Materials: 2 Billy Bookshelves, Norberg Table, Lindmon Tabletop, Vattna Wall Clock, Sultan bed slats, drywall screws, wood screws, washers, latex-based construction caulk, television flush mount, Forstner Drill bit
Description: In need of a 30" desk with ample storage to utilize between our two closets, I racked my brain to find a solution. I toyed with custom-building a cabinet, but finally came upon a good fit with numerous IKEA pieces.
By placing the two Billy Bookshelves back-to-back (leaving a space in between for wiring to pass), I found that the Lindmon tabletop was a perfect spacer. The white melamine makes a clean and light front, too. Weight was important so that the TV (my monitor) would not pull the whole assembly over.
I screwed in from the back, using drywall screws just shorter than the depth of the Billy sideboards and tabletop combined. A bit of caulk helps as a quasi-removable adhesive (installers regularly use this alone to hold countertops in place so why not here?). Disc washers prevented the screws from self-countersinking and ruining the tabletop.
Upon installing the tabletop I immediately installed the TV bracket, also screwing through the tabletop into the Billy sidewalls, using provided bolts to also go into pieces of SULTAN slats in the gap space between the two Billy bookshelves.
This now gave me placement for wire pass-throughs for the Computer, USB and other wires. These were quick and easy in in one Billy back and through the middle of the Lindmon white face with the Forstner bit (cuts a larger circle for easy wiring passthrough).
Now I measured exactly 29.5" - the height of my favorite desk - to help position the Norberg bracket and installed onto the front. Again, each screw was chosen so that depth is just less than the depth of combined tabletop and bookshelf siding. The middle brackets went into the same Sultan slats that are in the gap space behind.
Due to the Norberg gateleg needing stabilization lower down, I placed two Sultan slats together and screwed through to match the Lindmon depth. I will paint this unfinished pine either clean white or black to match the rest of the setup one day soon...
Then I just fed through power cables and monitor wiring, as well as hooking through my speaker cables for my desktop audio system and centered the clock to finish the look!
Now, I have a workstation that easily gets out of the way, and allows me to watch television in the ideal spot in the bedroom, and now my girlfriend and I each have a good stable stack of storage facing our closets to use for whatever we need.
~ Ian C.
Materials: Jansjo lamp and yogurt bottle
Description: Cut the yoghurt bottle into the right length to form the petals. Slice into strips and bend them over to the neck of the bottle. Stick the strips onto the neck of the bottle and secure with a zip tie.
Cut a hole in the bottle cap to allow the Jansjo lamp to go through. Place the lamp through the flower shade and you're done.
~ loic goulouzelle, Brest - France
Materials: 2x MALM Chest with 2 drawers, black-brown
Description: We bought two small Malm Chests as nightstands but I the height of them annoyed me real quick.
So we cut off the lower half of each Malm and attached the remaining pieces to the back so you'd receive a nightstand looking like the old Malm nightstand.
We added a power socket to the top and mounted our selfmade lamps to the back plate.
Only thing I had to buy were the sockets, matching covers and two tiny hooks for the lampshades.
~ fabsn182, Würzburg, Germany
Materials: Pax, Komplement clothes rail and drawers, MDF, 4x2,
Description: 1. Build a frame to fit your space using 4x2 timbers- think about how you'll use your wardrobe and affix additional timbers to the sides for the runners you'll need for your drawers, shoe racks, baskets etc.
2. Take an Ikea Komplement clothes rail and remove the end. Then, using a jigsaw, cut to size to fit the wardrobe and simply replace the end, then screw into place.
3. To re-size Komplement drawers, remove one end of the drawer (preferably on the side that will later end up hidden, i.e. against the wall) and slide out the base. Carefully measure, mark and then cut the base down to size, then slot back into place. To re-fit the end, you'll need to drill 2 holes- one in the front panel of the drawer and one in the back panel- and then screw the side into place.
4. Affix drawer runners to the side timbers of your new wardrobe frame and slot the drawers into place.
5. Cut an MDF sheet to size to fit the exposed side of the frame.
6. Cut an MDF sheet to size to fit the 'roof', then use a router to make neat holes for air circulation, lower into place on top of the timber frame
7. Cut MDF sheets for the doors and if you want some detailing, use thin MDF pieces to create a panelled effect- glue and pin to the doors.
8. Use some attractive hinges to fit the doors to the frame.
9. Prime and paint the wardrobe, then attach door handles.
10. Stand back and admire!
See more of the built-in Pax wardrobe.
~ Lucy
Materials: 8" and 5" Blanda Matt Bowls, Tolsby picture frame base, 4 disposable wooden chopsticks (preferable the round kind), foam board
Description: To make the chair:
Step 1: Take the round base of the Tolsby picture frame and position the 8" Blanda Matt Bowl on its side at an approximate 75degree angle on top of the white base.
Step 2: Make a mark on where the white base will be glued to the bowl.
Step 3: Use hot glue to stick the base.
*Make a cushion for the chair if you want.
To make the table:
Step 1: cut a 10.5dia circle from the foam board. Glue it inside the 5" Blanda Matt bowl.
*Cover the foam board with decorative paper if you want. I used a silver contact paper.
Step 2: measure 1" from the tapered tip of all 4 chopsticks. Cut and superglue them at the bottom of the 5" bowl for table legs. I have mine spaced around 1" away from the IKEA logo at the bottom of the bowl.
~ Lene Dragon, United States
Materials: Moppe, old stool legs, yarn, power drill, 4 screws, drill bit, needle
Description: I think every body has a storage system like Moppe at home. It's like the Billy. I had mine now for - let me think - 7 years. Oh my. I painted one of the drawers red(-ish) back then to make it more fitting to the desk it sat on. But know it gets a make-over and definitely more purpose in life.
1. Draw with the chalk arrows on the mini chest. The chalk gives you the opportunity to draft and delete as you go along.
2. Take the drawers out of the chest and drill holes in the ends of each line and in the joints of the arrow.
3. Then you just need to stitch the lines. I made a little knot so it doesn't pull through and wrapped the ends of the yarn around one of the lines in the back to fix it afterwards.
4. Attach the stool legs to the bottom of the mini chest with the 4 screws. Make sure that the screws don'€™t go through the wood or you won't be able to insert the drawers afterwards.
See more of the Moppe storage.
~ Sarah, Vienna, Austria
Materials: Jansjo lamp, Li-ion battery, socket, wire
Description: I want to share with you a simple "invention" I made to have a camping Jansjo.
At home I have three lamps JANSJO–. They are powered by a switching power supply. The cable lamp is connected to the 4Vdc power supply by an old type speaker connector (in Italy we call it "Punto-linea" connector).
Within the head, close to the LED chip, the current is adjusted with a special IC (I have opened one head, but I do not remember: I think there are two 340mA regulators in parallel for a total of 680mA) and a voltage of 3.4 V is enough to obtain the maximum intensity.
Having some Lithium cylindrical 3.7V nominal (3 ~ 4.2V according to the actual state of charge) 2.4 Ah cells salvaged from old laptops battery packs (I also use that cells for the flashlight, etc., and charge them with a specific Li-ion charger Soshine SC-S1 V3) I thought it might be suitable for JANSJO.
So I connected a small piece of red and black wire to female speaker connector and the other two ends to a
cell, holding them by a slice of bicycle inner tube. (anyone who repair bicycles has some of them to give). The night between the 14th and the 15th of August we had four hours of great lighting at about no cost in the gazebo at the beach!
Ah ... I had also brought the gas lamp, but the light was ridiculous compared to a single JANSJO–! :-)
Have a good camping! :-)
~ Gianluca Giangreco, Roma, Italy
