cancer science review

Materials: Stefan chair, additional seat panels

Description: My grandmother lives in an old house in Malacca, Malaysia without upstairs plumbing. I hacked the Stefan chair to build her a potty that looks like a regular chair.

It was quite easy, mainly because I stumbled across a bunch of extra seat pieces in the As-Is section for Singapore $1 each. I used them to make a raised section to hold the rim of the potty, a seat cover, and 3 panels for the side.

If I was to do it again, I would use a chair with arms, but Granny loves her new chair nevertheless.

Inspired by all the creativity on this website, I have done many other Ikea hacks over the years and will be submitting them soon, now that I have figured out how; in the meantime, many thanks Jules and do keep up the great work on this website!

~ mmscpsyh, Singapore

Materials: IKEA STEFAN chair, screwdriver, universal wood saw, rasp, sandpaper (optional)

Description: I decided to make a small notebook stand so that I won't have to sit on my chair stooped as an old man while looking at the screen. It still isn't perfect but it definitely makes a difference. I emphasize that I own a 16" Toshiba notebook! Bear this in mind and before throwing yourself into work with full steam check out whether the size of your notebook actually fits the surface of the backrest! Or modify the instructions according to your needs. I think from the pictures the steps are quite obvious and the whole process should be very easy, however, certain manual skills are required (as with all the hacks). With a little creativity it can be reproduced even without actually seeing the pictures. In the attachment I highlighted with red circles the parts you will need from the chair.

My steps were as follows:

1.) I sawed off the backrest of the chair. This will be the upper surface of the table.

2.) I sawed off the two ends of the original rear chair legs, so I got two approximately 7.5cm long small legs. I believe as an indicator I used the hole where the horizontal lath was connected to it (see the pictures). Unfortunately I didn't measure the precise angle, I had to play with it for a while, but the cut should be slightly tilted.

3.) I sawed off the bottom part of the backrest (in the middle of the chair app. where the slight bend is) which ends at the seat. Here is a horizontal lath as well, saw it off right above the "lath's hole". Be careful when you're removing the backrest because it is actually connected to the parts (3) you will need later so do not leave out more than 1cm. I used these parts as the rear legs of the small notebook stand (app. 11.5-12cm). There will be a slight bend in these small rear legs which should be located in the upper part when installed, looking outwards with their edges.

4.) All the legs were fixed with the short screws I removed from the old chair. Using the rasp was unfortunately necessary in my case to smooth the small unevenness. But you can avoid it by cutting precisely with the saw. It's important to make the surface of both ends of the legs smooth and flat otherwise you won't be able to install them, it will unstable (and ugly). Of course you can modify the length of the legs according to your needs, in that case use other, longer parts of the chair.

This is pretty much everything, I hope you will find my idea inspirational and helpful! I wish you good luck with it! :)

~ Aron M., Bratislava, Slovakia

cancer science review

Now you see it, now you don't potty chair

Small notebook stand

Stefan Chairs turned into art installation

Blog Archive