrobe door left from a previous hack which I cut to a design that holds four pairs of shoes. Great looking and doesn't need a lot of space.

~ Design by Mika, UK

Lillangen + flower pot = bike rack

2013-05-17T14:49:00.000-04:00

Materials: Lillangen wall bracket

Description: Over the last few months I have been thinking about building a homemade bike rack for our bicycles. The main goal was to save us some annoying manipulations when bringing the bikes in and out of our backyards. We were also tired of seeing our bikes sitting on our deck. Now they are sitting just outside our property in a dead end street that we have tried to turn green with the help of our neighbor.

This hack is really easy and I am pretty confident it will give ideas to some of you!

Step One : Build a flower pot!

The first step is to build a solid element to which the Lillangen brackets will be attached to. I decided to transform an old bed frame into a huge flower pot. Free your imagination to find the best solution for you. The only requirement is to build something "unmovable" if you don't want your bicycle to be stolen!

Step Two : Get a few pairs of Lillangen brackets!

Decide how many spots you will need for your bikes and run to the nearest Ikea store to get those Lillangen brackets. In Montréal they are sold for 10$ a pair. I have decided to repaint them in black to match my homemade flowerpot. However the spray paint I have used isn't really resistant and it has already started to peel off from the brackets but it doesn't really matter.

Step Three : Attached them to the flowerpot.

I have used a set of nuts and bolds purchased at my hardware store to attached the brackets to the flowerpot. I have also decided to add some washers. When installing the Lillangen brackets make sure to leave enough room (a couple of inches) in between the brackets so you can squeeze in the wheel of your bike.

Step four : Enjoy your new and convenient bike rack!

~ Tanguy, Montréal

How to create a Gerhard Richtexpedit bedside cabinet

2013-05-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

Materials: Expedit 2x2 and 1x1, inserts with door and drawers

Description: First of all, visit gerhard-richter.com and search some colour-combinations you like and buy them as spray colours.

Ikea does not offer a 2x1 Expedit, so I had to combine a 2x2 and a 1x1 in two 2x1.
I want a 2x1 horizontal with rolls, the vertical 2x1 is a side product.
I used my old and crappy 2x2 and bought a new 1x1.

You don't have to modify any Ikea-parts, all you have to do is simply combine the sides of the 1x1 with the tops of the 2x2 and the other way round, the rest is self-explanatory.

If you choose in the first step other colours than "white" you have to enamel the parts. If you like glossy, add a clear coat. The package of the 1x1 is a perfect spray cabin.

That's it.

~ cvb, Berlin

Laundry organizer from kitchen cabinets

2013-05-17T07:37:00.000-04:00

Materials: Faktum article number: 441.786.10

Description: This describes a solution to be able to organize white and coloured laundry.

Take 2 Faktum kitchen 441.786.10 units and one package of shelves

1) Trim a little bit the bottom side panel so you can nail the back panel later on without any obstructions.

2) Put the unit together as planned but flip the bottom panel in this way that the "nice" side is on the outside of the unit

3) Flip the complete unit so the top goes on the bottom and add the front panels

4) Nail one shelf per unit on the bottom, or you can use it as a "threshold"

5) Put a bucket on the top and draw a circle, cut it out

6) Nail some cable conduit clips to the border of the inner circle to have a nice finish

7) You can nail some "felt" caps on the bottom so they are not touching the ground

8) Fix them together and adjust the door panels (you can also flip the doors as desired)

9) Enjoy your creation

~ Mortias

Compact living desk mod

2013-05-16T14:30:00.000-04:00

Materials: Variera kitchen shelf insert, Capita legs and Ekby shelf

Description: Not much of a hack if you compare to some of the other things posted here and part of it has been posted plenty of times.

I live in a small room in London and wanted to make use of the desk space more efficiently.

I put my monitor and speakers on the standard Ekby shelf on Capita legs hack that have been posted here plenty of times before.

What I haven't seen here before though is the Variera Kitchen Shelf Insert.

I mounted it upside down under the desk to keep my Xbox of the floor without taking up space on the desk.

Quite an easy hack but made a huge difference in my room.

Let me know what you think!

~ Jonas, London

Macro camera slider rail

2013-05-16T12:28:00.000-04:00

Materials: Finnvar stand

Description: I repurposed the FINNVAR stand and turned it into a height adjustable slider rail for my DSLR camera slider (which I built by cannibalizing my girlfriends roller-skates and spending countless hours at the tool store - but that's a different story).

The concept is pretty straight forward and easy to copy: Essentially everything remains the same besides the the top board which is replaced with a longer one (1,4m), in order to get some sliding range. It's also very important to add stops to each end of the sliding board, to keep your slider - and your camera on top of it for that matter - from sliding off the construction.

I also added some felt patches to one side of the board, to make the ride smooth and quiet.

~ FJ Renard, Berlin

2 x Frosta into a dress hanger

2013-05-16T07:24:00.000-04:00

Materials: 2 Frosta stools, Blecka hooks, wood, jigsaw, drill, screws

Description: I was looking for a birch self standing dress hanger, but Ikea has unfortunately has little choice... so I decided to hack Frosta stool, inspired by previous hacks seen in this site.

I simply mounted inside-out the legs of the first stool, inserted and screwed a 140x4x4 cm wood stake; on the top of it I screwed the other four legs; I added 4 Blecka hooks; from the seat I cut 4 "slices" and mounted them as coat hangers....TA-DAAA!

~ Serena, Novara - Italy

Double Rast Cabinet Hack

2013-05-15T14:05:00.000-04:00

Materials: Ikea Rast drawers

Description: Screw two Rast chest of drawers together, add some timber or MDF, decorate with molding and give extra legs. Voila!

See more of the double Rast cabinet.

~ Kata, Budapest

Hacker Help: Sofa with built-in storage shelves?

2013-05-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

Materials: unknown

Description: I'm looking to hack or build a sofa sectional with built in storage shelves on the side arms all the way to the back of the sofa. I think this has extremely hacker potential, anyone have suggestions?

~ Gus

Easy IKEA Cabinet Makeover with shelf paper

2013-05-15T07:53:00.000-04:00

Materials: IKEA Cabinet (no longer sold), Chevron Shelf Paper, Tape Measure or Ribbon, Scissors

Description: One of my favorite IKEA pieces in my home is this white cabinet (no longer available at IKEA) in my bedroom. Since the walls in my room are an off-white, the cabinet tends to blend in so I wanted to add something to make it POP! I decided that I would add chevron shelf paper to the back of the cabinet.

I started this project by measuring the back of the cabinet. I couldn't find my tape measure so I ended up using a piece of ribbon (also from IKEA) to measure the distance and measured the paper using the grid on the back. Before applying the paper to the back of the cabinet, I removed all of the wooden shelves.

When I started peeling the backing off of the shelf paper, I pulled too much off at once and it was a big sticky mess! After finishing the first section, I started only peeling off a small amount of the backing away from the top while smoothing the paper onto the cabinet.

I continued this process of measuring and applying the shelf paper until the entire back of the cabinet was covered.

The best part about this project? It was cheap and simple! I spent $4 on a 2-pack of shelf paper (I still have a whole roll left) and the project was complete in less than an hour.

What I love about using shelf paper on my IKEA furniture is that it's easily removable so when I get tired of chevron, I can take it off and start all over again!

See more of the IKEA cabinet with shelf paper backing.

~ Erica, Kentucky

iCork Clock

2013-05-14T14:11:00.000-04:00

Materials: Kvissle, iHome, hot glue gun, drywall screws, Drill, magnets

Description: I first got the idea from the Kvissle Boom Box Hack.

I took my old iHome apart. The speakers didn't work and the some of the buttons were malfunctioning. So I got rid of all the unnecessary components.

I traced the clock screen onto the back of the cork top and cut it out with an Xacto knife, then hot glued it to the cork. The cork flaked a bit in some areas so if I redo it I might try another technique.

I positioned the circuit board and hot glued the button and nobs components directly to the inside of the box.

The top is held on by magnets which were hot glued as well.

The power cord was routed through the side hole of the box and i secured it to the wall using screws through the foam pad holes.

~ Mason R, California

Framed: Vika Furuskog gets a custom base

2013-05-14T10:45:00.000-04:00

Materials: Vika Furuskog table top, 14 ft 1x4s and 12 ft 1x3s, compound miter saw, Kreg Jig

Description: We built this desk for my son's tween room make-over.

Here is how we did it.

We bought a VIKA Furuskog table top at IKEA and some pine boards at the hardware store. We got 12 ft 1x3 for the frame to hold the table top and 14 ft 1x4 for the table legs.

Here you can see the cut list.

We used 1x4 for the legs and 1x3 for the frame under the desk top. From the top: the first four boards will create the square frame that is screwed into the table top. The next two boards are the bottoms of the legs, the last four are the table legs themselves.

Here I added some orange dots so you can see where we put the Kreg Jig holes.

We drilled all the Kreg Jig holes, then clamped and screwed the wood together.

Then we attached the frame and legs to the table top. All in all, we built this desk, while I was wearing the green shirt, in about 2 hours.

I used oil based primer (two coats) and water based Alkyd paint (two coats) to finish the table.

Then we hung some shelves and a gallery wall above the desk. The shelves are Ash boards that I sanded and stained. We used the IKEA Ekby Bjarnum brackets to mount them to the wall.

See more of the Vika Furuskog custom desk.

~ Katja @ Shift Ctrl ART, California

Kura bed hack makeover from deep sea to outer space

2013-05-14T07:37:00.000-04:00

Materials: Kura bed & Trofast steps

Description: To give you a bit of background, we moved into this house when Ebi-kun was 2 years old, it was perfect timing because he transitioned from co-sleeping to going to his own room. As he was only two, he didn't have much say in the design and I did it with a "under the sea" theme, Ikea helped a lot by having a lot of great fishy items at the time. (See original sea themed room here)

Now he is 7 and 2nd grade at school we decided he needed something a bit more grown up, he said he still liked the fish but it felt a bit babyish. So, we sat down and had a talk and decided on a space theme.

The top of the bed has wooden rails screwed to it then the space ship windows are made from orange plastic.

The side of the spaceship uses silver vinyl and the orange glittery door is fabric stuck on with strong glue - as is the triangle logo. The number plate is printed on sticker paper (I imagine I will have to replace that in time). The whole thing was nailed to the bed frame using round headed tacks.

The bed frame was painted with silver metallic acrylic paint as was the bookcase which also doubles as steps.

At the head of the bed are Stripa shelves - I'm not sure if these are still available, actually meant as picture shelves but they are the perfect size for precious bits and pieces!

See more of the Star Wars room.

~ Jo Ebisujima, Japan