and this is how you should do a loft

alex sent me his gorgeous hack - a room divider to separate his living and bedroom.

he says, "moved into a loft in downtown L.A. and needed to divide up the living space and create a closet as well. (two full baths but no closet!!!)

anyway, found these ready made counter tops in the as-is section. normally they are 100.00 a piece but got all seven for 10.00 a piece. stood them on end and created this room divider/closet. i built them in a u shape so i could put the wardrobe in and help with stability.

i also created a computer desk/couch table with the shorter counter top by adding the chrome adjustable legs.

the wardrobe side is not completed yet but i was able to create the door you see by taking four shelf pieces found in the as-is section as well. i simply stood the pieces on end and inserted aluminum strips from home depot . eventually it will hang on a exposed track with 'barn door' hardware so that it slides in order to maximize space."

a living room makeover pt. II

denise sent me some additional pictures after the rave reviews on her boyfriend's pad's makeover.

she adds, "basically, we didn't want to buy furniture since the green way is not to consume more. staining the furniture was not an option since ikea uses laminate. i came up with the idea after looking at my parent's pantry. they used contact paper to line the shelves. i knew they made contact paper in a walnut finish which was the effect we wanted (we both adore walnut finishes).

the contact paper has a low stick backing and we just applied it to the surface. it's a two man job and while one of us held it in place, the other would use a dry marker eraser to smooth out the bubbles as we went. we had to use a very sharp blade to cut around edges and corners. in one of the photos you can see the original finish with the contact paper coming up and over the edge. we didn't do the insides since no one will see it anyways.

it is a great way to give ikea furniture a face lift without doing a lot of damage, mess or hard work!

i also included some 'before' pictures.

before the makeover. the room, not the boyfriend.

total spent on the room was: $1500."

a living room makeover

some eye candy to start off the week. this cool pad once looked like a dorm room. thanks to denise, the girlfriend, the place is completely made over.

"for my boyfriend's birthday, while he was away for about a week, my friends and i made over his place. it used to look like a college dorm but is now a chic looking bachelor's pad. i wish i had pictures of the before but i wanted to start ASAP and forgot! me and my friends are students at the Art Institute of San Francisco. studying interior design! no wonder, huh? he was very surprised and thrilled. he still has a hard time believing it's his place.

everything was from ikea except the couch, curtains, and coffee table. i didn't want to buy any new furniture because it wasn't economical or green so we had to be clever. he already had the furniture but it wasn't in the finish he wanted, so i used walnut woodgrain contact paper (the kind you cover pantry shelves with) to cover them. it was a bit tricky to use and to make sure it was cut properly, we used a very sharp blade. i bought about 20 rolls of the stuff and we used every single piece - on the side tables, media bench, book shelves.

to create visual interest, an accent wall and focal point was made. he has no fireplace and no lighting (except for the dining room light). all the light fixtures are fluorescent.

we used a curtain hung from the ceiling with anchor brackets to section off a reading area and the living room. all of the accessories were found from the 'as-is' department. with a little careful space planning, this was our result.

here is a link to more photos (but you'll need to log-in to myspace to view them)

inspiration: mark marcinik's ikea hacks

mark marcinik of greenmeadow architects, who did the fabulous update on the 1950's eichler home sent me more photos of his work. i'm in love!

he writes, "ikea is the 21st century answer to the 1950's hardware store... an inexpensive supplier of 'raw' materials. here are my own photos of the seybold house ikea hacks (sunset magazine, april 2007).

the stainless steel sliding doors aren't custom, they are ikea cover panels hung on sliding door tracks.

the bar is made of doors parts and three cabinet boxes and more cover panels. the translucent window in the red wall is an ikea door.

this bathroom counter was made out of bits and pieces of ikea boxes, doors and hardware. the top is industrial plastic from another great material source... mcmaster-carr. the sink was originally a stainless steel salad bowl but after the house won a 'home of the year' award we thought we needed to upgrade it. the lighting fixture was salvaged from a 1950's eichler house and refurbished. the magazine metropolitan home never used this picture because they thought it looked too scary. the scary painting is by artist judy gittelsohn. the coffee cups and bowl are from vintage 1970's thrift store, heller .

in this other ikea hack, we used ikea kitchen cover panels to panel the kitchen and dining room walls and construct a matching door and create a bar type area and an art display niche."

photos and design by mark marcinik, greenmeadow architects.

inspiration: matthias' besta combination

matthias, from paris, sends us some eye candy. i like how the cabinets disappear into the wall.

"you will find attached a few picture of how i stacked several besta storage combination in order to have a full wall of storage for display as well as a media center.

i have 4.50 meters (14.5') width and i left approximately 10 centimeters (4") behind the cabinets for all the cables and for cooling the hi-fi system that is inside the closet. no handles for the drawers and doors as i installed a push and release system bought at an hardware store for a few euros each."

alicia's craft corner

alicia's craft corner turned me all green. i love it that it is so flowery, so girly, with such a beautiful mix of colours and patterns.

the craft storage box below is a fira chest after several coats of paint, lacquer and two attempts at covering it with paper. well worth the trouble, i think.

the insides of the chest drawers are painted yellow, lacquered and covered with scrapbook paper.

above her craft table is a chris noticeboard, with squares painted to match the room colour scheme.

under the craft table is a helmer drawer unit. originally in silver but alicia spray glued pieces of paper to each drawer and totally transformed it from officey to pretty!

click to view more of alicia's craft corner.

lee's ikea basement studio hacks

lee sent me photos of his basement studio and i thought i went to ikea hacker heaven.

the table is a severed drafting table top with what i think are vika curry legs.

the beauty on the left is an alex drawer unit, originally with casters but lee matched it perfectly to an herman miller aluminum group base he cut down. the one of the right is an ikea bas shadow box finished in black stain with a sheet of eames office stationary as backdrop.

and the skinny hairpin legs look gorgeous on the ikea attityd (can't find it on ikea website).

lastly, the ikea ps cart with a the larger top shelf to accommodate the monitor and speakers. and please note the speakers! from the front, you'll probably not notice that they are made from ikea planters! (discontinued, i think)

you must hop over to lee's site for details of his ikea basement studio hacks, while i wipe the drool off my face.

inspiration: moritz's red and white studio

while i sort out the next batch of hacks to post, i thought i'll just quickly share some fresh eye candy. this is from moritz of germany who shares my love for ikea and mitch albom.

the dunker light cum room divider (i can no longer find it on ikea's website) looks great lined up in a row.

"in the summer of 2005 i renovated my room totally and i nearly bought everything (of course) at ikea. i didn't hack the furniture; i just took care, that they fit well with each other.

the only 2 furniture which are not from ikea are the bed and the cupboard on which the tv stands. and the metal-palm tree, of course (which was crafted by a local artist)."

Customizing ikea in an eichler style home

some weekend eye candy from jenny. she sent me a couple of links to this gorgeous update of a 1950's eichler style home by architect mark marcinik, as featured on sunset magazine, north california edition.

this ikea kitchen cabinets (akurum?) gets custom stainless steel sliding doors.

while this amazing bathroom vanity is propped on top of effektiv cabinets. love the blue and white doors.


photos by thomas j. story, sunset magazine.

ikea spotting: soyburger's mac basement

thursday eye candy. mark friesen tipped me on soyburger's collection of macs [and i do like macs :) ] housed beautifully using the ikea stolmen system. and i must say very good use of it.

anyone remembers the name of the low white media unit on the left? i wish it wasn't discontinued.

especially like this countertop from the stolmen too.

stolmen drawers make such handsome display units.

love the red klippan. i never tire of its simplicity. the skruvsta looks really good in this set up too.

go here to view the entire flickr set.

ikea spotting!

hey, some mid-week eye candy. nicole [thanks!] did some ikea spotting and spied this on apartment therapy. pretty little space with nice use of the docksta table and gilbert chair. doesn't look like it cost less than $350, does it? and can anyone place that gorgeous media unit?

go here to see the flickr set.

happy winners!

the results for the curbly "happy place" ikea contest are out! and the retro happy place (living room pic below) is top dog. congrats to veeeee who wins a $200 ikea gift cert.

can you spot the ikea? heh. sorry. bad habit. anyways, i adore the colour scheme - white and grey with bursts of warmth. also, the kidney coffee table ... way sexy. you know where i can get one?

bruno also announced a new contest - cheap is the new black. lol. how does he come up with titles like that? this round, post your under $20 diy projects and win skreened.com t-shirts.

ikea inspiration kicks off with monica's makeovers

this is one of the things i'm including more and more on ikeahacker. as much as i would like to feature only ikea hacks, some times i do come across homes, apartments and rooms that use ikea "as is" - gorgeous with no hacking, just clever decorating. it is such a pain to pass them by just because they don't fit the category. so, after thinking about it for like 3 minutes, i've decided to deny myself no more. hopefully, by sharing these homes, we can inspire each another to create cozy, livable spaces. and that can only be a good thing.

so, if you've never hacked ikea but have a home or space that uses ikea stuff beautifully, drop me a line at ikeahacker [at] gmail [dot] com. we'll love to sneak a peek.

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to kick off this "ikea inspiration" section, as promised, monica's makeovers.

kaleb's under the sea bedroom
the first is her kid's room. she got rid of the zanzibar decor and gave the kid an undersea world instead, repainting the room and reusing some of their old toys and supplementing with some new ikea stuff.

monica writes: "i�m a firm believer in "do the best with what you�ve got", (plus, i�m a broke, stay-at-home mom) so we used furnishings we already had. we moved in a few things from another room and had The Great Toy Divide of 2006 (a divying up of toys between the rooms of our two kids.)

i had some items i had purchased new but never used and some items i purchased new, specifically for this room. all in all, our total cost was about $200! (if you�re wondering, that does include the cost of paint� we already had rollers, trays, and that sort of stuff.) kaleb�s reaction to his new space was priceless, and we were lucky to get it on video. the room has been redone for a week now, and he still gasps, points and smiles each time he enters it!"

go under the sea.

the green kitchen
now on to her kitchen, which is still a work in progress. but from what i can see, it's shaping along swell. funny, i never thought i could love green, but she's making me change my mind.

"my kitchen is in a state of what i call 'painfully gradual' remodel. i've been looking at dingy, off-white walls, funky old cabinets and 1970's linoleum for six years now.

my stay-at-home mom salary isn't cutting it (ha!) so replacing the expensive stuff is going to take a while. i finally decided to give the room a makeover and just change what i could. and what a change it made!

thanks to a weekend paint job and ikea goodness (some old, some new), i now have a fun place in which to grumble about funky old cabinets and 1970s linoleum."

to the green kitchen

besides running fixchicks with michelle, this talented mommy is also an artist. she has some funky artwork - my favourite is this ... er ... skeleton thingy (pix), for lack of a better word. how she manages to squidoo here, here and here and take care of 2 kids and paint and diy is beyond me. so, kudos to you, mon.

view and buy her artwork here. help monica to finally get rid of those awful 1970s linoleum.

related post:
> the fixchick's ikea hacks