IKEA salad bowl sink

Materials: Blanda Blank

Description: When my husband and I remodeled our bathroom a few years ago, we wanted to make the most of a small space and stay within our tiny budget. He found an old drinking fountain assembly at a salvage shop, and thought we could retrofit it to accommodate a larger bowl of some sort. Voila, the 14" IKEA Blanda Blank serving bowl.

He drilled out the bottom of the bowl, mounted it to the drinking fountain wall bracket, added some necessary plumbing and we were in business. After four years it's still as good as new!

~ Pernille

***

Happy New Year and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being a part of Ikea Hacker. It's been a great year filled with some wonderful hacks. My annual list of favourites will be out soon and you'll be able to vote for the Hack of the Year. But ... I am open to nominations, so, if you have a favourite which you want to see on the list, let me know in the comments below. ~ Jules

Temporary bar from IKEA Trofast boxes

Materials: Trofast

Description: How cool is that? A bar made of Trofast boxes? That�s the brainchild of designers Diogo Aguiar and Teresa Otto of Portugal who designed and built a temporary bar out of 420 Ikea storage boxes. At night the boxes were lit with LED and pulsated according to the music played. The bar was built for a competition organised by the architecture faculty at the Universidade do Porto in Portugal.





See more of the Temporary IKEA bar.

~ Rebecca Pasternack

Secret Passage and Fort for Kids Using Expedit Bookcase and Desk

Materials: Expedit

Description: I recently redid my little boy's room. Like everyone, we didn't want to spend a lot of money, yet wanted something that would last into his teenage years.

We decided to purchase the Expedit bookcase and desk since they would grow with him.  When he's an adolescent, he'll actually be able to use the desk as a desk, but while he's a toddler, the bookcase serves as a
toy/book organizer as well as a secret passage into his fort which is actually the area under the desk.

To create the fort, I took a shower curtain rod and a sheet to make the curtain that hangs under the desk. We added a rope light for a few bucks underneath and our little man loves it.

~ Amy W.

Redo of a jewelry drawer hack

Materials: Fira

Description:
I got the idea from the jewelry drawer hack. You can find pictures at my blog, and then the final results.

~ Elisa

BYGEL Stiletto Shoe Rack

Materials: BYGEL

Description: I came up with a smart and cheap way to store a lot of my wife's stilettos, pumps etc. I call it the "BYGEL Stiletto Shoe Rack"!

It's made with six 55 cm BYGEL Rail from Ikea, that I attached to the side of our dresser, creating a vertical shoe rack with a storage capacity of 18 pairs of stiletto shoes.

The BYGEL Rail is very cheap and is perfect for shoe storage as the shoes don't get scratches and tears from lying up against other shoes and boots.

~ 3xL

Little desk and armchair

Materials: Rast

Description:
I took my idea from "Rast Sensory Table", so I thank its creator.

I bought two RAST nightstand for 9,99 �(one) and hacked them.
I screwed four shorter wooden board in a little armchair, and the longer ones in a little desk!

I also screwed a pink PS VALLO on the right side, very cheap and agreeble look, it contains papersheets, drawing pens, pencils etc.

Funny, cheap and usable!

~ remoxxx

Lift coffee table

Materials: VIKA AMON

Description: I made a coffee table lift (# 1) using a VIKA AMON plate and a trestle (in any hardware store) which I adapted some curtain rods to make it slide (# 3 and #4). So I can transform it into a table to eat (# 2)

~ No�lle, BOURG EN BRESSE - FRANCE

Bonus cutlery light

Materials: Bonus and perforated steel tape

Description: I made holes in the Bonus cutlery and hung them in a frame of perforated steel tape and installed electric.

~ Peter Van Zoetendaal, Netherlands

Eiffel lamp

Materials: Hyllis and perforated steel tape

Description: I used the 4 legs of HYLLIS in combination with screws, nuts and perforated steel tape like meccano for creating a floor lamp.

~ Peter Van Zoetendaal, Netherlands

Upholstered Ikea Besta

Materials: Besta, hammer, upholstery nails, pen, ruler, paper

Description: We used Besta cabinets for this project.

1. Cut a piece of paper in a pattern that you like and trace it on the doors.

2. I then marked, with a pencil, where I wanted the nails to be.

3. Hammer down an upholstery nail on each marking

4. Enjoy!

See more of the upholstered Besta as well as her other easy and cheap DIY projects.

~ Tina @ Signed by Tina, Sweden

Hang it up

Materials: Ung Drill Frame, Anno Sanela Panel Fabric, Hot Glue, Cork, Pins

Description:
1. Remove backside of Ung frame
2. Cut a roll of cork to fit in the backside of your frame
3. Hot glue cotton batting to cork
4. Wrap batting and cork with fabric. I happened to have leftovers from my Anno Sanela Panels and used this to upholster my cork/batting.
5. Place into frame and secure
6. Wrap ribbon and/or flower embellishments to create a more personalized look
7. Place pins as desired on board
8. Hang jewelry and enjoy!~

See more of the Ung Drill jewelry holder.

~ Erin Dayala

Buffet Expedit

Materials: EXPEDIT / EXPEDIT ACCESSORY / GLIRA

Description: I took a "16 boxes EXPEDIT", and turned it to a buffet. I didn't put the 2 top racks on their places but I replaced them in other boxes (photo #1) with cleats (#2) to create smaller compartments where I can arrange CD or other stuff.

On the top, the left large place became a bar (#3). I just added a metal part (covered with adhesive wood grain) (#4 & #5) on one of the door to fill the hole (#6). Change the doorknobs into GLIRA and that's it!

~ No�lle, Bourg en Bresse, France

Custom lamp from 2 Ikea items

Materials: Old Ikea Lamp, Ikea Anno Inez curtain panel

Description: I had an old, discontinued Ikea floor lamp with a paper shade (predecessor to the DUDERO). The paper became shabby and torn after a few years with kids, so I decided to create a new lampshade.

First, I cut off as much paper as possible from the metal rings that held the shade, then soaked the rest off with water.

I took one Anno Inez curtain panel and cut the length of the panel into four equal pieces. I layered 2 pieces on top, an 2 pieces on the bottom, and sewed them together in the middle. Then I sewed a long tube to fit the metal rings that used to hold the paper shade.

I mounted the fabric tube on the top ring with pins, and then hand-sewed it on. Repeat with the bottom ring.

The layered fabric looks very pretty when the light is on.

~ Birgit

My new "chest"

Materials: Vestby chest of drawers, paint

Description: I dismantled the old Vestby and got rid of the plastic sheets. Painted the frame with white acrylic paint, rebuilt the frame, added 3 plywood shelves and a little "box" on the top shelf for the everyday use things, like mobiles and keys.

~ Marisa Bender, Tel Aviv, ISrael

IkeaPad stand

Before I dive into the hack, I wanted to take this chance to wish you all a very merry Christmas. I won't be posting any hacks over the weekend, as I will be busy stuffing my face and opening presents. Hope you will be getting some great gifts too. Should you receive one off Steve Jobs' production line, you may want to hack this stand for it and save a bundle. ~ Jules

Materials: $3 EKBY VALTER bracket, 1 dowel, 2 screws

Description:
1) Take Ekby Valter bracket and turn it upside down.

2) Remove bottom screw from Ekby, replace with longer screw, then screw dowel into same hole (make sure the dowel is screwed in so that it makes a deeper lip for iPad to sit on).

3) Screw in a horizontal dowel in the hole below, close enough to the surface, to act as a stabilizer.

4) Add rubber cushion things for traction (and to make sure that stabilizer actually touches the surface)

~ Stephen Wong, Oakland, CA

Vintage lamp base hack

Materials: Lyster candle dish, Tallvik table lamp, Florera candle dish

Description:
It took quite a bit of work to get the look I wanted and I'd like to share it with the Ikeahacker world. I bought a vintage ceramic lamp and was determined to replace the brass hardware with brushed stainless steel or nickel to blend into my decor (I have no brass by choice).  I found that the Lyster candle dish and the base of the Tallvik lamp, when combined, worked as a base.  I used some other parts for the neck, including the Florela candle dish as an accent, or bob�che.

The picture of the completed lamp shows the cast iron, nickel and stainless atop an old cast iron grate that will eventually be inset into the table it's resting on.

~ Wade

FIGGJO starburst clock

Materials: Figgjo mirror

Description:
Needed a "different" wall clock for my granddaughter's first apartment, but everything at IKEA was ho-hum.  My wife spotted the Figgjo mirror and suggested making it into a clock.  Genius!

A glass shop drilled the hole and I simply added a quartz movement - done.
Figgjo - $20.  Hole - $10.  Movement - $4

Not bad.

~ David

New-ish dining room table

Materials: Capita

Description:
Finally got around to "remaking" the dining room table. The top is from the old table...the cart was bought on Craigslist. The Capita braces are from IKEA.

Here is the link to the project.


~ Wan Chi Lau

Embellished trays to serve holiday cheers

These are trays that I filled with various items, pasta, seashells, stones and then I "drown" them with epoxy resin.

~ Teresa, Italy

Fixing the PAX Sliding Door

Materials: Pax

Description:
I wanted to share my hack because I thought it might give a few people with broken panels in their sliding doors hope. In efforts to save money on my wardrobe, I purchased my PAX used off of Craigslist. I saved $1,500, but had the problem of a door front that wasn't to my taste (the black EIKESDAL) and a glass panel that was shattered (IKEA doesn't sell replacement panels).

To fix the problem, I simply bought enough upholstery fabric to cover the panels, had a thin piece of plywood cut to the same size as the glass panels, and used duct tape to keep the fabric. After painting the "wooden" portions white and assembling the door, I ended up with a great wardrobe at a fraction of the price!

Here's more about how I made the doors and my finished wardrobe all put together.

~ Kasey

Wall art: My IKEA hack

1. Buy a HULTET bamboo dish 45cm.
2. Cover it with golden acrylic paint, front and back.
3. Look for a picture or a drawing of a hibiscus flower you like put it in the size you like and print it out, then cut it out trace it on the dish.
4. Look for tendrils samples you like, or draw the lines freehand on the dish.
5. Fill in the black background with acrylic paint.
6. For the tendrils, you need 3D glue for foils (it dries up transparently, but it remains sticky).
7. Cover the tendrils completely let it dry!!
8. Apply the d�cor foil irregular (I've used a little red and bronze at the edge and covered the rest with gold). Important: the metallic or coloured side has to be above! Press on well and peel it off, repeat this step as often as necessary. 
9. Paint out the flower with red acrylic paint, add some golden paint at the center.
10. Nail a hook on the back edge and another one at the wall of your choice� and don't forget to put a light on it!!

Example for 3D glue and foils.


~ Silvia, Germany