having fun with children's table and chairs

i guess one of the reasons ikea carry so many unfinished wood products is to give us room to create. here's what lisa did with the latt children's table and chairs.

"i've very recently opened a home daycare, and had purchased the $19.99 latt kid�s table and chairs. they got scratched up and fingerprinted and jam'ed and such pretty quickly due to the unfinished wood. so, i got artistic with them.

first, i spray painted everything blue. then i sponge painted on a bit of purple. then the golden castles and the freehand artwork. i then put on a few coats of polyacrylic, but i wasn't very happy with the protection level on the recessed pieces as the original surface i painted on was that slick white pressboard and i worried it would scratch. i bought some acrylic epoxy and finished it up.

these photos don't capture the depth of the different colors so well, but the general idea comes through."

enlarge your art

update! so i live and learn (and the past few days have been a crash course on copyright issues). and this hack lives again. please only use public domain artwork or seek the artist's permission when applying this hack.

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i totally dig this hack from randall kramer, who previously gave us the expedit grande (and now has an entry in the genius ikea hack contest). this may finally end my hunt for artwork for my apartment walls.

"i always like the karl blossfeld images ... a great book of his is ONLY $220.00. so, in the spirit of... 'i know another way to get his work' ... i took an image from a reproduction on a set of art cards from ikea, went to a digital imaging house in chicago, had a 'high end' scan done, then, had them photoshop in a bit of a sepia, 'old-ified' quality to the image, and had it printed on a super-duper high end printer for about $25.00 for the 3 images. took 'em to get matted - had a cabinet maker make the frames, took em back to a frameshop for archival framing - and the rest, as they say is history.

lot of work, you say... yes, but if you compare the cost of purchasing one of his prints (always too small for my liking, too!) and the way i was able to get what I wanted ... the end result is priceless!"

enlarge your art 2

thanks everyone who commented on this post and highlighted the copyright issues.

- jules

update: the hack has been reinstated.

vote for the genius ikea hack

submissions for the contest has ended. thanks, peeps, for your entries. we have 6 really fun ideas and i'm loving them. i hope that they will be realised some time.

1. tay's super shelf which is a suped up billy shelf with secret panels.
   
2. bj's emmabo rocking chair with premiar wall art. definitely fresh and funky.
   





3. guisy's ikea meldal mini greenhouse which is great for the balcony.
4. tini's skubb monster kite which will eat up the sky.
   
   
   


5. winnie's rapunzel fairy tale bookcase. a dream come true for any little girl.
6. randall's charlotte perriands lack shelving unit - designer furniture without the price tag.
   

hop on over to the forums to cast your vote for your favourite genius ikea hack. your votes will decide who gets into the finals and win the prizes from arash and kelly. click here to vote. voting ends 18 march.

kitchen bench and dog beds

jarett of jarrett house north recently completed this kitchen bench for the dining room. it also serves as a place for their bichons to sit on.

the bench without the top

completed bench with pronomen countertop

the bench is build from two 27" varde wall cabinets, fastened side by side and propped up on six capita legs. a pronomen countertop goes on top.

"overall it's a pretty functional unit, and it's rock solid. and the dogs love it- we put in 24" dog beds and now if we're in the dining room, they're in the bench. if they�re not begging, that is," says jarrett.

to jarrett's blog post and more photos on Flickr.

a Lite-Brite coffee table

this is unique one from tay. a Lite-Brite coffee table. who would have thought!

what tay did was: "i cut open the top panel of a ramvik coffee table, and secure under it 2 custom-drilled peg boards, which now are the perfect fit for Lite-Brite pieces. inside the coffee table are two fluorescent black light bulbs, which when plugged in illuminate the Lite Brite pegs perfectly."

see more on tay's blog post or flickr photos.

expedit bed

dakota spotted this bed, hacked from the expedit bookcase on plea_sure's flickr set and tipped me on it. it's pretty amazing and offers great underbed storage. i wonder how comfortable it is.

link.