The "Billy Bob" Long Wall Desk

Materials: Way too many Billy bookcases. Or at least five.

Description: After moving last year from a big house shared amongst friends to a one-bedroom apartment, the five Billy bookcases I bought to fulfill an old IKEA catalog fantasy of looking at an entire wall of books were a bit much for the new space. (Side note: To properly fulfill this fantasy, you need *way* more books than you'd think. Like, way more than you have.) I wanted to use the dining room area as an office, but didn't want a "desk"; I kinda hate desks. I'm more a fan of the "plain flat work surface". So two of the five bookcases were reborn as the Billy Bob.

This hack was simple, but effective, and looked good in the space. It was also surprisingly stable and sturdy.

The bookcase closest to the wall lost the shelves and one side, while the second lost the side and the back. Stability comes from the walls the remaining back in the first bookcase, and the weight of the glass (repurposed from a much uglier desk). The glass is held in place by small nails in the top of the desk at the corners of the glass. The gaps between the two bookcases were perfect to route cables.

It served me well. I'm in the process of moving again, and the Billy Bob currently waits to find new life on Craigslist (or become part of another hopeful catalog fantasy). Before it goes, I thought I would pay tribute here.

~ Chris Rusho, Austin, TX

Read More »

'Restlet' - a low cost IKEA Tablet or Smartphone Stand

Materials: Ikea Inreda DVD rack, cutting knife

Description: Do you want a simple, beautiful and also cheap tablet stand? Take the Ikea Inreda DVD rack, cut it in a suitable piece and enjoy! I have done it with the Nexus 7 and it works great in landscape mode for watching movies or news. Even for travelling, it is lightweight and small.


Models:
I have tried in landscape with both Google/Asus Nexus 7 and Apple iPhone 4S with a very slim bumper case. Both worked really fine; for sure there are more models to use.

Assembly:
It is actually not rocket science at all - and even the IKEA product description says: "Can be cut to desired size to fit in different spaces."€ I have cut with a Stanley knife but probably it works with any sharp knife or bigger scissors.

Steps:

Photo: IKEA.com

1.) The product itself to start with..



2.) Cut it into desired format. For the Nexus 7 I can recommend 3 lanes (each 15mm wide and 10mm deep) and the length of the longer side. If you try it before cutting - the leaning back top side should be above the rack. So you ensure the centre of gravity is also above the rack and the device does not fall over. Be careful with sharp tools!

Caveat:
Too much screen interaction makes the tablet vibrate a little â€" so that is not ideal but as a stand to rest until you grab it and run away or watching a movie it is more than sufficient.

History:
Longer time ago I have bought the IKEA Inreda DVD rack to line up my current CD cases on top of the stereo. But it failed as CD cases are slightly slimmer and fell over - so I did not use it and I just had it in storage. But then I saw it again today and I remembered that people build creatively a tablet stand from a DVD case, which is more complicated. This solution is really simple to build and to use - straightforward.

~ Mike H, United Kingdom

Read More »

Watch out!

Materials: Ikea Bolmen

Description: It's a different kind of hack. I used a Ikea Bolmen stool to make a small video. I made about 150 photos of this stool in different positions. Afterwards some of them where adjusted in Photoshop. Then used iMovie to make the video.

Enjoy watching

Link to video on Youtube.

~ Rob Gros, The Netherlands

Read More »

Kitchen doors turns into wall decoration

Materials: FAKTUM NEXUS

Description: I needed some decoration for my bedroom wall.

Earlier I bought four kitchen doors from the As-Is section at local IKEA store. They were lying around waiting to be used for something. I also had some various things I wanted to have on this wall. So I doubted what I should do.

Then I had this idea to hang the doors on the wall and use them as a sort of display window.

I used:
4x FAKTUM NEXUS birch doors
1x BYGEL rail
3x FORMAT container (really really old) + FEJKA plants

Now I only need some inspiration for the fourth panel.

~ Bart, Hengelo, Netherlands

Read More »

Hacker help: Chandelier Hack Ideas?

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: KRISTALLER Chandelier, EKBY HÅLL shelf Bracket

Description: I've moved into an apartment with concrete ceilings and no light fixture holes. I have two hanging chandeliers (one Kristaller and one that is much like a Kristaller - second pic) that I absolutely love, but don't want to drill hooks into the concrete. Does anyone have any idea as to any Ikea hacks that would help me hang my beloved chandeliers again?

I was thinking of getting EKBY HÅLL shelf Brackets, attaching it to a wall, and hanging my chandeliers on them, but I'm not sure if the weight would be supported? Or maybe getting a huge, tall candle holder or tall vase and balancing the chandeliers on top of them, creating a floor lamp? Would that cause poor stability though? Any ideas?

I know how to convert my chandeliers into plug in ones, I just can't think of how to hang them.

~ Victoria, Canada

Read More »

Sink base with functional drawers

Materials: ARURUM Base cabinet w/ 2+2 drawers, jigsaw, drill and screwdriver.

Description: When we moved from our house to a smaller space, we needed to maximize every bit of room. Here is a kitchen hack that allows for no wasted space under the kitchen sink.

To accomplish this hack, it was necessary to replace a few parts of the standard Ikea drawer assembly. Ikea uses metal sides and backs for their drawers with a melamine bottom. To make this modification I would have had to cut the metal drawer back. I didn'€™t care for this idea as there would have been sharp metal edges.

Having worked in the cabinetry industry for a number of years, I recognized the hardware as Blum Tandembox components. This is a neat system where the drawer sides are stainless steel and the bottom and back are melamine or wood.

In the usual system, there are additional rear fixing brackets that allow for the back to be attached to the drawer sides.

The Ikea version doesn'€™t use these brackets, the metal back acts as the rear fixing brackets. I had a few extra brackets around so I tried them and they fit!.

The Blum part number is Z30M000S.04. This part as well as information about how to calculate the width and depth of the drawer can be found on the Blum website.

See more of the undersink drawers.

~ Dan Gray

Read More »

Plant pot holder into lacy pendant lamp

Materials: ARYD candle holder, SKURAR Hanging Planter (all Ikea)

Description: Drill hole in candle and planter, thread the cords through hole and.. done!

~ Ilse Esveld, Netherlands

Read More »

Wooden Computer Monitor Stand

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: RAST Nightstand

Description: To make a handsome stand for your computer monitor, simply cut the top off of this little nightstand (i.e. cut the side pieces about 6" down from the top). Then, stain to your desired color. Total time for the whole process: 15 minutes. Total cost: $20.

~ Joe, Vancouver

Read More »

A Lack booth worthy to be displayed

Materials: Lack tables

Description: This in not my own hack, but probably funny enough to be posted on Ikeahackers.

I always thought, fair stands are extremely expensive and all and every time is made only made for the one customer.

On the Photokina trade in Cologne, I've seen this well locking booth, mainly done out of Lack Tables.

I thought it's worth to be shared here.

~ Daniel, Cologne, Germany

Read More »

Ikea (scraps) headboard

Materials: extra wood in the " As Is " pile

Description: Went to Ikea one day and right before I went to the check out line I went to the " As Is " section to look for anything and saw on a cart, piled up all together, and completely random things, was scrap materials for $10. Now this is about $500 worth of materials so I thought it is a great deal.

When home and over the course of about two weeks started to cut up the ends of the MALM pieces and soon came up with the idea to create a headboard that would show the different colors and sizes.

Towards the end I realized I had one main piece that I didn't even look at yet. A MALM headboard. After cutting it down to a shorter height I was able to piece together all the different variations I created and come up with a nice clean look for a headboard.

And there you go... was actually pretty easy (with a table saw, glue, level and some vices. )

~ Drew Mersinger, Austin,tx

Read More »

Billsta Bar Table into Standing Work Station

Materials: Billsta Bar Table, Ekby Alex Shelf, Besta Legs

Description: I added the Signum cable management unit and Summera computer holder to make the Billsta bar table into a slick, standing work station. It's on the high end of hacks for about $300, but it fits into our new office's decor and looks very professional.

~ Marc Marton, Roswell, GA

Read More »

Expedit bookshelves to fabulous TV Stand!

Materials: 2 Expedit Shelving Unit 5x1

Description: I had two brown 5x1 Expedit Shelving units. I painted them white. Took out 2 shelves from each unit. I turned them horizontal and laid them flat on top of each other. I went to Home Depot and had a piece of MDF cut to size, which I stenciled and drilled holes in (for hiding av cables). I attached this to the back and voila! For added classiness... I installed IKEA under-cabinet lights on some of the shelves.

~ Sarah Quickel, washington DC

Read More »

How to: Add electric sockets to Lillangen cabinet

Materials: Lillangen

Description: First assembly the chassis of the cabinet. After chassis is ready, do a "mold" for your electric sockets with paper and scissors. When you have your mold ready, use marker to make the outline for the sockets hole.


Then take a drill (4mm) and drill as in the mold picture shows and when you have removed the extra bit away, just take a coarse file and even the edges.

After you have tighten the screws, put some silicone on the upside of the socket (wait until it dries) and you're ready to wire the socket.

~ Dj Ankka, Finland

Read More »

VIKA ports from the noise storm

Materials: VIKA AMON Desktops, aluminum angle iron, good cider

Description: Open offices are awesome. Open offices are loud. Loud is often fun, but sometimes bad.

My company, Sharethrough, loves us an open office. We love the collaboration, the misused office supplies flying from desk to desk, and we love working together to make cool things.

But sometimes you need some quiet. We usually don't want or need quiet or isolation enough to move our desk into some corner, we just need a space to bang through some work in a quiet environment where we can spend an hour or a day away from the open office cacophony.

Enter the Quiet Desk. One of our founders suggested making some desks that were like study hall in college, with some visual division and quiet from the rest of the office. Not wanting to do a lot of shop-building, I decided to build as much of it as possible from off-the-shelf Ikea parts.

The build is pretty straightforward. The dividers are 59" x 29.5" VIKA AMON desktops in gloss white. there are three of them standing on edge between/on the end of the worksurfaces. I bought hammer-on furniture glides at my local hardware store to keep the edges of the dividers slightly off the floor.

The work surfaces are VIKA AMON 39.375" x 29.375" desktops in Black-Brown. They're joined to the dividers with 1" Aluminum angle Iron (also from the local hardware store) which has been cut to 29.25" in length to form a side bracket. This length lets both ends of the bracket connect to the blocking in the dividers, providing better support for the work surface. For added strength, I also epoxied the bracket to the dividers.

Finally, I added two additional VIKA AMON 39.375" x 29.375" desktops in plain white to the lower-backs of the desks. This will provide privacy if we ever take these away from the walls, but most importantly, they greatly strengthen the overall piece, guarding against side-to-side racking that we'd otherwise get. These were joined to the dividers using brackets made from the waste in cutting the work surface brackets from the original 48" lengths the aluminum came in.

All the assembly was done using 1" lath screws (nice wide heads, no need for washers), being really really careful not to overtighten them into the particleboard blocking in the VIKA desktops.

Finally, I wired and zip-tied a power adapter and a set of headphones into each desk, so you can take your laptop with you, and get your jam on. I used some leftover mounting posts from a SIGNUM cable management basket, together with a 5/8 fender washer to make a handy storage place for the 'phones.

It took about 45min and 1.5 Hornsby's Amber Ciders to cut and drill the brackets, then about 2hrs total to assemble all the bits.

Happy Quiet Place!

~ Troy, San Francisco, CA

Read More »

My Space Age TV Table

Materials: Lack TV table, birch effect

Photo: Logue Studio

Description: I searched and searched for a TV table I could live with, and finally came across this cool Jetson-esque one at Logue Studio.

Two things I didn't like about it: the $1498 base price and the legs.

Next stop: Ikea. Walked out with the $49.99 Lack TV unit table, in the birch-effect color. Went to Home Depot to get a board to fit into the Lack's front opening, walked out with a piece of 1" x 8" x 6' pine (nominal size) that cost around $18.

Photo: IKEA.com

They won't rip a board at HD, so I had to take it to a local mill shop to get it cut to size and to get the holes drilled. I had the board sized down to 5-3/4" x 54-1/2", which is small for the opening, but I wanted to stick felt around the perimeter so I could shove the board into the opening without going to trouble of installing hinges like Logue does (not shown in photo here but you can see them on the site; very cool, but very expensive looking).

In the event, the board was still a little big, so I had to sand the heck out of it. Please, do your own measurements!

I had 9 holes drilled, each 3" across, and had them spread out evenly, best as I could.

The millwork was $30.

At home, I put on several coats of spar varnish that I had left over from another project.

Bingo, bango, and it fit right into the opening, neat as you please.

Next, the stubby little Lack legs had to go, so I ordered 4 hairpin legs from hairpinlegs.com for $60, delivered. That's the special price they have for the standard 14" legs, the others are a few bucks more, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd spring for the 10" or 12" ones.

Once they arrived, I simply screwed em to the bottom of the Lack right around where the old legs were and what you see is the result. Total project cost: $158, for a total savings of $1,340. Sweet! And, better still, my girlfriend thinks it's as cool as I do. Can't beat that!

~ Erik

Read More »

Hang 'em up!

Materials: Ekby Tryggve shelves, metal chains, four sturdy hooks, four small hooks for each shelf

Description: I've just moved into a new place and I like raw materials - wood, metal etc. One of many DIY projects was to create a hanging shelf. I used three Ekby Tryggve shelves, chains, and hooks.

This is how I did it:

1. I measured where I wanted the shelf to hang from the ceiling, drilled holes and screwed sturdy hooks into the ceiling from where the chains would hang.
2. I drilled four small holes on the sides of each of the Tryggve shelves. I used three shelves but you could use more than that. I screwed small hooks into each hole, with the hook opening facing down.
3. I hung four chains (in this case 5 feet each) from the ceiling hooks, then hooked the three Tryggve shelves onto the chain. Done!

~ SK, New York

Read More »

Accessorize, glamorize your IKEA with Parts of Sweden (FREE Shipping worldwide)

Pawfect legs!

Today, I am really happy to announce a collaboration with Parts of Sweden. They are a company founded by a group of Swedish IKEA enthusiasts and aims to offer unusual solutions and accessories especially adapted to Ikea furniture. Think of them as a companion to your local IKEA, an extension of your IKEA furniture options.

Okay, enough corporate talk. Onto the goodies ...

What I especially love are the Parts of Sweden products that make me think "Why doesn't IKEA make this?" such as the Divide X and Divide 4 for EXPEDIT. Talking about the EXPEDIT, they even have a stool that fits right into the cubby hole when not in use. Genius!

Also loving this Billy bar, which I think can double up as an occasional desk. Lift the drop leaf table up and  your poison disappears from view. 

[Free shipping details after the jump]

You'll also be spoilt for choice when it comes to stickers to personalise your IKEA furniture. Their Disney range is lovely, if you have Princess theme or a Lightning McQueen theme going on in your kid's room.

Hide clutter with these King baskets are made to fit the Expedit. Check out the doors too.

To celebrate our collaboration, Parts of Sweden is making their products very accessible with free shipping worldwide. You just have to click through to the Parts of Sweden site from IKEAHackers to enjoy this promotion. Sweet! Don't miss it.

~ Jules

All images courtesy of Parts of Sweden.

Disclosure: IKEAHackers is on Parts of Sweden's affiliate programme, which means IKEAHackers.net receives a commission for every completed sale on Parts of Sweden that comes  from this site.

Read More »

Condo ISLAND

Materials: Expedit Bookcase, Vika Hyttan Stainless Steel countertop, Vika Byske Legs

Description: I took (1) one of the Expedit Shelving Units with 8 sections. Lay it horizontally and put felt pads on the bottom corners (I may add casters in the future).

Then I took the countertop and added the (2) two Vika Byske chrome adjustable legs to the corners. The counter was then flipped over and attached to the shelving Unit with (2) two L brackets.

~ DIYMOM

Read More »