Ikea hacking iPhone style...

Materials: iPhone + catalog

Description: I wanted to picture Ikea furniture in my house before I bought anything.

Mainly for one reason: returning things is a pain in the ass.

So me and 2 friends hacked together an iPhone app that does just that.

It's called Ikea Now.

With our app, you can now picture popular Ikea furniture in your phone using the camera. We think its cool.

Get the FREE app here.

~ Andy Kim, Orange County, CA

The 2013 IKEA catalog is alive!

The IKEA catalog gets better. As of July 31st, the catalog itself will be an interactive product of the latest augmented-reality technology, with smart ideas, photo galleries and inspiration coming alive right before your eyes.

You'll need to download the IKEA Catalog App for your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet, and scan select pages to unlock the goodies. I can't wait to test it out.

Have you got the 2013 catalog yet? 

Hack it with Zaarly

Over the years, I've heard from many readers saying how much they loved a hack but lacked the skills, space, time or tools to bring it to life. I know how frustrating that can be as I am no super hacker either. Well, fret no more. Enter Zaarly. You may have noticed  the Zaarly button on the top, bottom and first image of a post. So, what's it?

Zaarly is a marketplace that enables people to ask for anything from other people nearby. So, say you're looking at this nailhead side table and think, "I love this but I just don't have the time (or patience!) to whack those little shiny buggers in. If only someone can do it for me!" Well, your wish is Zaarly's command.

Just post your request on Zaarly and the amount you would be willing to pay for it done. A talented individual, expert DIYer or carpenter in your community can then respond to your request and voila! A few days later, you can sip coffee with little nailhead by your side.

But that's not the only thing that makes Zaarly a great idea. Besides getting the hack you want (without having to lift a hammer), you get to make new friends and discover the IKEA hacker next door.

Of course, it works in reverse too. You can respond to requests and make some dough on the side. I know some of you are just amazingly talented hackers who may be able to benefit from this new marketplace.

The only setback is, Zaarly is currently only in the US. They do have plans to roll out to other countries soon. So, like me, we've just gotta wait for it to come to town.

Watch this intro video for more information on Zaarly. Then give it a whirl.



Disclosure: I am an affiliate of ZaarlyAnywhere. This means I receive a commission if you complete a transaction with Zaarly.

Smile ... you're on KNAPPA camera!

IKEA is shaking things up, again. Hot on the announcement of its new line of integrated home entertainment, Uppleva, the big blue & yellow is revealing an unexpected item - a cardboard digital camera! Well, we've had a camera hacked before but the Knappa is an entirely different thing. The camera is released as part of its new PS line, due to hit stores late 2012.


Rumour has it that the Knappa will be given away to people who buy the new PS line. IKEA hopes they will  then take photos of the PS line in their homes and share the images on Ikea's website, to stir up serious home envy. Clever marketing, I must say!

Now, back to the cam. It is extremely basic, with manual zoom and image stabilizer (as you can see from the video). It is made out of an integrated camera module, memory, USB port, two AAA batteries, all sandwiched between two sheets of cardboard. At one time, you can snap about 40 pictures. Just don't take it to the beach.

The bummer is, the Knappa will only be offered in select stores worldwide. I know it's a slick marketing gimmick but oh, what a cute one. I am smiling and ready for a Knappa.

Would you buy an IKEA all-in-one smart TV?

Jochen sent me a link to this video and I wondered, "is this for real?" I thought someone uploaded a late April Fool's joke. But no, it's legit.

Well, tadaa... it's the IKEA UPPLEVA. An all-in-one smart TV with speakers, blue ray and DVD player all built into the furniture. How's that for thinking within the box? It looks promising, and I love that it seems to have banished the bane of cables once and for all.

As you would expect from IKEA, the UPPLEVA is customisable, meaning you can fit it into other IKEA furniture systems like the BESTA. That's important because I don't think its boring squarish looks will fly. That also means we hackers have more to play with!

Trimmings aside, the real test of the pudding would be the TV itself, don't you think? Seriously, would you buy a made by IKEA TV? That remains to be seen. On HD.

The UPPLEVA will be rolling out in Stockholm, Milan, Paris, Gdansk and Berlin in June 2012. Then the rest of the stores in Sweden, Italy, France, Poland, Denmark, Spain, Norway and Portugal in Autumn 2012. Poor me will have to wait till Spring 2013.

Let me know in the comments what you think of an IKEA TV? Would you buy it?

Funny IKEA Australia

Materials: -

Description: Not a hack, but very funny!!

(posted on facebook by ikea.ch)

~ Conchita, Switzerland

Designed legs for IKEA Sofas & Beds

Materials: Karlstad sofa

Description: Finally :) Colourful, designed legs for IKEA Sofas & Beds.

~ Mikael, Stockholm, Sweden

Thank you, Michael! Pretty Pegs left me oohing and aahing. Finally, we're not longer stuck with Capita legs for ... beds, sofas, everything! I am already in love with their range of "swanky shoes" for furniture especially the oh-so-sweet Siri in pink (which I believe will totally give my Sultan bed a brand new look).

~ Jules

See more of Pretty Pegs. (Disclosure: Link leads to a store and I am not paid to write this.)

Merry Christmas IKEA Hackers!

Hello there and Merry Christmas, if you are celebrating this special occasion. I am taking a break and will not be posting hacks today. I'll be making a two-hour trip home to be with family for the weekend. I hope you are too. Enjoy the holidays, eat, drink and be merry!

I leave you with warm fuzzy feelings from this series of IKEA Christmas ads. Oldies from 2009 but still appropriate for the season.

via I am chiq.

and one more! Ho ho ho...

A little love from IKEA

Hej!
Finally, IKEA has given me a nod. Though a little, sideway tilt of the head it makes me all giddy inside. No, I am not flying to Sweden (yet), just an interview on IKEA Hackers for their blog, Livet hemma. It will have to do for now, till I shake Ingvar Kamprad's hand. You can read the interview here. It's in Swedish. (Google English translation here).

Equally, I was curious about Livet hemma and it being written in Swedish didn't stop me. Yes, pictures-thousand-words thing rings true for this site - lovely, lovely room sets and beautiful shots you'd come to expect from IKEA. It carries updates, has a cool forum where members can show off their IKEA and even a hacks contest (this decoupaged shoe cabinet, black and white lacy bekvam, light plate and Billy cityscape are my favourites). Wanting to find out more, I shot them a series of questions.

How and when did Livet hemma start?
The Livet hemma (Life at home) blog started in late august 2010 by IKEA sweden. We started the blog because we had so many ideas and lots of inspiration to share. We also needed a forum for our IKEA customers to share ideas and solutions from their own homes and also to create a place where you can to be in close contact with IKEA. It's really interesting to see the IKEA products in use in real life situations.

Who started it and runs it?
The Livet hemma blog was started by IKEA Sweden. It's me Anna Pettersson and Tina Bj�reman from IKEA Sweden who runs it. We also have a great production team that support us.

What is the goal or aim of this blog?
The aim of the blog is to share inspiration for the everyday life at home. And also to create a creative forum for all kinds of people with interests in life at home and smart interior solutions. In Sweden there's a great interest in home decoration and we hope Livet hemma will be a good place to share, just like IKEA Hackers.

What is the inspiration behind this blog?
The inspiration comes from IKEA, the interior design world around us and the many people who contribute with exciting home decoration ideas. And of course we're inspired by blogs like IKEA Hackers and Swedish Trendenser for instance. We also get lots of inspiration from our own social media channels like the IKEA Sverige page on Facebook. Here we noticed the great interest in IKEA and our products.

Do you intend to have it in other languages?
Yes, we would love to have Livet hemma in other languages. We've noticed that people from all over the world are interested in the features published here.

How many readers do you have?
Our readership is slowly but surely growing. Today we have about 9,000 registered members who participate in the ongoing making of the blog.

What's happening now over at Livet hemma?
At the moment there's a lot of nice kitchens in the forum. It's fantastic to see the real thing.

Visit Livet hemma (in Swedish). Click this link for a Google translation to English.

Mykea - updated

Materials: Vinyl

Description:
Update: 31 Oct 2010. Gert of Mykea sent me an update to what was published (previously submitted by an enthusiastic student) to tell us a bit more about their vinyls especially designed for Ikea furniture. ~ Jules

Furniture by IKEA is good priced and well designed. But we don't like the fact that we see the same Ikea interior everywhere around us. We came up with the idea to make your Ikea more beautiful, unique and personal. MyKea makes it possible to ad a layer of unique en beautiful designed vinyl over your Expedit, Malm bed and billy bookcase.

How it works is easy: select your IKEA furniture, choose one of the many designs and personalize IKEA in your own style!

~ Gert van de Cappelle, Amsterdam.

See more here.

***

Not really a hack, but perhaps nice to show on this site anyway. We started a project a while ago to personalize Ikea products without physically altering them. We are now selling stickers designed by the community. The designers make money when we sell the sticker for them.

~ Niels, Amsterdam

If Ikea could sing ...

Thanks to Suzanne, I had an afternoon with 4 guys and a lot of Fniss. Seriously, if Ikea could sing, it would probably sound like OK Go. But it's not just the tune, the music video is charming (you can't go wrong with cute dogs) and the song is White Knuckles. It's the first time I've seen the band and they totally floored me. The part where the guys twirled the Skruvsta chairs with mutts in tow ... just too funny. Proceeds from the video will go towards the ASPCA and doggie rescue. You can read more about OK Go's canine cause here. Go support them and have an great weekend.

Ikea Kitchen Squad ready to shock and awe

If you know people with a dingy kitchen you may want to let loose the Ikea kitchen squad on them. Ikea Kitchen Squad is a TV show in the UK featuring an undercover group of designers, planners, service experts and installers who fly in to save the day for teary and weary homeowners.

Previously they have already helped three kitchens in crisis, by creating cool Ikea kitchens tailored to their needs and family requirements. Now they want to do the same for Colleen whose dingy kitchen with doors hanging off and an overheating oven is just too small for the family to sit around in together and enjoy an evening meal. 

Colleen's kitchen Ikea-Kitchen-Squadified

The one they killed

I'm not sure when it'll air and I won't be able to catch it (it being on UK TV and all). But if you do, let me know how it when. Check out the trailer.



Click for more info on Ikea Kitchen Squad.

Ikea classifieds

Well, if you're thinking of offloading your used Ikea furniture, you gotta get creative. Like how this guy did. He demonstrates the multi-uses of Ikea trestles with the finesse of gymnast. Thank you Ashli for sending me the ad. Too funny.

I'm not sure if the legs are still available but if you are in the market for a pair, you gotta get them from him. Hop over to craigslist now.

Talking about classifieds ads, have you seen Ikea Nation? It's kinda like craigslist but dedicated to all things Ikea. Wunderbar. It's free too. Woohoo! At a glance the navigation looks good with searches by categories or States (US only, unfortunately for me). The prices looks even better. Spotted a Mikael computer desk going for $60 (new, $109) and a Karlstad Loveseat going for $0. Zilch. Nada. Sounds like the place to score your next Ikea hacking items.

Anyone have any experience buying or selling on it? Do share with us.

Is the Ikea pencil going the way of the Dodo?

Well, I've not jumped onto the iPhone bandwagon but iPhone apps have jumped into Ikea. Two app developers wrote me about their Ikea shopping apps which are great for replacing the Ikea pencil and shopping list. Personally I love scribbling with that stubby pencil. It's part of Ikea experience. Heh.

SwedeShop
The first is from Danilo who claims to be a big nerd who programs for the iPhone and loves Ikea. You can guess where this is going.

Danilo tells me, "The golf pencil and shopping list they hand out at Ikea don't cut it for me. I built an app called SwedeShop that keeps track of your Ikea shopping list for you. Here are some screenshots:

Tap out the item name, set a price and dial in the aisle and bin. And you're done. Optionally, you can set other attributes, like notes, priority or an item image. SwedeShop minds your budget for you and vibrates if you go over. It supports all international formatting and has been localized into English as well as Swedish for good measure.

And that's about it.

SwedeShop launches on Tuesday. It'll be free for one day and cost $0.99 thereafter."

See more of the SwedeShop.

iShopFlat
The other is from Jonathan, called the iShopFlat. Jonathan says, "Living in Sweden I see a lot of Ikea stuff. Now I did something I thought was funny and good for the environment. We did a small app to replace the shopping list at Ikea. It's called iShopFlat and is available on the iPhone AppStore.

Basically it mimics the list you find at the entrance of the Ikea store but also lets you check the price of your items as you go along."

It also goes for $0.99. See more the iShopFlat.

Ikea recalls Iris and Alvine Roman Blinds

Sad news. Please do be careful if you own the Iris or Alvine roman blinds, especially if you have a child.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission release, on April 4, 2008, a 1-year-old girl in Greenwich, Conn. became entangled in the inner cord of an IKEA Roman Blind and strangled. The child was in a portable playpen that was located underneath a fully lowered roman blind.

Iris Roman Blind

Alvine Roman Blind

Ikea issued a voluntary recall of these 2 products (all sizes) with the product number 19799 or 21369. You may return them to any Ikea store to obtain a full refund.

To read more, please click here.

Ikea happenings

Hey, hey, how's your Monday? Thought I'll kick the week off with some news.

Ikeafans has a new look!
If you noticed the tabs at your top right hand corner, you would have found the IKEAhacker forum, which is hosted on IKEAFANS, the fantastic site run by Susan Martin and gang. They recently relaunched their website with a cool new look! It's more functional now and easier to find the info you need. The forums, the heartbeat of the site (and treasure trove of Ikea information) continue to grow, now with over 75,000 members and all the stuff you could possibly need to know about Ikea. Don't miss the galleries and its whopping 11,000 photos!

Bemz has slipcovers to be won!
We ran a contest with Bemz a year ago and if you did not manage to win then, here is your chance again. The Swedish company that breathes new life into IKEA sofas and chairs have launched the "My Home, My Way" contest at the Bemz blog, It's a Cover-Up.

The entries so far have been pretty good. But if you think your sofa is the one to beat them all, do hurry up and snap a fab photo and send it in. You could win a 5000 Swedish Crown* shopping spree at Bemz. (*5000 Swedish Crowns (or SEK) is approximately equivalent to �500 / �400 / US$700 / CND$800.)

I'm one of the judges too. :) Here's how to take part.

Ikea train in Kobe

If there is one thing Ikea is fantastic at, besides making flat pack furniture, it's advertising. For their opening in Kobe, Japan, Ikea decked out trains with Ikea furniture. Rush hour has never looked better.

 

See more of Ikea train on Pink Tentacle.  [Thanks Dale!]

Your Ikea hack could lead to design fame and a new sponsor

Is your Lack-Billy-Akurum Frankenstein a winner? There's only one way to find out. Platform21, BRIGHT and Superuse are running a contest and the winning design will be exhibited at the Bienniale Montreal 2009 and in the BRIGHT stand during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. Submit before 15 September for your shot at fame.

Go here for details.

*** 

Next, please welcome Ikeahacker's latest sponsor eRoomService, an online store that offers modern designer furniture. I spent an hour or so drooling over its amazing collection of living, dining, bedroom and children furniture. Way, way gorgeous! Definitely not stuff you'll find at your local Ikea. Hop over and check them out.

Interested in advertising on Ikeahacker? Email me at ikeahacker [at] gmail [dot] com for rates.

as-is: bar table with 3 stools going for $35

alex tipped me on this craigslist find - a hacked ikea bar table with stools. okay, it is not the best looking bar table around, but it is a steal.

the table is hacked from a malm 3 drawer chest with an ikea table top. the bar is a bit wobbly and needs a cross brace (available at ikea for $7) but hey, for that price you'll expect some kinks.

click to see the original craigslist post.

ikea panels going cheap at east palo alto

andrew tips me that there is a large stack of perfekt liljestad panels, around 8' by 3' (SKU # 12879) going for $10 each, in the As-Is section at ikea east palo alto.

woo! go get 'em and make some hacks!
thanks, andrew.