Materials: Rationell boards, EKBY Shelves
Description: I like to do a lot of my work on my super comfy queen size bed, on top of the fact that due to lack of space I don't have a work desk in my room.
So when I saw the MALM Occasional Table at a friend's place last year, I immediately sent a silent prayer of blessing to the creative minds at IKEA. They understood me.
But then, with a price tag of $150 in Singapore, I had some hesitations, naturally. Plus, it looks pretty simple, so I have been toying with the idea of building my own for some time now. Here's a short step by step:
Bought 4 Rationell planks (22 inches each) from IKEA AS IS...this was a great place to find boards of all shapes and sizes!
Bought 2 EKBY shelves (32 inches in height) as the side legs
Bought a set of 4 castor wheels, also from IKEA
Hardware store supplies:
- L-stainless steel brackets x 4 to join legs to top desk and screws to fit
- straight brackets to reinforce the 3 Rationells together and screws to fit
- 40 inches wood slats to reinforce the Rationell and long long wood nails
- GOOP Wood Glue
Tools:
- Hammer
- Drill with drill bit to match the screw sizes (easy alternative if you dont have drill bits is to match the screws you get to the drill bit you have) A drill is a must though
- Electric screwdriver (also from IKEA) and this was pretty necessary because you cannot manually screw in screws as the table will get pretty heavy and needs the sturdiness that comes from tools
First I took my measurements and made sure the end product would fit around my bed.
I then worked on reinforcing the Rationell. My rookie mistake was that I thought the steel brackets in themselves would be good enough. Lo and behold it all collapsed and I had to rush back to the store to get the wood supports. I then used the brackets, the wood and the wood glue to make sure the desk stuck together as one long piece
I drilled holes first into the bottom of the EKBY shelves (for castor wheels)
Then, with the desktop lying upside down, I drilled holes for the L-brackets and screwed the EKBY to the Rationell, supported by wood glue. I then attached the castor wheels (also added some wood glue here for good measure)
The final step was turning the table right side up, which was quite a task and I do not recommend doing it alone. After that I let it stand against the wall for a whole day to let the wood glue set, and tada!
So far its pretty sturdy, though it wobbles a little but its holding all the weight just fine. I think the wobbling is because of its width, which is about 66 inches from corner to corner.
For more pictures, just visit my blog.
~ Eesha Muneeb, Singapore
Materials: Jokkmokk Table, wood stain, hairpin legs
Description: I transformed a basic Jokkmokk table by removing the legs and trim, sanding and re-staining the tabletop, and adding sleek, mid-century modern style legs.
The project took less than an hour to complete and the results are huge! A basic table was transformed from a near Goodwill donation to a piece I will treasure for years to come.
See more of the mid century designed Jokkmokk
~ Regina Morrison, California
Materials: 1 used Ikea media stand (exact name of stand unknown) Paint Bead Board Rubber Mallet PureBond Hardwood Plywood Table Saw Scroll Saw Router Disc Grinder Stain Drill Fostner Bit Wood Glue / Silicone brush Air Compressor and Nail Gun
Description: My husband and I found an Ikea media stand on the side of the road last year. Originally we were going to sell it until we decided to modify it or "hack it" you might say. We removed the particle board from the backs of the media stand and added bead board.
Then my husband took it to the next level and made faux feet to really transform this stand. Anyone who looks at this would never have any idea that this came from Ikea or that we revamped it to make it our own.
See more of the media stand with faux feet.
~ Katie Jasiewicz, Orlando, Florida
Materials: STRANNE, and TIVED
Description: The process is rather involved and requires a high degree of comfort in messing about with electrical things.
See the full description at the following links: Part 1 and 2.
~ Andrew
Materials: 75 cm PAX WARDROBE frame in white + 1 hinge door 50cm. with mirror / PAX VIKEDAL + 1 hinge door 50cm. plain white/ PAX BALLSTAD + 2 sets of 4 hinges with door dampers / KOMPL + Rubber hammer, electric saw, aluminum edge
Description: I can finally say that after 2 years of brainstorming with myself, reading forums all over the world, asking and not getting answers I figured out how to put a hinge door on a PAX 75 cm. wardrobe frame. All done at home with standard tools that any house have and one visit to the local hardware shop.
As you know PAX 75 cm. wardrobe frames are intended only for sliding doors and there are no hinge doors available for them. I needed a hinged door frame because 1: I had no space for anything but PAX 75 cm. frame 2: sliding doors are much more expensive, and 3: sliding doors come only in pairs and I wanted to put a door only to 1 frame of 75 cm.
It was much easier than I thought. Now I am furious that I did not try that hack earlier.
We assembled everything as per instructions just we left the white door the last. After the first door is fixed we measure the open front space left (around 25cm.) and mark top and bottom where we are going to cut the white door vertically. Cutting can be done at home with standard electric saw or anywhere where cutting services are offered as local hardware stores etc.
At the beginning we were thinking to cover the cut edge with veneer furniture edges but the material the door was made of is little loose and when you press to fix the glue of the veneer edge you damage the cut edge and it is not possible to leave it open any more. That is why we needed to cover it with something but still keep the elegant look of the wardrobe.
Eventually we decided to put an aluminum edges to cover it. The ones we used is 19 mm. external dimensions and 16 mm internal as thick as the chipboard is. We only found it in 2m and 1 m. lengths so we needed to cut one of them and put them together- they do look good though. We do not even needed to put any glue or silicon to fix the aluminum to the door as it goes over it very tightly and nicely -few rubber hammer hits later we were ready with the cutting/covering the cut process.
All there was left was to put the normal IKEA hinges and fix the door as per instructions. Here are pictures of the finished product that I'm sooooo very proud of. I feel like Columbus, discovering new world ... but in a smaller scale of course:)
~ Veselina Bekiarova, Sofia, Bulgaria
Materials: Ikea Malm 3 drawer Chest White
Description: My new home had a closet 36" wide with nothing in it. I needed shelves and drawers so the 32" wide Ikea Malm chest of drawers was the perfect thing to start with. I found one on Craigslist that was stained, beat up, and cheap...
I had to disassemble and reassemble the dresser into my closet. I braced it to the wall. I put one 2x4 behind it, and used scraps of 2x4 cut into precise sizes to brace it into the wall with screws.
I bought MDF board (which I later primed and painted) to cover the top. This was the base of my closet.
I used crown molding to hide the braces, and give it a built-in feel.
I put up the rest of the MDF boards in my closet, and used some simple molding. I nailed it into place with my nail gun.
Finally, I caulked the molding and put hardware on the Malm to finish the high-end look of my closet.
~ Matt W, Dallas, TX
Materials: Ikea elephant Kapplar http://www.ikea.com/be/nl/catalog/products/80223313/
Description: My 4-year-old asked for an elephant costume for carnival. Since I prefer to make her costumes myself, but did not have the time to shape an entire animal out of fabric, I was looking for a shortcut.
Cleaning up my daughters toys, I discovered Ikea's cuddle elephant Kapplar could contain a toddler, with some clever adjustments.
I made sleeves and leg warmers out of his legs and used his head to make an elephant mask. A very durable costume, not for toddlers only: with a little effort, it even fits me!
See more of the elephant costume.
~ Riet, Belgium
Materials: BILLY wall shelf and BILLY OSBO doors, self-adhesive foil, wooden slats, screws, glue, saw
Description: When we moved into our new apartment, we needed some place to keep our shoes in our bedroom, and also bedside tables that matched our MALM low bed. But it is always so much trickier with sloping walls...
After some complex trigonometry operations :P, I found out that the BILLY wall shelves were the right height for our bed when placed against the sloping walls. So, I did the following:
1- Went to IKEA. Bought 2 BILLY wall shelves to put on each side of the bed. Also bought 5 BILLY OSBO glass doors.
2- In order to hide the contents of the shelves and to match the glazed doors of my PAX, I cut and put auto-adhesive semi opaque foil on each door.
3- I assembled one of the shelves following the instructions, but due to the irregular shape of the room, I had to reduce the other shelf to 2 cubbies because it did not fit on one of the sides. I cut it using a saw and attached the side of the shelf using regular screws.
4- Cut four slats to the shelves size, two for each shelf, and glued them to the bottom to prevent the doors from touching the floor when opened.
5- Attached the doors to the shelves following the instructions and... voila! :)
~ Carla, Germany
Materials: HEMNES Glass-door cabinet
Description: My husband and I were looking for a tall cabinet that fits between the toilet and the wall (39 inches) for our master bath remodel. We were so excited when I found that the HEMNES Glass-door cabinet fits perfectly! But, we wanted to change the sides to glass because we really like the look of the pharmacy cabinet. As always, I searched IKEA Hackers to see if someone shows how to do that and sure enough found this one! Since we wanted more drawers, we used the one with 4 drawers.
1. Remove the wood panel from each side piece (only the top portion) by hitting one of the legs with a rubber mallet.
2. Have the glass company make the glass. (We showed the wood panel we removed from the side piece in step 2 to the glass company so that they can take the exact measurements as well as explained what we were trying to do.)
3. Insert the glass, instead of the wood panels.
4. Assemble the rest of the cabinet. (NOTE: I had to be really careful when I was nailing the back piece to the cabinet because of the glass on the sides.)
5. Paint the sides of each shelf white.
We LOVE how it turned out! This cabinet has so much storage and looks great with our HEMNES vanity, which is another hack we did. We love HEMNES!!!
See more of the pharmacy cabinet from the Hemnes.
~ Asami
Materials: Ledberg, aluminum profile, black mdf
Description: Because we had a wall power supply for lamps located too low above our stairs and I wanted a lamp, that wouldn't blind us walking down the stairs, I made a lamp from five Ledberg strips contained in an aluminum profile, facing the wall and held at a distance by a small box made of black mdf. The transformer sits in the box.
Actually this could have been done with any led strips, but the Ledbergs come at a very reasonable price and include a very small transformer, that can be fitted almost everywhere. And it fits perfectly in the aluminum profiles I used.
~ Alojz Šuc, Nuremberg, Germany
Materials: Rönas, Ledberg
Description: I could not find a satisfying solution to light my dining room, so I made a customized Lamp myself. There was an inspiring hack with the Rönas candleholder on here before.
But instead of wiring it to the ceiling with Sända tracks I made free hanging tracks from aluminum profiles and did the wiring inside them. It is all routed parallel with 0,75 mm² in rather complicated black MDF profiles an an oiled strip to cover it all up.
The upper profile contains five Ledberg strips. The Ledbergs get powered by a transformer in the baldachin with 12 V DC. I took the one from the plug connector included with Ledberg, because it is rather small when you cut it open and just use the circuit board. Under the Ledberg I routed the 250 V AC power supply for the Rönas lamps.
I hope you like it.
~ Alojz Šuc, Nuremberg, Germany
Materials: 5 white Lack-shelves 30*26cm
Description: The walls in my bedroom are so bad, single shelves wouldn't stick to them. So I put two and a half together to shelves with two levels. Now each is put to the wall on four points and the upper and lower ones are reinforcing each other. And I even have more space on the shelves.
Its done really easy: buy five Lack-shelves (three if you only want one table). Have one cut in half and glue together two complete and one half shelf in a u-shape. Drill wholes in the right positions into your wall and attach the shelves. Ready.
~ Alex
Materials: 3 sets of Trones-Shoe-Boxes, 2 Lack 30cm shelves, 1 Lack 110cm shelf, about 2,5m wooden latches
Description: The Trones Boxes are quite cheap but alone they aren't exactly good looking. So I put a shelf on top of them, makes them looking like a custom-made designer-chest.
Put the boxes to the wall three in width, three in height (can be done in other patterns. Then the Lack shelves in other lengths might fit better). To be able to open the top line there has to be a gap between the boxes and the shelf. So I just attached the latches on the bottom-side of the shelves with some screws. (For a better look I placed the long shelf in the middle between the shorter ones.) Since it's lying on top of the Trones-boxes two screws in the wall are enough to keep it in place.
~ Alex
Materials: 1 x Ekby Hemnes Shelf, 4x Besta Legs
Description: My new flat has a small built in desk but the window handle is right in the way of where my monitor goes so it wouldn't go as far back as I needed.
To lift it up and also provide some extra space I used a white Ekby Hemnes shelf and 4 Besta legs. The white shelf and aluminium legs match all of my Apple stuff.
The Besta legs have an 8mm threaded rod in the middle.
On each corner mark 30mm in with a pen or pencil then use a small nail to lightly punch where the drill will go.
I used a 7.5mm drill bit with some tape around it 20mm from the tip to stop the drill going all the way through. A 7mm drill bit would give a more snug thread.
Drill 4 holes on the bottom of the shelf where you have marked, making sure not to go all the way through then either screw or push the rod in.
~ Adrian, Hong Kong
Materials: Besta
Description:
1. Remove the door and hardware.
2. Sand and prime all surfaces.
3. Fill any holes with wood filler or spackle.
4. Paint the Besta your desired colour.
3. For the doors, use Frog Tape to create a stencil before painting the doors with a contrasting colour.
See a step by step tutorial of the stencilled media unit.
~ Sharon
