Nordmyra window table

Materials: Two Nordmyra chairs, One big and heavy window (1/2" X 17.5" X 52.5"), sand paper, handsaw or jigsaw, self-adhesive felt strip.

Description: 1. Remove the seat of both chairs, and keep bolts on the side.
2. Take the saw and cut the stiles of each chairs sharply.
3. To get a good finishing cut, use the sand paper.

4. Put back the 8 bolts, head on top (if you want to have a metal/wood style)
5. Put felt strip on each corner. Make sure that those strips are thicker than the bolt head.
6. Take the window and put it on the structure. The window is 30kg, so there's no need to fix it.
7. That's it, enjoy!

~ Dominic St-Aubin, Montréal, Canada

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DIY Fauxdenza from Ikea Kitchen Cabinets

Materials: Akurum Wall Cabinets, Applad Doors, Birch Plywood, Walnut Stain

Description: I wanted a streamlined, and narrow solution for my media center. I have seen fake, floating credenzas on the web (dubbed a "fauxdenza") and decided to give it a try!

The 13" depth of the kitchen cabinets was perfect for my awkward space, and the kitchen storage was just what I needed to hide all of my DVDs and components!

I mounted the Akurum wall cabinets about 8 inches above the floor, so that the credenza was floating off the floor. Since the kitchen wall cabinets are not meant to be seen from above, I used birch plywood (edges veneered and stained in a dark walnut) to wrap the top and sides of the cabinets, to both hide the screws, and to add a natural element to the sleek white cabinet doors.

I did this entire project all by myself, and it took me about 4 hours total. If I had had someone helping me, this could have easily been done in 2 hours or so.

Total cost was around $300! I am more than thrilled with the outcome! :)

See more of the AKURUM fauxdenza.

~ Shannon Wiemann, Tampa, FL

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Coffee table from old Nenne computer desk

Materials: 4 dowels, 2 x 6cm screws, 2 pieces of wood 44cm x 5cm x 2cm, 6 pieces of wood 72cm x 3,5cm x 1cm; 1 pieces of wood 44cm x 3,5cm x 1cm; old champagne box(optional)

Description: I decided to turn my old computer table in to a coffee table. Rather than buy one, I liked the curves of this discontinued Nenne. Initially my plan was to use copper pipes, but since I had plenty of leftover wood from other DIY projects, it was better to use it in this. Here are the steps:
1 - remove the castors, net and keyboard tray
2 - the bottom panel which had the castor, needs to the turned 180 degrees, so that the castor holes are facing inside.
3 - mark the inside of the panels where the supporting pieces of wood will be (I marked them at 6,5cm from the edge)

4 - drill the holes on the pieces of wood for the dowels and the screws (I used 1 screw and 2 dowels for each)
5 - mark the holes for the dowels and the screws on the table panels
6 - screw the wood pieces in place (I used a bit of wood glue to fix the dowels, but this is not essential)
7 - take the 6 pieces of wood and make them in to a straddle, and place it above the supporting pieces of wood.(i used the cut-offs for the transversal)
8 - place the champagne box (optional!) and voila!

~ wilson mintilana, London

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Mother and son Lack table

Materials: Lack table

Description: 2 6mm mdf boards, side 18mm mdf and inside also 18mm mdf strips. All glued and nailed. Cut out the space for the original Lack table. Old Lack legs shortened by 20 mm were used for the legs of the bigger table. Have fun. It's easy to make.

~ gerard rhebergen, the netherlands

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Double Lack Hack

Materials: 2x Lack coffee table, Circular Saw, 4x angle iron with holes, black spray paint

Description: Our old Lack coffee table was a little bit worn-out, so we kept looking for a new table that would fit into our U-shaped couch. It turned out that tables from Ikea or other stores did not fit so perfectly or were much more expensive.

So we bought a new Lack and thought about a way to make it look a little bit less "standard". As the old Lack had some dents but was still useable, I cut its top in half with a circular saw and used the two halves as table-legs. I connected the legs with the table plate with some wood plugs and attached two angle irons in the corners to give it some more strength.

Finally the inner side of the legs (the former underside of the table plate) had to be spray-painted black and the lower shelf needed to be shortened a bit to fit between the side plates.

The new side panels are a little bit longer than the original legs, what i appreciate because the original Lack sometimes was a bit too low. Now it has the right height and you need to take a second look to recognize that it's "only" a Lack :-)

~ Thomas Krechel, Germany

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Vittsjo Laptop Table to Upscale Side Table

Materials: Vittsjo Laptop Table

Description: Inspired by the stylish "C" shaped side tables from stores such as West Elm and Crate & Barrel, we turned the Ikea Vittsjo laptop table into a beautiful wood topped side table.

We removed the glass top that came with the Vittsjo, and replaced it with a dark stained wood top that sits on top of the frame. It is secured with a few screws through the original glass brackets. It is finished with several coats of furniture wax and buffed to a shine. It is the perfect side table in our cozy living room, and can be moved over the arm of the sofa to hold a beverage, or to work on a laptop.

See more of the Vittsjo side table.

~ Kristen, Toronto

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Hemnes Beautified Barnboard Coffee Table

Materials: Hemnes Square Grey Brown Coffee Table

Description: I loved the size and shape of my Hemnes Coffee Table but thought it needed to be beautified just a bit.

I began by painting the base of this coffee table in Anne Sloans Chalkpaint in French Linen and then sanding with a fine sand paper.

I then cut 5 lengths of 1"(d) x 7.25"(h) pine planks to 36"(l). I hit them with a hammer, crow bar and heavy chains to give them a worn appearance. I then sanded these with a heavy sandpaper to make sure it was smooth & the edges were not sharp.

I began the process by staining the wood with a steel wool and vinegar mixture, this gave the wood a nice aged patina. I then watered down BM Texas Leather to a milky consistency and applied evenly. Then, it was onto my light gray layers.

First I watered down ASCP in French Linen(base color) and applied unevenly, then I filled in the gaps with BM Revere Pewter(watered down). I let dry for a few hours in a cool, dry place and then sanded aggressively and unevenly, letting each plank maintain some originality.

I then adhered it to a mdf base(subfloor) measuring 35 x 35(slightly smaller),from bottom of subfloor. I then flipped it back over planks side up and nailed decorative nails to the top, leaving the pre-drilled holes empty at each corner. I laid the barnboard top over the Hemnes base and adhered it with long roofing nails at each corner.
To finish this top, I used ASCP clear wax to preserve the look.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, it is perfect statement piece for the room.

See more of the Hemnes Barnboard coffee table.

~ Jennifer, New York

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Hemnes Stove Hearth

Materials: Hemnes Entertainment center, DIY hearth and mantel

Description: I used a Hemnes entertainment center, minus the center piece. Built a false mantel, and hearth for an electric wood stove. This is the result.

~ Ken, Hudson, Florida

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Silver coffee LACK table

Materials: Lack side table, leatherette, silver paint, furniture molding; hammer, brush, jigsaw

Description: I wanted a chic coffee table in silver!
Using a jigsaw, I cut 20 cm off of each leg and painted the table!
I attached the leatherette square to the table top using furniture molding! Love it!!!

~ Alina Krat, St. Petersburg Russia

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Recycled Pallets and 2 Ikea Lacks Made an awesome Rustic Coffee Table

Materials: 2 old hardwood pallets and 2 IKEA lack tables.

Description: Basically had the idea to make a bigger table out of 2 lack tables a while back and removed 2 legs from each table then screwed them together with old boards on the bottom. We found a couple of old hardwood Pallets and decided it would look cool to cut the pieces down to size and nail them on the top of our already customized ikea table. So I did... cut, nailed, sanded and stained. Looks AWESOME!

~ Eddie Sherman, Hazard, KY

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VH-YES Coffee Table ('LACK'ing no more)

Materials: LACK Coffee Table, VHS Collection, Bit of Wood and Paint, Glass

Description: For my new offices (I'm a filmmaker), I wanted a coffee table that would be a talking point and I also wanted to do something with my (possibly quite valuable) VHS collection rather than allowing it to gather dust (which it has been doing for about 6 years).

So with a little help from my crafty girlfriend, we took a coffee table that was ready for the charity shop (if not the tip) and turned it into the envy of all my filmmaker friends.

It just involved painting the top, sticking some appropriately sized bits of wood to the edges, arranging the VHS tapes and ordering a piece of glass for the top.

Sweet.

See if you can name all the films from the photos included. :-)

~ Ed Cartledge, United Kingdom

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Give a little chic storage to the Pallbo footstool

Materials: SOLSTA PALLBO footstool, candle holders (4), screws (4), jigsaw, polisher, plywood, upholstery foam, lining, stapler, textile, sewing machine

Description: I took the footstool apart and turned it upside down. I drilled four holes on the bottom and screwed in the candle holders. I sawed the new top from plywood, and I polished the edges a bit.
I covered the sides and the top separately with the foam and the lining fixing them with a stapler.

Then I upholstered these items with textile with the stapler again, and sewed where needed (e.g. at the sides).

Now the new footstool doubles as a storage item for magazines or a soft throw.

See more of the madeover Solsta Pallbo.

~ Judit, Budapest

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Bye Bye Bricks - a magnetic cover up

before

Materials: Spontan Magnet Boards, plywood, screws, rare earth magnets

Description: We were tired of looking at the original brick fire place in our main living space. The open fire box was changed into a gas insert many years ago and the room has been painted over 4 times, but the brick work remained.

As the brick work has to be maintained without being permanently altered, tiling it over and painting it over weren't viable options. Another idea was to add wood panels over but there is a safety concern.

An inspiration struck when we repainted another room and needed to take down the older style Ikea magnet boards in that room. The boards appeared to be the perfect candidate to be used as the cladding panels over the brick fire place.

I then devised and designed the plywood under structure to support the Spontan boards and in order to secure them to the frame, I made cleats with embedded rare-earth magnets.

Please see the result via the steps and photos.

1) Made the 2 vertical supporting pilaster frames out of 3/4" thick plywood. Each frame was tailored to the pilaster and friction fitted over it. 3 screws were screwed into the inside of the frame, with the shaft of the screws just penetrating in between the vertical brick mortar joints. The screws added security.

2) 4"h Horizontal cross bars (t-shape to add rigidity) were mounted to the vertical frames in 3 positions. At the very top, middle and lower portion to support the horizontal joints of the boards. The lower cross bar was placed well above the fire box.

3) Side frames were added to either side of the fire box. The plywood was positioned beside the brick surround of the fire box. There is no plywood in any direct or adjacent contact to any of the fire box metal frame

4) The Spontan boards come with keyslot mounting holes in the back but were only meant to be hung from the top. It did not suit my requirements so I made plywood cleats 1.5"h (fitted between the folded in edges of the Spontan). The cleats were drilled for 1/2" diameter rare-earth magnets, where were glued in with PL400 Construction adhesive. The glue has to cure for 24 hours before using.

5) Using a long level, I drew the first line at the top of the frame. Allowing for the thickness of the Spontan, to the ceiling in the center, I screwed the cleats in one row. Each cleat was spaced from the next one by 2". Each board required 2 cleats - top and bottom. There was some fiddling around of the cleats to ensure that each board was tight to the adjacent one.

6) Once the top row of boards was established, I secured the second set of cleats. For the exact spacing between the boards vertically, I used a 12" long steel ruler (which was just shy of the thickness of the Spontan. To get the correct thickness, 2 layers of masking tape were added to the ruler). Working sequentially, the second set of top cleats were mounted with screws). The best method was to mound each top cleat, put on the board to see the alignment. If slightly off, then re-mount the cleat until perfectly aligned. Once the top row of cleats was all positioned, then do the bottom cleats.

7) Two rows of boards were mounted. For our fire place, serendipitously, the Spontan boards worked out perfectly. 2 boards wide equalled to exactly to width of the fire box. The two lengths also exactly reached from the ceiling to the top of the fire box.

8) Besides the fire box, modification was required to fit the boards. I made the necessary cuts and notches using my 7-1/4" circular saw fitted with a Metal
Cutoff blade. Be sure to wear all safety gear as it creates a lot of noise, sparks and odour.

9) The modified boards were mounted with the cleats and the same method.

10) for the hearth, I was going to use the same Spontan but just happened to have some surplus veneered shelves from another source so that was used to cover the hearth bricks.

11) Finally, I again used an aluminum cabinet hanging cleat from another source to frame the inside opening of the fire box.

The end result completely transformed the room and covered up the eyesore of a tired looking brickwork.

The added bonus is that the entire Spontan cladding now acts as a giant radiator panel to distribute the heat from the fire box, so the fire does not need to be turned up high.

This is not recommended over a wood burning fireplace.

Thank you,

~ Peter, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

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Karlstad Sofa Gets Retro Update

Materials: Sofa, Karlstad cushion, tapered screw in legs, upholsterer's twine, upholsterer's needle, 32 buttons

Description: First, we replaced the Ikea sofa legs with ready made, screw-in replacement legs from Uncle Bob's workshop. We, then had an upholsterer use an extra Karlstad throw pillow as fabric to cover 32 buttons. He also sold us an upholsterer's needle.

After deciding where I wanted the buttons to be on each side of the two back sofa cushions (8 on each side per cushion) with a tape measure and light pencil mark, I began tufting using this tutorial.




This method makes only two holes in the cushion fabric per button pair. Twine is threaded through one button, then folded in half and both ends are threaded through the needle. The needle is pressed straight through the cushion from one pencil mark to the corresponding mark on the other side. Another button is then threaded on one end of twine. Then, both ends are brought together to tie a slide knot that allowed me to adjust the space between the buttons. This requires at least 20 inches of twine per button pair for gripping.

Don't be afraid to really pull the buttons close together. After drawing them together with the slide knot, I tied a couple of extra knots and left the twine ends hanging until I had finished the entire pillow and was sure the tufts were all uniform. The ends were then snipped and tucked under the buttons.

See more of the tufted Karlstad.

~ Michelle Carter, Texas

 

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Remote storage LACK table

Materials: 2pcs of $7.99 Lack side table, 1 set 20" ball bearing sliding rails

Description:
1. Cut the top layer of 1 Lack table
2. Remove honeycomb layer

3. Push the top layer piece to the bottom
4. Mount side rails

5. Attach upper table top to the modified one
6. Add legs

~KeiDesign, CA

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