Cat climbing shelf in one compact Billy

Cave Lion fashions a fantastic Billy Cat climbing shelf. It looks pretty easy to do too. Looks fun!

"I made an Ikea hack of my own a few weeks ago and thought you'd like to share it too. The shelf is made from a 40cm wide Billy shelf and it cost only 15� (the shelf was a bit damaged at the store but it suited our purpose fine) and 5� for the carpet (so that it's not slippery). We also added a few corner irons and bolted the shelf to the wall so it wouldn't fall when our cats play in it. ...

40cm wide might be a bit too small for most cats but not for this breed. The shelf fits in the tiniest area, providing our cats access to the top of a closet with minimal damage to the walls of our rented appartment. The pics propably say more than a thousand words about how the shelf was altered, but I must say that we did use a lot of glue on the boards so they wouldn't flip (in addition to the corner irons)."

See more of Cave Lion's Billy Cat climbing shelf. (It's in Finnish but you'll get the picture.)

Related hacks:
- Stolmen cat gym
- Living room cat tree
- Simple cat ladder
- Stairway to cat heaven

You may also be interested in this ready made cat tree condo scratcher.

Bedside lamp and shelf

Bo salvage a ceiling lamp and converts it into a bedside lamp.

"I had this old ceiling lamp that I don't remember the official Ikea name for and I think its been discontinued. And my bedside shelf didnt have any nice place for a lamp but i liked the dome shape of that ceiling lamp. Problem was if you looked at it from any other angle than it was supposed to be looked at - from below ....


It just wasn't as domey and cool, all of the innards were exposed. So I cut a large hole and put a small plank in one of the shelves to recess the lamp fitting. Replaced the cable with one that had a switch. Painted it matte black to match my Hopen bed. And job done.

There's also an air ioniser with a fan in the back of the shelf near the base wich is made from left over stuff. But that's another story."

19" server cabinet from Lack with Vika Curry legs

Matthijs, inspired by the simplicity of the LackRack(.org) hack, decides to create something a bit more practical for everyday office use, made by three stock Ikea products plus some regular stuff from the local hardware shop.

For instructions please click here. The page is in Dutch but it is pretty self-explanatory.

Make your own Ikea doll houses

Ikea is the new mini. Mini doll houses that is. I love these two Ikea doll houses and the dolls too!

Variera is the room

Chris throws out the veggies on the Rationell Variera shelf insert and brings in the minis. The Variera pattern makes a terrific "textured wall". And the toy kitten is just too cute.

See more at Chris' Call of the Small blog.

Lekman doll house
Ana sets up home for her doll in the Lekman box.

"Doll House made with Lekman box and some acrylic sheets. Made for a PukiPuki Bjd (Ball Joint Doll), about 1/12 scale. Also used an electric system for the lightnings. The steps are covered underneath with aluminium tape to give them a mirrored effect. The back and bottom were sprayed with white lacquer for remove the translucent effect.

See more photos.

Super easy kid's table hack

Nicole cuts the Ingo down to size for her kids.

"We really wanted a kid's art table, but we werent satisfied with the kids tables sold at Ikea... way too small for 2 kids plus art supplies. Instead, we sawed the legs down on a cheap Ingo table to coffee table height...which is perfect height for the Ikea kiddie chairs.

We painted it with oil based semi gloss for a durable finish. Super easy hack and ends up being a lot cheaper alternative to the existing kid's tables that are currently on the market in this size."

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Me on the Hobbit trail
I'm off to New Zealand for a 2-week holiday. I'm looking forward to sites like the one of the left, and lots of juicy lamp chops. In the meantime, I won't leave you with "hackless". Posts will come on as usual from Mondays to Fridays.

Ikea hasn't invaded New Zealand yet (hmm... is that a good thing?) so I dunno if there are any IkeaHackers in Kiwiland. If you live in NZ and hack Ikea, drop me a note here.

Ikea ad campaign

Since we are on the subject of thesis, here's another one from Carmen, a recent graduate from the Ontario College of Art & Design Advertising programme. For her project, she whipped up a repurposing catalogue and some cheeky ads too. Now, why didn't I have so much fun at school?

She says, "For my final thesis project, I did a made up advertising campaign about repurposing and Ikea was my client. During my public grad show, and many portfolio interviews, everyone told me I should do something with it. So I figured, why not ikeahacker.

My campaign does not necessary uses Ikea products, but it promotes repurposing, by having a repurposing workshop in the Ikea stores, and a show room showcasing those repurposed projects. After a ton of research and surveys, Ikea is actually a really sustainable company, and sadly not a lot of people know that. By having this campaign/thesis It allows people to be aware of Ikea products and their part of being sustainable."

See more of Carmen's Ikea repurposing campaign - thesis project

Ikea tents in Haiti

Not quite a hack but Carmen highlights the situation in Haiti and how Ikea tents were used as temporary shelter by the La Maison des Anges in Tabarre, Port au Prince.

She writes, "Basically, as you know several orphanages found themselves in the streets after the earthquake and for 5 or 6 days, 40 kids at La Maison des Anges in Tabarre, Port au Prince, slept in Ikea play tents in a courtyard, before they got proper Red Cross tents."

The rains are about to pour but the debate is still going on ...


whether tarps or tents will provide the protection from the elements.

Carmen adds, "Frankly, I'm at a lost on this subject, for I think neither tarps nor tents will provide the protection Haitians need against heavy rain and tornadoes and cyclones during the rain season.

From what I've read, they won't be able to distribute enough of both on time. Their beef with tents is that it takes more space to set them up and they already have a problem with that. I still think tents are a tad better than tarps! All of it is heartbreaking. If you want to take the time, relief web situation reports are telling.

Just so you know, all but 3 or 4 of the kids at La Maison des Anges have foreign parents and should be home before the rain starts. They are working hard on making the main house habitable, they should be ok. Unfortunately, it's not the case for most people. I also like Habitat for Humanity which has done long term housing work in Ha�ti."

If you wish to donate a tent, you can do so here.

Do a Panna?

Over at Apartment Therapy, the good folks came out with an idea on turning the humble (and cheap) Tullsta into a designer Tokujin Yoshioka Panna chair. Batting, moving blankets and a staple gun may be all you need to replicate your own. What do you think?

Toothbrush cup nightstand

Fancy some reading and a glass of water before turning in but have no space for a nightstand? Here's a simple solution from Angela.

"It's not so much a hack but rather a creative misuse of an Ikea product. When I remodeled our bedroom last year, I realized that there wasn't enough room left for nightstands.

However, we do tend to get thirsty during the night and I just love to read a couple of pages before falling asleep. To solve our problem ...

... I bought a Lillholmen toothbrush cup with holder in the bathroom department and fixed it to the wall. In order to hold my books and reading glasses, I found a beautiful wall basket in the small storage department. Problem solved!"

Ikea snow boots

The blue bag halter dress must have inspired some to put the scissors to the hardy bag. Here's a raincoat featured on the Ikeahacks group on Instructables. (We have some amazing projects there, don't forget to check it out.) And now, we have snow boots!

Megan faced over two feet of snow in Pittsburgh and no snow boots for Superboy. That's when Ikea hacking creativity kicked in. The boots are not what you'll wear on a regular basis but for the little emergency, it did the trick.

"Unfortunately, my son's snow boots and pants were left at his nursery school.  My husband created waterproof snow boots/leggings out of an ikea bag and packing tape.  The key was using the bottom corner of the bag for the toe (these are over my son's sneakers) then wrapping around his legs and securing with tape."

Ikea chalkboard magazine box

Here's one from Jackie of Lovehome.co.uk. Notches up the "organisationability" (well, you know what I mean) of the wooden magazine box.

"At Lovehome.co.uk, we've come up with a cute way of hacking Ikea's wooden Knuff magazine storage boxes (�2.99 each) to make them both pretty and practical. Perfect for neat-freaks everywhere who like to organise and reorganise their magazine collections without resorting to annoying sticky labels."

See more of the Knuff chalkboard magazine box.

A dash of colour for the Samtid

Linda adds zest to the Samtid.

"I bought a Samtid lamp with a white shade that didn't looked good in front of my white wall. So I decided to hack the lamp. The new shade is made of transparent polycarbonate 1mm thick. I made it a little bit bigger than the original. I fixed the shade with bolts and nuts. For the colour effect I bought felt, added buttons and wrapped it around the shade. I made some more felt wraps in different colours to change! That's it, very easy and fast hack!"

The cherry blossom lantern

With Chinese New Year just roaring in in just a few days, this seems apt. This one's from Joey.

"Here's the Ikea hack I did on the Regolit lamp! I needed a soft glowy light source for the corner of my sitting room, but it has got to be cheapest possible, since we are on a budget....and it's t.i.g.h.t...so I remembered this lantern from Ikea.

And I personalized it to suit the oriental feel of my home by painting cherry blossom branches on it, then later attached faux cherry blossom blooms onto those branches."

See more of Joey's cherry blossom lantern and other hacks.

***

I also take this opportunity to wish all my Chinese readers (and those celebrating it!) Gong Xi Fa Cai^ and have a merry, food and fun filled one. May all you singles out there get lots of angpows* and your uncles and aunties not pester you about your turn to get hitched (and forever lose your right to free money).   

^ well-wishes for happiness and prosperity
*red packets filled with money.

Gorm unit parakeet habitropolis

Victor and Rachel, inspired by the winning hamster home, hacks a cage for their parakeets.

"The Hamster House inspired this hack.  We had an abundance of Gorm shelving units and were tired of the look of our traditional bird cage - Blue and Cheesy.  Although the original cage was large, it was not the ideal amount of room.  Our birds, Hamilton and Edith, fly around our apartment on a daily basis when ever we are home (supervised of course) but spend the working hours cooped up.  We wanted to give them a chance to spread their wings when they could and have more diverse perches and toys to play with.
We modded the Gorm Unit by putting 2 of the five shelves upright on the back to maintain support and cut the cost on the amount of hardware cloth we would need.  Both sides open up entirely and were built out of spare wood from other projects.  We attached Green Hardware Cloth (10 Bucks a Roll from Home Depot) via staple gun to the interior and made a smaller bird access door.  The Hardware Cloth on the face is attached with open Eye Screws so the entire face can be removed for an easy move.  The entire habitat is relatively light and birds love it so much it is difficult to coax them out (adjustment period I suppose).

We also place linoleum tile on the bottom that can easily be removed and cleans much easier then dealing with the bird cage tray."

Other pet hacks:
- Rats chill at the Kullen
- Turtle terrarium
- Guinea pig palace
- Besta bunny hutch
- Ivar cage for degus
- Antonius chicken coop

Kitchen work station

Courtney goes to work and help hacked a kitchen work top from Lack side tables.

"My brother and sister-in-law moved into a larger apartment last month, an apartment with a much bigger kitchen, but still very little cabinet/counter space. Thankfully there was an empty wall to utilize for an ikea hack.

We bought four lack side tables and found an approx. 5 feet long counter top in the 'as is' section at Ikea...

We built the work station starting with attaching two table tops to the bottom of the counter top and from that, we started to assemble the rest of the tables and built the hack from the (counter) top, down.  They have an oversized silverware tray that needed a home, so once the hack was finished, my brother took an unused keyboard tray off of their desk and attached it to the work station.

This work station is surprisingly sturdy!  It doesn't move unless you are intentionally trying to move it.  It's the perfect height, being just a tad taller than an average counter.  The counter top was from the 'as is' section, so it isn't perfect, but paint hid a lot of the minor imperfections.  All in all, this hack was a huge success and totaled only $60!"