Lite Brite | Gyllen Mood Light

Materials: 2 Gyllen Flower Panels, 2 Dioder Flexible Light Strips, 8 Ikea Mirror Hanging Brackets

Description: On a recent trip to Ikea (we are lucky to have 2 Ikeas within 20 minutes of our place), I noticed something that I thought would look neat on either side of our TV - a Gyllen Light Panel (flower pattern).

Unfortunately, the standard light fixture that goes behind them uses a large metal box that sticks out quite a few inches. Since our TV is basically in a hallway, those metal boxes would be quite an eyesore, and far from 'low profile.' (Plus, I am clumsy and I'm sure I'd end up knocking them off the wall and into a thousand shards of glass.)

Enter: The Dioder flexible LED light system. The packs come in either multi-color (the lights can stay a solid color, or fade between colors), or clear. We picked up 2 multi-color packs and 2 Gyllen glass panels.

The last dilemma of how to mount the glass panels to the wall was easily solved by simply asking an Ikea salesperson for any extra mirror mounting brackets. Turns out that they keep extra mounting brackets on hand when mirrors are broken in the store for the specific purpose of giving them to customers with broken brackets. A minute later, I had 8 *free* brackets.

When we got home, I quickly discovered that the glass panels wouldn't look that great on either side of the TV. Hubs had an idea to stack the panels over the TV, which also didn't look that great. Then we discovered that the two of them pushed together fit perfectly across the wall, with a 1/2 inch to spare.

Mounting the glass panels was simple - just line up 2 brackets on the top and bottom of each panel (4 brackets per panel), and screw them into the wall. We used drywall anchors since our wall studs were MIA where we needed them.

Dioder lights were SO EASY to install - you literally peel the paper off the back and stick the light strip to the wall, and cut them to size on the pre-marked cut lines. Crazy simple.

The end result is pretty awesome and modern. We love having the ability to set 'mood lighting' at any time for movie nights, too.

See more of the mood lighting over at digital dutchess.

~ Amanda, Chicago

Finally Drawers

Materials: 2 AKURUM Base cabinet with 3 drawers, white, Ädel white; 4 11" EKBY BJARNUM Brackets; 1- 3' Long square dowling; 1 Ekby Mossby 14" stainless steel shelf (no longer available)

Description: For years I have had a frustration with my kitchen (or lack of) drawers. Well I finally did something about it. I purchased 2 IKEA Akurum 12" drawer cabinets with Adel fronts.

I installed them per directions, except instead of Capita legs, I used 11" Ekby Bjarnum shelf supports (I needed to clear a baseboard heater). For the countertop I reused an EKBY MOSSBY 14" stainless steel shelf (No longer available) I was using in the same place for wall storage, minus the Bjarnum supports. Since the shelf was about and 1 1/2" too short I made it longer with a piece of 1" Square dowling I found at Lowes and cut down into two 14" pieces and screwed onto the the sides- which I actually like the looks of. I attached the old shelf to the top and I have a stainless steel countertop on my new drawer unit!

~ Rob, Seattle

Pimping BISSA

Materials: Bissa, Tag, Pax + hinges

Description: I bought the BISSA shoe cupboard but only needed 1 drawer for shoes so I decided to turn the top drawer in to a door with a shelf.

For this hack I added Tag handles, hinges bought at the local DIY store because IKEA doesn't have this kind and I made a shelf out of leftover Pax shelves.

What I did was the following:
1) Figured out where to drill holes for mounting the door and the shelf holders. Preparation is key!
2) Made the holes in the door for the hinges
3) Pre-drilled holes for all the extra screws etc.
4) Put the Bissa together as instructed but left the top drawer out
5) Put in the door and shelf

This instruction is very brief. On my blog I give very detailed instructions and I have used a lot more photos (about 28...).

See more of the Bissa shoe and storage cabinet.

~ Vincent, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Table lamp from Birch

Materials: 3x GRUNDTAL halogen lamp and 2x DEKA cable

Description: I went to the forest to get myself a nice looking birch tree. After cutting it down, I took 1,70 meter from it and let it dry for 6 months.

After this, the outside of the birch tree was dry, but the inside was not yet. I then cut the tree trunk in half. From one end to the other, so I had two half tree trunks of 1,70 meter each.

Those two trunks I bound together but with some wooden bars in between them to create some space for air. This combination I have dried for 1 year. If you do not do it this way, the tree trunk WILL twist and turn and will not stay straight.

The rest of the process just took me a half day.

I took one half of the tree trunk. Cut out the inside of the trunk exactly the size of the Grundtal lamps. I then adjusted the electricity wires to go through the top of the lamp. Added the Deka cables and tested the lights. Worked.

Last I hung it above the dining table and got is straight... That was a bit of tiny measuring. But it worked out fine.

Good luck if you can handle the waiting...

~ HJ Geel, Utrecht, the Netherlands

White and gold Vika trestle desk

Materials: Vika Byske tabletop and Vika Lerberg trestle legs

Description: I wanted a trestle desk with a little touch of glam. I bought a Vika Byske tabletop and Vika Lerberg trestle legs. I added one coat of primer, three coats of paint, and two coats of polycrylic on the tabletop. I spray-painted the legs with two coats of metallic gold spray paint. I love how it turned out!

See the full details of the white and gold Vika trestle desk.

~ Steph @ BirdHouse

Faktum in the bathroom? Yes you can!

Materials: Faktum, Abstrakt, Hollviken

Description: My problem was that I like the Hollviken bathtub, but I personally think that most of the Ikea bathroom furniture aestetically sucks. At the same time, I also like the slickness of the Abstrakt series.

So I took a 80cm wide Hollviken and I mounted it on a 80cm faktum base cabinet designed to resist the weight of a ceramic sink.

Problem was that it was too wide so I had to cut it. Done.

My aunt liked the thing so much she wanted one in her bathroom, but with the small Hollviken.

You can judge the result.

~ vivanicola

Lamp from a tree stump

Materials: JANUARI in silver, tree stump, electric drill, light bulb, lampshade

Description: I had this old inexpensive lamp fixture from IKEA.
I don't really know how long I had it around, now it has an another name, JANUARI.

Then in my backyard I found the perfect tree stump. I sanded it a little bit to get the rough parts nice and smooth and gave it a coat of clear paint.

Then drilled a hole through the whole stump and added the light fixture to it.

Add a bulb and your lamp is ready.

See more of the tree stump lamp.

~ Pudel - design, Deutschland

A cowboy's nest

Materials: KURA Bed

Description: We wanted to make this plain bed more interesting for the boys. I have seen extreme makeovers USA, and wanted to do something big. I bought wood planks, measured up, and built this cowboy bed, with help from stepdad. And painted it after, and made some great pillows. :)

See more of the Kura bed cowboy's nest.

~ Gunn, Norway

Lack and Lego side table

Materials: Lack shelf, Lego bricks

Description: I used Lego bricks around a wooden leg which I attached to a Lack free standing shelf with very small mounting triangles.

I then attached a white wooden shelf as a base, with nothing more than a long screw. I guess someone can use a Lack also. I painted the rough side of Lack white, and attached some more Legos with glue.

~ ioanna, greece

Shoe racks into stone coffee table

Materials: 2 Ikea Babord shoe racks, nails, zip ties, 6 slate tiles, plywood sheet, wood moulding, glue, grout, black paint

Description: Having 2 unused $9.99 Ikea shoe racks (Babord) and no coffee table in my living room, I decided to make my own stone-topped table.

I started by zip tying the shoe racks side by side lengthwise to make the base of what would be a roughly 2 foot by 6 foot coffee table. I then nailed them together with 1" brad nails. I then painted the racks black with spray paint.

Next, I constructed the top. I trimmed the 2x6 foot 1/2" plywood base to contain 6 12"x12" slate tiles with about 1/4" gap between them and leaving a 1/4" extra wood around the perimeter (for a grout gap).

I then glued the tiles onto the plywood and framed out the edges of the plywood by nailing on the 1" wood moulding strips.

After the glue dried (1 day), I mixed standard sanded tile grout (gray) in a sour cream tub with enough water to make it slighty runny. I then grouted the tiles with a rubber trowel and let them dry 5 minutes before wiping them down with a wet sponge to remove excess grout.

After the tiles set and dried, I painted the edges with black spray paint (newspaper taped over the tiles prevented damage to the tiles).

To assemble the table, I simply set the Babord shoe rack base in place and set the heavy plywood and slate top on top.

The stone top makes a conversation piece and offers great durability and aesthetic appeal. The Babord base is sturdy while its open air design doesn't make the room look heavy or dark. Plus it offers great storage, accessible from all sides. It has a vaguely Japanese aesthetic to it.

It's amazing that $20 worth of utilitarian Ikea shoe racks could make a coffee table that looks perfectly at home in a nice living room.

Thanks, Ikea! You saved me $100's of dollars and I have a conversation piece.

~ Sanjay, San Diego

Race Car bed

Materials: Fjellse full size bed frame

Description: My 3 year old son wanted a race car bed, but we needed at least a full size for his large bedroom. I also did not want a plastic car bed. I purchsed the Ikea Fjellse bed frame then drew a race car side which I scanned to my computer and printed at Kinkos in a blown up size.

This served as the template for the sides of the bed. We then cut 2 pieces of birch plywood to match the template. Bolted everything to each side of the assembled bed frame and then added a couple of boards in the front of the bed to look like a hood. Then came the painting. Lots of red. Details were drawn in black. We later added another piece of plywood painted in black to the headboard. (not shown in pics). Saved a ton of money and he loves his custom full size race car bed!

~ Ely, Florida

Wall shelf brackets...Nope! Hanging file system!

Materials: EKBY STODIS wall shelf brackets

Description: I saw someone else do this with the EKBY BJARNUM brackets however I didn't want to spend $20 to create a hanging file folder system. Instead I took a little trip to IKEA and came home with the EKBY STODIS brackets instead which were only 50 cents each!

Install the brackets just as you would if you were to install a shelf. Make sure to measure and square the installation correctly. Hang the folders. Simple and nice for a small space by a desk.

~ Amber, United States

Previously on Ikeahackers: 25 June - 2 July 2006

• Sabrina's bedroom vanity: Love love love the glam of this vanity, with a flood of spotlights to make you feel like a superstar.
• Laptop stand galore: The first laptop stand hacks which spawned many more. I am still waiting for the deluge of iPad stand hacks.
• A branchy garden gate: With summer here, you might like to upgrade your garden gate to this woodsy one.

Biggest Expedit Hack Ever - Mechanised wall of shelves for a stage production of "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change"

Materials: Expedit Shelves

Description: So this is probably the biggest IKEA hack ever - a 6m x 6m wall of EXPEDIT shelves that I designed for a local stage production of the Off-Broadway musical comedy "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change"!

To those unfamiliar with the show, it's a sketch-comedy-style musical where 4 actors play over 50 characters in 20 scenes about love, dating, sex, marriage and parenting. While this show typically plays in smaller venues with little or no set, our production needed to look grand enough for a 600-seater venue with full stage technology, but with a very very limited set construction budget.

My design solution was to create an all-encompassing square gridded world of sleek white EXPEDIT shelving and all white furniture, where each scene could be suggested by re-arranging some shelves, furniture and some quick costume changes. This fit the premise of the show perfectly - after all, what can better describe the typical experience of a cheap college date, a young couple's first apartment, and a family with young kids dealing with an avalanche of toys than IKEA! (And no, IKEA did not sponsor us at all.)

The backdrop itself was designed as 9 units of 5x5 grid EXPEDIT shelves, reinforced with a timber frame all round, and rigged in separate groups to the mechanised flybar system in the theatre via steel cables so that they could fly vertically in and out. The shelves at the bottom were rigged to roll horizontally in and out of the wings (backstage). The computerised fly system allowed us to co-ordinate the scene changes with the music and lights, creating many different configurations such as walls, doorways, garage doors, etc.

The shelves were backed with translucent white cloth which allowed the colours to change with clever lighting from behind. The shelves also featured a giant heart of 117 red squares, which was rigged with incandescent light bulbs and covered with red acrylic. (To simulate IKEA LEKMAN boxes, but cheaper!) These gave us the bling we needed for the finale number - pulsing, concentric hearts!

TV studio-style stage, with a modular white set surrounded by exposed lighting, visible costume racks and other backstage paraphernalia.

The other parts of the set were designed to match the EXPEDIT look, along with some mod-furniture that I custom designed. The set dressing (white boxes, frames and other junk filling up the shelves) was mostly from IKEA! See how many items you can spot. (It's practically an IKEA showcase, and they still refused to sponsor us!)

You can see more photos of this show on my website.

(And yes, this entire set was partially inspired by my own kitchen EXPEDIT hack, which I posted earlier this year!

Credits:
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
Drama Centre Theatre, Singapore
9-19 Jun 2011
Produced by Music and Movement/VizPro
Directed by: Darren Yap (Sydney)
Lighting Design by: Andy Lim (Singapore)
Set Design by: Eucien Chia (Singapore)

See more of the mechanised wall shelves.

~ ucn, Singapore

Lack LEGO Table

Materials: LACK Side Table

Description: My son has been asking for a LEGO table ever since he saw one at his dentist's office. After searching for a reasonably priced LEGO table and not finding one, I decided to make him one myself using an IKEA LACK side table. This hack was very inexpensive, very easy to do and my son loves his new LEGO table!

Materials:
- IKEA LACK Side Table (my mom actually had one laying around the house)
- LEGO Duplo Green Building Plate (15" X 15") $16.99

Things we had around the house:
- Earthquake Putty
- Two Wall Hooks
- Liquid Nails Adhesive
- Two Tin Buckets

1. Attach the LEGO base plate to the table with Earthquake Putty.

2. Attach 2 hooks to the bottom of the table with liquid nails adhesive.

3. Once the liquid nails adhesive dries (1 hour to dry, 8 hours to cure). Place one bucket on each hook and fill them with LEGOS.

See more of the Lack Lego table.

~ Adriana, Southern California