Double Klimat Lamp

Materials: Two Klimat Lamps only

Description: My Hack consist in combining two Klimat lamps into one.
I have always like projector lightning which Ikea's Klimat is a good example, but unfortunately one lamp wasn't enough for my living room because all the three ceiling illumination spots are double.

So I bought two for the same spot avoiding a dead switch on the wall. At first I planned on mounting them side-by-side but then I thought, what the heck! ...it's possible to mount them vertically. And this is what I've done:

1- One drill hole at the center of the knot that holds the 3 projectors in one of the lamps, so that the cables of the other lamp can pass through and attach the chrome pipe.
2- Once mounted, I cut all the excessive electrical cables of the upper lamp because the knot they must fit in is very small and already has the cable from the lower lamp.
3- Tricky part. Unwrapped both power supplies from its plastic shell which raised security issues and hot glued them together. So if you're not aware of the electrical current basics, don't try this at home or any other place.
4- Used a soldering iron to trim the plastic interior of the ceiling hold to fit in the two power units and connected all the cables, and that's it.

~ Rui Neto, Oporto

Happy Hack-o-ween!

Materials: IKEA HELMER rolling drawer unit, PVC tube, casters

Description: My daughter was so impressed with the service on Singapore Airlines this summer that she wanted to be a "??Singapore Girl" for Halloween. It just so happened that a PANYL customer had turned me onto the IKEA HELMER a few weeks earlier. This metal drawer unit on wheels turned out to be the perfect size for a miniature beverage trolley.

For a handle, we fastened a piece of 1�"?� PVC tube between the sides of one drawer, instead of the snap on drawer front. We used heavy-duty double-sided tape to attach this drawer to the top surface of the HELMER. This would be the open bin for the taller bottles and cups.

We also swapped small, fixed casters that come with the HELMER for bigger 1�"?� swivel casters, since the Brooklyn sidewalks can be pretty rough.

As a final touch, we used some gold and blue PANYL scraps to make some decals.

Hack or treat!

See more of the Helmer Singapore Airlines trolley.

~ PANYL, New York, NY

Lack gets a LEGO Hack

Materials:
1 x LACK side table
3 large tubs of LEGO
Hairpin table legs and screws
Glass table top (custom cut to size 597mm x 567mm x 5mmm)

Description:
For the table:
1. Attach the hairpin legs to the Lack table top using screws.

To build the LEGO top:
You will use the top of the Lack as a form to construct your LEGO around.

For the top and two sides, I used single-depth bricks (1x1, 1x2, 1x3...1x8):
1. Make a long strip of 71 brick widths
2. Connect the next row, but with 69 brick widths (centred to the row above)
3. On both ends of this row, attach a brick at right angles down the side of the table top

4. Add bricks to both rows so you end up with 7 widths at a right angle (going down the sides, wrapping both sides of the table)
5. Keep building the rows as above, until you end up with 58 rows. This should be enough to cover top to bottom, and two sides
6. For the remaining two uncovered sides, lay out a strip of LEGO, 7 brick widths tall x 71 brick widths wide (I tried to use mostly double-depth bricks for this 2x2, 2x3...2x8)
7. Add bricks in another layer, making sure you build over the joins (so you have a solid piece at the end, with no loose bricks)
8. Attach the piece to one end of the table
9. Repeat step 7 and attach to the other end of the table

To Complete:
Lay the glass top over the LEGO. This step is optional, but LEGO scratches easily!

~ Anjoli, Sydney, Australia

Spicing up the bedroom with a killer headboard

Materials: 4 x VIKA AMON high gloss RED (150 x 75 cm), 2 x wall shelf (similar to LACK, but from local HW supply since I wanted them in high gloss), battens from local HW supply, LED light strips (not IKEA since sold out on day of my visit), 4 x wall outlets, 2 x light switches, various screws and hinges

Description: My wife and I wanted to spice up our fairly boring bedroom in our newly built house and after long considerations chose to create a killer headboard from IKEA parts.

Here is how we did it:

1) Lay down all 4 VIKA AMON table tops on the floor next to each others. Be careful not to scratch the high gloss surface. We used the wrapping material as support.

2) Attach each VIKA AMON table top to the next using flat hinges. Use the wall as support, so the end of the table tops align perfectly (will be the top of the headboard)

3) Create a frame of the battens and mount it to the VIKA AMON table tops using bracketing hinges. We allowed 25 cm free space around, so the battens wouldn't be visible after being attached to the wall.

4) Create a wall support mechanism by using 2 short pieces of batten on each side. The final headboard will be resting on the floor, so this is only to keep it flat against the wall in the upper part.

5) Month the either pieces on the wall accordingly. Use a measure to ensure right positioning.

6) Drill holes in the VIKA AMONs to allow the wall outlets to be fed from the back (WARNING! If you're not a trained electrician, don't do this on your own). We created 4 holes, since we have elevation beds that needs power too and we wanted those wire not to be too visible. Careful when drilling, so you don't scratch the high gloss surface. We used tape to support this, which could easily be removed afterwards.

7) Connect all wall outlets and light switches.
8) Attached the LED stripes directly on the batten frame at the back. The version we got glued directly on.

9) Attach the shelves on each side as described in the instructions (no hacking here).

10) Mount the headboard on the wall and enjoy ;-)

~ Soeren Juul Schroeder, Denmark

Funky Kids Chairs

Materials: Bolmen Stool & Lillangen Chair seat

Description: I wanted some really funky cool kids chairs to match my boys homemade LEGO table, so I set off to Ikea & came up with this idea: I bought 2 Bolmen bathroom stools & 2 Lillangen chair seats (one blue & one green), then set off to make them up.

You'll need: A drill, A screw driver, All purpose glue (for wood & plastic) 4 blocks of wood approx 8cm L x 3 cm w x 1.5 cm Thick(for stabilizing the chair seat to the stool), 8 screws with flat heads (because they'll be uncomfy to sit on with rounded head screws).

Step 1: Measure where you want the holes on the seat - I did mine 8cm's apart & in a square so it looked neat. I also worked out where I wanted the seat to be placed on the stool & I found the centre of the stool & the centre of the seat & made a small mark so I could line them up later when it comes time to fix it together.

Step 2: I then sat the seat onto two of the blocks of wood (place length ways under each set of holes) & then I carefully drilled my holes in the seat & made sure the wood was lined up correctly. You don't need to drill all the way through the wood as well, just enough to make a mark so you can use that as a guide to fix the wood to the stool. You'll also need to take note of how far apart the blocks of wood will be placed so you will know for later on when you glue them to the stool top.

Step 3: You now need to glue the wood to the top of the stool, being careful to just put the glue around the edges & a dob in the middle, & make sure you steer clear of where the holes will be going through. Let it dry for 30 minutes.

Step 4: You now need to drill the hole right through the wood & through the stool top.

Step 5: Line the seat up with the holes & markings & attach it to the stool top with the screws, & BAM you're done.

They turned out fantastic & my boys use them everyday & I even sit on them & play LEGO with the boys too. :)

~ Peita

Old salt lamp

Materials: Regolit, fishing rod

Description: Usually Regolit is a lamp for ceilings. Conversely I attached it at a fishing rod, using its own electric cable as the fishing line, to create the effect of a beautiful marine lamp.

I fixed the fishing rod to the ceiling using a little nail and a piece of wire, then I fixed it to the wall using an hanging nail and a champagne cap wire. Note that it is strictly important to put a visible cable from the wall to the middle of the fishing rod: It is useless at all as weight holder, but it is fundamental for human eye, without it you will not see a fishing rod bringing a lamp but a ceiling bringing a lamp and a fishing rod, incredible but true!!!!

~ alberto gregori

Improved Cat Box Cabinet

Materials: 2 Ikea Galant (?) Add-on Cabinets, Ikea Rationell Variera Drawer Mat, Ikea Hinges, Magnetic Cat Door, Saw, Drill, Forstner bit

Description: I know this hack has been shown a million times, but I think I added a couple improvements. I found 2 Galant (I think) add-on units in the '??As-Is' section of Ikea. Each had 2 sides and 2 ends. I disassembled one, making a 3rd side and lid. I drilled hinge holes into the lid and mounted it so it could be opened from the top. I also cut-down one of the ends to fit inside as a partition. I cut 2 'cat door size'?� holes, one in the end and one in the partition and install a store bought cat door on the outer end. I also lined the bottom with the Rationell Variera drawer mat.

A couple of advantages:
- The partition keeps the cat box itself at one end. It also helps to '??chamber' the smell.
- The cat door has a magnetic catch to keep the door closed, also helping to keep down the odor.
- The mat helps to keep moisture down, preventing 'stuff' from soaking into the wood.
- The mat also works to help remove litter from the cat'??s feet - I only find just a couple pieces of litter outside the box each week. (Yeah, I find because of the no-odor and no-litter, I clean it less now.)

~ Chris H., Round Rock, Texas

Bathroom Sink Base to Trash/Recycling Center

Materials: Ikea Lillangen Sink Base Cabinet with legs, Ikeal Filur Trash Bins, Ikea Cabinet Door Panel (Unknown series), Ikea Hinges, Saw, Drill, Forstner Bit, Belt Sander

Description: I was in Ikea looking for those 'in cabinet trash receptacles'?�. Unfortunately, they were smaller than I wanted. As I was walking out, I saw the Lillangen Sink Base Cabinet on clearance and thought it was about the right size. I grabbed 2 Filur trash bins - and they fit PERFECTLY. On the way out, stopped in the '??As-Is' department and grabbed a flat cabinet door panel (unknown series) and a couple of the hinges.

I moved the back supports on the cabinet to the top, giving me a support for the hinges and a hanging area for the trash bins. I had to cut the door panel down to size (length and width), fitting it with hinges and it became a top lid. I also had to flip the cabinet floor as it had a support in front that I moved to the back. BTW, I used the stock hidden hardware, drilling new holes inside so I wouldn't have to drill screws through from the outside.

The Lillangen has white laminate sides - and the door panel I had was the black wood color. I used a very coarse (60 grit) belt sander, leaving deep groves into the laminate, slightly swirled. When I painted it black to match the lid, it looks EXACTLY like the wood grain (or at least it looks close enough to me). In fact, the lid itself is NOT painted - it'??s the stock Ikea Black Wood color.

This cabinet works great for me. It's at the end of my counter top, giving me extra space to store things on top if I need (I don't). I can open the top lid to put in the trash and separate the recycling. I can also use the front doors if I want to remove the trash cans (although I find I almost always just lift the lid).

And here'??s the best part: I mentioned the base cabinet was on clearance. I didn't mention it was out of stock! They actually gave me the display one already assembled off the floor, including the legs, for even LESS than the clearance price. Seriously, the most expensive part of this was the Filur trash bins themselves!!

~ Chris H., Round Rock, TX

Fracking Repair Droid

Materials: Stainless Steel, Aluminium ( Aluminum ), Acrylic, Electronics, Oh and Ikea Blanda bowls!

Description: A 22nd century autonomous droid like device designed to repair the subterranean fracture damage caused by Shale and Coal Gas mining called Hydraulic Fracking that was done during the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

IKEA items used for this work that I call the "Fracking Repair Droid" were some IKEA kitchen condiment bowls in stainless steel called "Blanda" - a 50mm diameter size and a 120mm size.

The Blanda bowls are used in the knee joints and for the main top and bottom body bowls. I used 12 small 50mm Blanda bowls for the knee joints, six made up the spherical shape and another six made up the smaller backing cups ... these hide the centre screws that holds the two hemispheres together. In between the two hemispheres is a plate of acrylic machined to emit light from 2 LEDs in each knee joint.


These Blanda bowls used for the Knee Joints on the leg/arms of this "Fracking Repair Droid" were hacked by machining the outer surface in a Lathe, drilling bolt holes whilst in the Lathe, welding stainless steel nuts to the inside to secure the holding bolts positions.

The Body Blanda bowls were machined in a Lathe to produce that brushed/polished surface, drilled for central mounting bolt, and hand drilled to mount the legs/arms.

You can find all the images and videos here on my website and here.

This "Fracking Repair Droid" is a work of art designed to give emphasis to a backstory about the dangers of Hydraulic Fracking to recover Shale and Coal Gas, hence the name. This hack was created as a means to get attention to the dangers of Fracking and due to the large amount of machining etc.


~ Scott Branden, Olinda, Victoria Australia

Entertainment center with fireplace

Materials: Tidaholm kitchen cabinets, Metrik handles, solid oak hardwood flooring, ethanol fireplace insert, metal studs, drywall, glass tile

Description: First we built the toe kick for the cabinets out of 1x3 fir.

We used 30x15x24 IKEA cabinets. We only wanted the finished cabinets to be about 18-20 inches deep, so we cut off about 2-3 inches off the backs of the cabinets after they were assembled. Then we set them onto the toe kick and secured everything.

Next we built a bump-out out of metal studs that would house our ethanol fireplace insert.

We were going to clad the fireplace in glass tile, so we spent quite a bit of time calculating where the studs should sit so that after drywall the width and height would add up to the exact with of our 1x2 inch glass tile with 1x1 inch glass tile that would fill in the end of each row.

For a table top we used 3/4 inch solid oak flooring planks on top of sheet of 3/4 inch plywood, then finished the edge with a 1x2 oak piece which makes the table top look extra thick.

We got the Tidaholm cabinet doors when they were being cleared out at 20% off.

Then we had someone come tile it and build a mantel out of a couple of pieces of 1x3 and 1x4 oak. Then I stained the table top and mantel. I used Minwax Ebony stain - 4 layers before it matched the Tidaholm finish. Then two coats of satin poly, For the inside of the fireplace, I mixed drywall mud, fine sand and dark gray paint and troweled it on.

See more of the Tidaholm kitchen cabinet with fireplace.

~ K @ Shift Ctrl ART

Ikea Sniglar Changing Table to kids desk

Materials: Hinges, screws, saw, sandpaper, Sniglar changing table

Description: Saw it in half. Put the hinges and screws to set the wooden top.

~ Roula, Greece, Thessaloniki

A framed lamp from a vase

Materials: Rektangel Vase (00215576), Ribba Frame (70243528), Dioder lights (40192356)

Description: From the frame, discard everything but the frame itself and the paper. Fix the paper in front of the frame with some adhesive tape. Use the Dioder strip and place it along the inside border of the frame, fixing it with more adhesive tape to the paper.

Be careful to leave one end with space to connect it. Put the frame on the floor with the LEDs upwards and then just place the vase on top of it. Switch it on and enjoy.

~ Daniel, Spain

The Ultimate Bachelor Expedit [Entertainment Unit]

Materials: EXPEDIT 2x4

Description: It all started when I realized that my new stereo receiver would not fit inside a standard EXPEDIT 13" x 13" cubby. I found a mod on here on how to easily double one up, and it just went from there.

So I'll start from the left and move right.

The EXPEDIT
In the left-most column, I simply drilled four new holes about 3" higher than they initially were to accommodate my PC tower below and SNES on top, and installed the shelf at that height instead.

In the middle double-column, you are seeing a reversal of parts. Normally the longer board goes vertical, and then short boards horizontal. Instead, I have a short board vertical on the bottom, and the long board horizontal across the middle, without completing and instead leaving the other short board out. (Which now acts as a rolling platform on castors for my printer, which hides under a table for space-saving.)

Then, I felt there was too much room above my receiver, so I went to work again. I acquired an extra long board from my local IKEA's spare parts section, and installed it above my receiver to add an extra shelf.

NOTE: Because the cubby-spaces are now misaligned, the holes I drilled for the custom height are exposed on the opposite side. To compensate for this, I had to first cut the little wooden pegs in half using bolt cutters so they did not stick out, and second, fill the remainder of the hole with Poly-Fila and paint over it. (Not pictured.)

The Drawer
This shelf height was designed to spec, as I then custom-made a drawer out of MDF from my local hardware store. The sides and back are 9/16" primed/unpainted MDF (I got lazy), the back is 1/8" poster board, primed white on the top side, and the front is the coup de gras - a plaque I had made out of a PDF I designed with "Overworld Maps" from one of my favourite.

.

I secured the drawer together with predrilled/countersunk holes and MDF screws, and attached the front with small L brackets. The drawer moves on long foam sliders, because rails was going to be too much work. And of course I needed to add a knob, which turned out being harder than I expected because I didn't measure first - but it worked out eventually.

The drawer height was designed to accommodate my SNES game collection and Magic: The Gathering cards (don't judge). I secured a piece of oval-shaped quarter round to the floor of the drawer at the right space to fit both nearly perfectly.

The Rest
To complete the piece, I added a red LEKMAN box/drawer thing in one of the un-modified cubby spaces and filled it with board games and other fun goodies. The cubbies also beautifully fit standard size LPs, and the top space is perfect for a record player and a 32" TV.

Next Step
The final step will be a simple one, I've just been lazy. On the back side of the unit, along the vertical "beams", I will place MONTERA cable management strips to hide some of the smaller cables and give it a cleaner look.

Summary
I hope you enjoy this and it helps you out! With a bit of thinking and elbow grease, I turned an $80 bookshelf into an attractive (if I do say so myself) unit that holds everything that my bachelor pad living room could possibly need.

~ Alex Wolf, Ottawa, Ontario