Lillangen + flower pot = bike rack

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

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Narrow Bathroom Units

Materials: LILLA…NGEN Bathroom Units

Description: We have a narrow bathroom, but needed to put some base units in to cover existing pipework and provide some storage. Ikea have the narrow LILLANGEN washbasin cabinets but no other narrow base cabinets - so we used the upper wall cabinets as base cabinets. Batons attached to the wall brought them out to the same level as the sink unit. For the worksurface we used Pragel worktops cut to size.

~ Ian Grange, United Kingdom

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Hacker help: How to stack 2 Lillangen together?

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: LILLÅNGEN wall cabinet

Description: I have a small entryway, I was thinking about placing 2 LILLÅNGEN wall cabinets one on top of the other (possibly placing the top one upside down as a sort of desk) SOMEHOW, adding some feet/leg frames.

The point is how to stick them together... as I am totally unable to drill things to the walls. Any ideas?


~ chiara, Milan, Italy.

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How-to: 30cm LILLÅNGEN mirror wall cabinet

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: Two-door mirror wall cabinet LILLÅNGEN 202.051.71 (pix, right)

Description: There is just no such thing as 30-cm wide LILLÅNGEN mirror-doored wall cabinet. As a matter of a fact there is also no 90-cm cabinet of such kind. Wall cabinets with full mirror doors are available only in 60cm and 40cm widths so if you need to fill 90cm or 30cm of wall space then you need to hack.

IKEA product used: Two-door mirror wall cabinet LILLÅNGEN 202.051.71

Tools used: circular saw, hacksaw, 5mm drillbit, 8mm drillbit, 15mm hole-cutting drillbit, powerdrill. Clamps. You can never have too many clamps.

HOW-TO:

to modify the width of the cabinet you need to hack only three parts from the original set. Backboard, upper end and lower end.

Backboard is the easiest part so if you want to get warmed up then you can start here. Just separate two backboard pieces by cutting the tape connecting them and saw off 10mm of the taped edge from one piece.

Top and bottom pieces are identical but need some steady hand to work with, especially when drilling. So let's get started.


First cut the pieces to length with circular saw. Clamp two pieces together perfectly aligned and mark the desired length. You will aim for 268mm length after cut so please be sure that you are familiar with your saw and know exactly how it cuts. I used a bit of masking tape on top to reduce chipping by sawblade.

Now comes the interesting part - drilling the holes. I'd like to start with 15mm top holes. Please note the pattern of positioning of the holes. Centers of the 15mm holes are positioned 34.5mm from the end of the board and 38/28 mm from the respective sides. Drill carefully and use some kind of measure to compare the resulting depth with original holes.

Proceed to side holes. Easiest way of marking the correct hole positions is to use the cutaway part from the top/bottom board. Align it carefully with your piece, clamp it and use right-angle ruler to mark the borderlines of original holes to your piece. Drill the holes. 5mm hole depth is about 23mm. 8mm hole should just be drilled to meet the top holes.

That is your finished hacked top (or bottom) piece. Repeat the drilling with other piece.

When you have your hacked top/bottom and backboard ready then it is easy sailing from there on. Just assemble your lean 30cm cabinet according to original instructions (obviously sans one door).

~ Martin, Estonia

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Funky Kids Chairs

Materials: Bolmen Stool & Lillangen Chair seat

Description: I wanted some really funky cool kids chairs to match my boys homemade LEGO table, so I set off to Ikea & came up with this idea: I bought 2 Bolmen bathroom stools & 2 Lillangen chair seats (one blue & one green), then set off to make them up.

You'll need: A drill, A screw driver, All purpose glue (for wood & plastic) 4 blocks of wood approx 8cm L x 3 cm w x 1.5 cm Thick(for stabilizing the chair seat to the stool), 8 screws with flat heads (because they'll be uncomfy to sit on with rounded head screws).

Step 1: Measure where you want the holes on the seat - I did mine 8cm's apart & in a square so it looked neat. I also worked out where I wanted the seat to be placed on the stool & I found the centre of the stool & the centre of the seat & made a small mark so I could line them up later when it comes time to fix it together.

Step 2: I then sat the seat onto two of the blocks of wood (place length ways under each set of holes) & then I carefully drilled my holes in the seat & made sure the wood was lined up correctly. You don't need to drill all the way through the wood as well, just enough to make a mark so you can use that as a guide to fix the wood to the stool. You'll also need to take note of how far apart the blocks of wood will be placed so you will know for later on when you glue them to the stool top.

Step 3: You now need to glue the wood to the top of the stool, being careful to just put the glue around the edges & a dob in the middle, & make sure you steer clear of where the holes will be going through. Let it dry for 30 minutes.

Step 4: You now need to drill the hole right through the wood & through the stool top.

Step 5: Line the seat up with the holes & markings & attach it to the stool top with the screws, & BAM you're done.

They turned out fantastic & my boys use them everyday & I even sit on them & play LEGO with the boys too. :)

~ Peita

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Bathroom Sink Base to Trash/Recycling Center

Materials: Ikea Lillangen Sink Base Cabinet with legs, Ikeal Filur Trash Bins, Ikea Cabinet Door Panel (Unknown series), Ikea Hinges, Saw, Drill, Forstner Bit, Belt Sander

Description: I was in Ikea looking for those 'in cabinet trash receptacles'€. Unfortunately, they were smaller than I wanted. As I was walking out, I saw the Lillangen Sink Base Cabinet on clearance and thought it was about the right size. I grabbed 2 Filur trash bins - and they fit PERFECTLY. On the way out, stopped in the '€œAs-Is' department and grabbed a flat cabinet door panel (unknown series) and a couple of the hinges.

I moved the back supports on the cabinet to the top, giving me a support for the hinges and a hanging area for the trash bins. I had to cut the door panel down to size (length and width), fitting it with hinges and it became a top lid. I also had to flip the cabinet floor as it had a support in front that I moved to the back. BTW, I used the stock hidden hardware, drilling new holes inside so I wouldn't have to drill screws through from the outside.

The Lillangen has white laminate sides - and the door panel I had was the black wood color. I used a very coarse (60 grit) belt sander, leaving deep groves into the laminate, slightly swirled. When I painted it black to match the lid, it looks EXACTLY like the wood grain (or at least it looks close enough to me). In fact, the lid itself is NOT painted - it'€™s the stock Ikea Black Wood color.

This cabinet works great for me. It's at the end of my counter top, giving me extra space to store things on top if I need (I don't). I can open the top lid to put in the trash and separate the recycling. I can also use the front doors if I want to remove the trash cans (although I find I almost always just lift the lid).

And here'€™s the best part: I mentioned the base cabinet was on clearance. I didn't mention it was out of stock! They actually gave me the display one already assembled off the floor, including the legs, for even LESS than the clearance price. Seriously, the most expensive part of this was the Filur trash bins themselves!!

~ Chris H., Round Rock, TX

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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

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Lillangen TV unit

Photo: IKEA.com

Materials: Lillangen leg frame x6, drill, self-tapping screws

Description: My cable guy told me that my previous TV unit was not letting enough heat to vent out of my cable box, PS3, Xbox etc. So I had to look for something with a lot of airflow and still fit all my stuff.

The local Ikea had a sale on Lillangen leg frames for $5 CDN a pop. So I just started assembling 3 leg frames. Then I drilled the holes at the lower portion of the legs to install the horizontal pieces at the bottom. I did this to all 3 legs. Just for kicks I staggered them randomly.

~ Roy, Vancouver

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