Another Stolmen bookshelf

Materials: Stolmen posts

Description: Inspired by other posts I saw here I built this shelf.

You will need:

1. 2 Stolmen posts
2. A set of Stolmen mounting fixtures (4 per shelf rack)
3. 2 mending plates per rack
4. Bolts & nuts

The process:

1. I bought 12 ft long, 3/4in thick wood boards from home depot. They were cut into 45 in long shelves. They had to be sanded and treated.

2. To each end of the boards I drilled a hole big enough for the bolt to go through. And also attached a mending plate at the bottom. The nut hole should align with one of the mending plates holes (see pictures).

3. Each board is attached to the posts using 2 fixtures on each side (see pictures)

This was a weekend long project and took a look of trial and error. Now that is done I think I could do it again a lot quicker. The good thing is that once you have this up you can keep adding to it, making the shelf wider. If you consider doing this DO NOT get the Stolmen END fixtures. Get the Stolmen mounting fixtures.

~ mauricio

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Expedit Meets Enetri

Materials: 2 Expedit 2x4s, 1 Expedit 2x2, 5 Vika Amon Table Tops, 8 Capita Legs, 1 Enetri (discontinued)

Description: So my room was getting a bit messy and cluttered and I planned on redoing my computer area. After browsing for some ideas, I ran into ikeahackers.net and my creative ideas came to life! So I browsed Craigslist for some used Ikea furniture. Got all my Expedits for dirt cheap and bought the $6 white Vika Amon table tops. The Expedits from Craigslist were pretty scratched up but I was going to repaint them anyways.

So here is the before picture of my room:

After painting the Expedits, I placed the Vika Amon table tops on top of the Expedits:

After that I cut down my Enetri to the size that I wanted, I installed the Capita legs:

Once that was in place. I was ready to install some Dioder's that I had lying around:

And voila! All my junk is now organized and I have a ton of desk space. In the near future, I will be adding a sheet of plywood over the Expedits so that I can store clothes, etc without dust getting in them.

~ B Wong

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How to anchor to a wall when it's far away

Materials: Expedit TV stand, Velcrostraps, door pull handles

Description: This is not much of a hack, but a easy simple way to anchor items to the wall.

I had my TV go up in smoke thus I had to buy a new one and thus a new entertainment center to put it in. After I had everything put together I noticed the wall mounts were about 2 feet above the top of the wall I am putting it against, so I had to come up with some way anchor it to the wall so that it would not tip over.

Here is what I came up with. I had some Velcro straps , attached them to the wall mounts that are all ready on the unit using some zip ties. Mounted 2 loop style pull handles on the wall. Ran the Velcro straps through the handles and back on themselves.

After I did this I realized how easy it to undo the velcro straps to get behind the unit, and how this could be used on a lot of other furniture that needs to be attached to a wall for stability, and how much easier this is then trying to screw the unit straight to the wall.

~ ddgiant, Pleasant Grove, Utah, USA

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A better computer desk shelf

Materials: Ekby Laiva shelf, 4" Capita legs, 4 bolts, wood putty, sand paper, flat black paint

Description: Mark and drill four 3/8" holes. Use wood putty to finish bare edge of shelf (if it will be seen) sand and paint. Use the four bolts to secure the Capita legs to the shelf. This looks much nicer than using the Capita brackets.

~ HAVOC

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The TYGLÖSA frame hack

Materials: TYGLÖSA frame, fabric of your own taste, pieces of wood, single colour fabric

Description: This hack was made to cover our front speakers of the surround system in our living room. In order not to interfere with the quality of the sound, we decided to cover them with pictures made out of fabric.

So the fabric that you want to see is nailed to the TYGLÖSA frame as described by IKEA.

The TYGLÖSA frame is though way to shallow to cover a speaker by itself.

So we made a much deeper frame of the same size, covered it with a black fabric to blend in better.

The deep frame is hung on the wall around the speaker, the TYGLÖSA frame is hung on the deep frame flat brackets from the hardware store.

See more of the TYGLÖSA speaker hide.

~ Ann-Marie, Malmoe, Sweden

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Vika Amon-Galant 1m high standing table

Materials: VIKA AMON 150x75cm table top, Galant 120x60cm table base & 4 Angle legs, 2 x BESTÅ leg packs (2 per pack, total of 4), 2 pieces of wood (600mm x 65mm x 18mm each or similar), 4 x M8 30mm hex head bolts, 4 x M8 50mm hex head bolts, 4 x M8 washers, drill & drill bits, 16+ x 30-40mm long wood screws, optionally add EKBY shelf with EKBY TÖRE brackets

Description: The idea came about as we wanted a standing table ~1m high, and on arriving at Ikea found out that the VIKA BYSKE legs (that go to 107cm high) are currently recalled. According to the store, it was a world wide recall. We had already decided we wanted something more than 60cm deep, which w as how we decided on the VIKA AMON table top (75cm deep).

Stability was important, so I put my thinking cap on and came up with what you see. The BESTÅ legs were a last minute inspiration walking around the self-service furniture area on the way to the checkout. Originally I was going to use some wooden blocks and M8 threaded rod (which I have lots of for other reasons), but when I saw the BESTÅ legs, I just knew they'd be perfect and that I had to use them, despite it being slightly more expensive. Sure it's not the cheapest standing table, but we're quite happy with it.


Step 1: Drill the corner holes in the GALANT frame all the way through (8-9mm dia). Clamp one piece of wood onto the frame where the holes are and centre it so the same amount is sticking out each side. Drill both holes all the way through the timber (8mm dia). Repeat for the other side and piece of wood. They should be identical anyway, but I did it this way in case I was slightly off-centre with one side.

Step 2: As I couldn't find M8 countersink screws on a Sunday, I improvised. Countersink the holes using a 13mm dia drill to approximately the height of the hex head for the M8 30mm bolts. Put the wood on something stable with a hole in it (I used half a brick I had lying around), and put the M8 30mm bolt through the hole. Hit the bolt head with a hammer till the head of the bolt is flush with the timber. Repeat for remaining timber holes & M8 30mm bolts.

Step 3. Unscrew the plastic feet from the BESTÅ legs, just leaving the Aluminium piece in the centre. Screw these onto the M8 30mm bolt threads sticking out of the timber pieces. Using the M8 50mm bolts and the M8 washers, screw the GALANT frame into the other side of the BESTÅ legs (drilled hole side goes to the BESTÅ legs).

Step 4: Invert the VIKA AMON table top, and place the new GALANT frame assembly on it, timber down. Centre the frame assembly on the desktop and secure with the wood screws (I countersunk mine, as they were a little short). If you drill pilot holes for the screws, make sure they are well undersized, so the screws bite into underside of the VIKA AMON table top. I used 4 screws per corner (for a total of 16), but may add more later (possibly between the BESTÅ legs).

Step 5: Add the legs, adjust each to the same height, and then stand the table up. You're done!

At full leg extension we measured the surface of our table at 101cm. We also garnished ours with a EKBY shelf mounted with EKBY TÖRE brackets (matched well with the VIKA AMON series tabletop).

Notes:
1. At full extension, the legs sit wider than the table top (front to back). This means it doesn't quite sit up against the wall, but this isn't an issue for us and we prefer the stability of the angled legs.
2. If I feel the stability isn't quite there, I'll go buy another pack of BESTÅ legs and put them between the existing ones (front to back), and put them on the centre of the frame so the welds on the GALANT frame edge are carrying less weight.
3. Another possibility is to use longer pieces of wood and run the wooden supports that attach to the table top from left to right rather than front to rear. This would provide ample places to screw the wood to the table all over (eg: nearer the existing leg holes in the VIKA AMON table top).

~ Cefiar, Melbourne, Australia

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Wine+Liquor Bar

Materials: Ikea Expedit Wall Shelf, Inreda, Capita, Dioder

Description: 1. Follow step 1 of the Expedit instructions and attach the top of the shelf to one side.

2. Add 2 Inreda racks to the top (underside) of the Expedit shelf.

3. Add the bottom and other side to the Expedit. Leave out the center shelf for a clean, modern look-and-feel. This also allows for plenty of room for a tall wine rack at the bottom.

4. Add the Capita legs to the bottom. I screwed these into both the sides and the bottom piece for extra support.

5. For the half-backing, I used leftover backing from a Billy bookcase. It is wood veneer with cardboard in-between and I cut it to size with heavy-duty scissors. Alternatively, you could use the extra shelf (from step #3) and cut it appropriately.

6. Add a single Dioder strip to the inside top of the shelf (flush with the backing). To hide wires, attach the transformer to the bottom and run wires along the back side (see picture)

7. Lastly, add the alcohol and enjoy :) !!!

Note: the wine rack and top serving tray are both from Target.

~ Aaron, Portland, OR

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Mid-Century Lack TV Hack

Materials: Lack TV stand, four mid-century legs, wall pop stickers (orange), plywood, foam board

Description: I submitted the Fullen Bar hack a while ago, and since I am never satisfied with my living room, this week I decided to tackle my lack TV stand. I recently "inherited" some mid-century furniture legs which I used to replace the short, chunky lack legs.

NEW LEGS
- The lack TV stand particle board was not strong enough to hold the screws for the new legs so I had a half inch thick plywood board cut to 54"x18".

- I attached the legs to the corners of the board, making a bench.

- I then attached the Lack TV stand to the plywood bench with three inch screws.

CABLE HIDER
- I wanted to hide the cables from the cable box and the other devices so that they wouldn't hang under or clutter up the inside of the tv stand. Before attaching the top panel of the stand, I cut a piece of white foam poster board into two 5"x27" pieces which I taped together to make a long 5"x54" piece.

- I attached the foam poster board strip to the underside of the top panel of the TV stand (the unpainted side), creating a little wall to hide the cords behind. I centered the poster board strip and secured it with packing tape, perpendicular to the top of the TV stand, six inches from the back (the side that would face the wall).

ORANGE INTERIOR
- Rather than paint the inside of the stand orange, which would scratch easily, I wanted to use contact paper, but I couldn't find it in orange anywhere. I found striped, orange wall decals online instead. It came as a narrow roll of sticky paper that was easy to apply that could be re-positioned. It also won't leave a residue if I change my mind about orange later.

- One roll of the wall decal stripe paper was only enough to cover half of the interior of the TV stand. Since the back was covered by the poster board, you can't see that the rest of the interior is still white.

~ Heather S., Houston

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