Kvartal panels mounted inside a sliding glass door

Materials: May need a grinder, or the exact sized screws (sheet metal screws for metal framed doors), plus the regular Kvartal tools

Description: A 3 panel combination fits perfectly inside a 6 ft wide sliding glass door.

1. Join 2 triple tracks, Cut the track to fit the opening, leaving a 1/4 gap on each end to fit the end caps.

2. Mount the 3 mounting brackets on the inside top of the door frame, screwing to the metal or vinyl door frame. This is the only tricky part. The screws should be sheet metal screws for metal frames, and wood screws for vinyl frames. Use self-drillers or drill pilot holes.

Be sure length of screw will not stick through so far as to block door from sliding past the screws. Not having handy, the perfect length of screw, I used grinder to grind down end of screws. I was able to fit the grinder in the door frame after mounting the brackets, but you can also grind them down in a vice. The screws for the bracket on the fixed side of the slider did not require grinding down, because the door did not reach that far---the protruding screws did not interfere.

Mount the end brackets 1/4 inch from the end to allow room for the end caps. The bracket at the seem may need to be shortened with a grinder or hacksaw to not interfere with the sliding of the door, in which case you will scr ew only one screw into the door frame. You may, alternately, be able to screw brackets into top of door frame to avoid having to worrying a out the length of screws. But, then you would need to drill holes through brackets at top of brackets.

3. The rest of the assembly is a normal 3 panel Kvartal assembly.

~ Paul Nugent, Phoenix

Hide wallmounted bookshelf with Ikea panel curtains

Materials: Old bookshelf from ikea, Kvartal curtain hangers, Anno Inez panel curtain

Description: We have a quite small apartment, with huge windows. Thus we had a bookshelf mounted high above our TV. To use for storage. We used an old Ikea shelf. That you mount on the wall with the help of metalhangers.

In Swedish we call it an "Konsoll hylla"

But it became quite distracting with a lots of different boxes and different colors. We decided to hide it some way. Our first thought was to use sliding doors.

We realized that they would be to heavy, and above all, WAY to expensive. So we landed on the idea with some sort of curtain. We still wanted the sliding door feeling, and thus we choose panel curtains.


Since we have a ceiling that isn't straight, we had to find a way to mount the hangers for the curtain. We choose to buy KVARTAL wall hardware.

This is how we did it.

We started by measuring the shelf. Then we counted how many hangers etc we needed, and went to Ikea.

When we came home, we took the Kvartal wall hardware, and cut of the Wall mounting part. So we just got a straight piece. With the hanger part left.

We then screwed it to the top shelf of the bookshelf. Use the already made hole. We bought the extra long, so we didn't have to make any holes. We did this AFTER we had mounted the Kvartal triple rail as the instruction said.

After that we just hung them up, and measured how long we wanted the curtains. and put them up. The top shelf is still visible. But we will just get some boxes that look the same. But that we'll have to do some other time!

Happy hacking!

~ Aya, Sweden

Old Expedit to Dressing/Storage

Materials: EXPEDIT 2X4 AND 4X4 + KVARTAL + ANNO

Description: I used my old 4X4 EXPEDIT (already hacked as a buffet 2 years ago) and a 2X4 EXPEDIT to built an additional dressing/storage in my bedroom. Stacked one on the other.

I didn't set out together because they are quite heavy, especially now they are full. I fixed 2 rods in the 2 big spaces on the left to suspend shirts/skirts.

Then I put 3 ANNO curtains with KVARTAL system to hide stuff.
Now my room looks very tidy!

~ No�lle, Bourg en Bresse - FRANCE

Stairway handrail to heaven!

Materials: Kvartal ceiling fitting

Description: I wanted to improve safety of stairways leading to the basement in my house by adding an handrail.
However, there were 2 issues...
1- This is a very narrow place so I don't have room to install a "regular" handrail
2- Usual handrails are ugly and no fun!

Materials needed:
- A lot of Kvartal ceiling fitting
- Plexiglass tubes as you need (2cm diameter, 2m long each)
- LED strip (5m in my case)
- usual set of tools: driller, saw...

The Kvartal pieces are used to attach the Plexiglas tubes to the wall.
The big advantage of these parts over regular handrail parts is that they are only 2.5cm high, so they don't eat too much space...

Fitting the Kvartal and the tube is a bit tricky, so here is a picture. You need to dig a hole in the Plexiglas. As this plastic is quite hard and can easily break into pieces, you have to use a saw to delimit the area, drill a hole very gently, then remove softly the small bits of plastic with pincers.

The hole shouldn't be round but oval so you can block the Kvartal in the tube by turning 1/4.

All the rest is just positioning the Kvartal on the wall (use a string to make sure the holes on the wall are aligned all together), drilling and assembling...

It is nice already without any lighting, but I added a LED strip to improve overall lighting and create a nicer effect. Of course, you can use any colour you want!

~ Denis, France

Hang more than curtains with a Kvartal Curtain Rail

Materials: Kvartal curtain rail, saw, drill, hammer, desk

Description: Vintage desks are beautiful, but not always functional & standard "add your own hanging file folder kits" didn't fit my desk. I had a Kvartal rail piece left over & it was a perfect fit!

1) Measure the width of the drawer, add 1" to that measurement, & cut 2 pieces of the Kvartal rail to that size. (I used a chop saw, but a hand saw or tin snips should also work.)

2) Drill a hole in each side of the drawer for the rail to sit in. Make sure the hole isn't too big or the rail will be loose. I used a drill to start the hole & then my Dremel to finish it, but you could continue with larger drill bits until you have the right size hole.

3) Insert the rail into the holes & use a hammer to gently knock it into place (it should be a snug fit).

4) Repeat this process to add a rail to the back of the drawer. (Use your hanging file folder to decide where to position the back rail).

5) Hang your file folders & enjoy! Notice that the file folders hang length wise (instead of the traditional across) in a vintage desk drawer.

~ Sissy J, Chicago

Kvartal Shower Curtain for Dormered Bathroom

Materials: 2 Ikea Kvartal Corner fixtures, 2 Kvartal Wall hardware, 1 Kvartal rod, 1 DEKA Curtain wire, Saltgrund Shower curtain, Riktig hooks and gliders

Description: I used the great Ikea Kvartal 3 track system to solve the difficult problem of putting a shower enclosure in a dormered bathroom.

First I installed a waterproof granite wall and shower panel on the side of the tub. Then I used 2 Kvartal corner fixtures joined by a 3 inch section of Kvartal rod and a 12 inch section at one end. The hardware mount on one side was just turned to the end to mount on granite.

The other side needed more modification: the angle of the bracket was sawn off and the straight piece was drilled into a block which in turn was screwed into the roof truss. The hole was then patched, re-drywalled and painted. The midpoint used Deka curtain wire hardware and a short piece of the cable to stabilize the whole rail. The result is a super-strong curtain system that glides around and creates a pretty roomy shower in the tub.

One important thing I learned from joining so many pieces of Kvartal rod together is that the glider hooks will bind annoyingly if you don't use a fine metal file to flare out the tracks where they mate to each other.

~ Greg Schilhab, Canada

Ikea's Kvartal - A super-easy bike rack

Materials: Kvartal Wall Fitting

Description: I love Ikea's Stolmen for building a bike rack, yet my current apartment required a different approach to store my roadbike. I needed a vertical rack.

I found my solution in Ikea's Kvartal. I bought two wall fittings for $4.99 each. Perfect for mounting curtains and bikes - Turn them up-side down and you get two hooks for the handle bar of your bike.

Before drilling, ensure that height and width match your bike. You don't want to drill twice.

It is not the most advanced hack around, yet it gets the job done perfectly.


See more photos of the Kvartal super easy bike rack.

~ Tom, Salzburg, Asutria

Hi-tech desk frame , minimal art

Materials: KVARTAL bottom rail

Description: I was looking for a stylish, hi-tech frame that fits to interiors with minimum design. I don't think a frame could be more simple than this one:

1. Take the 45cm KVARTAL bottom rail and cut it in two pieces

2. Have your picture mounted on the back of a 4mm glass (make sure the edges are curved to avoid injuries)

3. Insert the glass to the slot of the KVARTAL rail - no glueing is necessary

4. Use two 3mm screws as a support on the back - the holes are already there!

Simple, is not it?

You might want to play around with the longer alternatives of the KVARTAL rail as well.

Enjoy.

~ Gabor Godeny, Hungary