Double Decker Shoe Rack

Materials: BABORD; 1x2 boards; table saw; chisels; wood glue

Description: I needed a shoe rack to fit in the closet under our stairs, and wanted to use the space up. I bought two of the the very inexpensive Babord shoe racks and wanted to stack the two on top of each other, but because of the underside stairs they would not sit flush to the wall.

So.....I got some 1 x 2 boards, traced the cut out of the legs/support that came with it onto my new boards. used the table saw to remove the excess, and some chisels to smooth out the cut-outs. Then had to make two new pairs of legs for the two top levels.

On the two top shelves I needed to remove a little bit of the original material so they would be staggered enough to fit under the stairs. Table for that.

Then glued everything together, used some brad nails for support (pre-drilled, of course, the Ikea pine is notorious for splitting). Put a cross piece in the back for support, and that was that.

~ ken h, canada

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

IKEA Play Supermarket

Materials: Babord Shoe Racks, IKEA fabric

Description: The original idea was to purchase a play kitchen/supermarket for my daughter's birthday. We looked around in stores, but everything we saw, was either too small, too expensive or too plasticky.

So we decided to take this in our own hands and purchased 3 IKEA Babord Shoe Racks, $9.99, a couple of 2x4s, some IKEA fabric and various accessories (baskets, plastic fruits, miniature cans and bottles).

1. For the store front we attached 2x4s at the front corners of the shoe rack. Then attached a 2x4 horizontally at the end of the vertical 2x4s with screws.

2. For the store back we did the same, just that we added another shoe rack on top of the first one.

3. We then stapled the Ikea fabric to the two horizontal beams.

4. Cut out a square wood piece for the sign of the market and attached with string.

5. Added accessories, like baskets and food.

6. Cost under $50!

See more of the Ikea Play Supermarket.

~ Sibylle, Canada