Complete your spa bathroom with a wooden shower mat

A little while ago we had this Platta flooring for the bathroom. So hey, why not use it as a shower mat to complete the spa look? That's what Eleazar did.

He's been having it for a few months now and it seems to be holding up. Before you try this you should be aware that the Platta deck has tannic acid which may leak out and stain the floor and grouting.


See more of Eleazar's Platta wooden shower mat.

Nick's butcher block work top

Nick, an automotive technician in Wilton CT USA, was looking for a work surface top for his toolbox. Shopping around, he found a stainless steel one for almost $800, a butcher block one for about $500. For $129 he bought a Numerar countertop at Ikea and only had to cut it for depth. And now he has a butcher block work surface.

Make a slim and sexy entry way table

I'm loving what Monica did with a Lack wall shelf and Vika Fintorp legs - an absolutely gorgeous entry way table.

She ways, "My husband and I needed an entry way table (a landing strip by Apartment Therapy terms) and didn't have much more than 10, maybe 11, inches of depth to work with which made things tough and hard to find a good white console table. We're in the process of re-doing our entry way and going to wallpaper but came up with a really clever way to construct our own entry way table using a Lack shelf ($14.99) and two of the taller Vika Fintorp legs ($10 each).

Probably not a lot of instructions needed on this one, we attached the legs first, then installed the shelf with legs using the Lack mounting bar. One clever trick we found was to figure out the correct placement with the legs and slowly lean the table back, load a sharpie in each of the holes on the back of the Lack shelf and it marked the correct spot to hang the mounting bar."

Stark hall unit as a room divider

Galloni Michele from Italy modifies a Stark hall unit to serve as a landing strip divider.


Galloni says, "I modified it by adding an aluminum frame (1.5 x 3 mm) around the unit. The two legs are connected to the bottom via bolts before mounting the legs in place. The frame is connected to the Stark by wood screws, except for the left side, for which I used silicone. The hacked Stark is mounted to the wall by drilling on the right beam three holes shaped like an inverted V and hanging it to three wall screw. For safety reasons I have added an additional support screwed to the wall on top."

Easy breakfast bar

Kathryn from Cyprus had a broken Stranne floor lamp. She salvaged the sturdy leg and topped it with a Pragel countertop. Voila! A breakfast bar. Simple and clean.

Get art for $4

Aah, more from Ikea hackers' favourite haunt - the As-Is section. Markus picks up some vanilla As-Is MDF boards and does a bang up job turning them into wall decor. Love how serene they look on his wall.

He says, "My favorite area of Ikea is the 'As-Is' section. And one of my favorite parts of the 'As-Is' section is where they have all their wood parts, such as drawer fronts, cabinet doors, desk parts, etc. I love the variety in color, size and finish of the pieces. Tons of ideas come to mind as I look through the assortment.

I came across 4 identical 13.75" x 13.75" square white pieces of MDF. There was nothing wrong with them and they were only $.99 each. My wife and I wanted to create our own original artwork to put up on one of our walls. A laser engraver would be our means of doing this. I used to work at a trophy / sign shop and practically perfected the laser machine and experimented thoroughly! The owner still lets me use it when I want, which I greatly appreciate (he doesn't even charge me!). We wanted a nice floral/natural image to encompass the 4 pieces which would be laid out in a big square.

I found some cool photoshop brushes online that I wanted to incorporate into the image. So the image was laid out across the 4 pieces subtracting an inch gap between all of them. The image was prepared for lasering and lasered with great success removing the white laminate and revealing the natural MDF beneath. We hung them up and in the square arrangement on the wall and love them! Not bad for a $4 project!"

Hack a window seat

Amy shares her window seat with us, made from Lack shelving units.

She writes, "We used two Lack shelves to create seating for our playroom. The Lack shelves are super-sturdy, so we turned them on their sides to create window seats. We cut foam padding to fit - definitely a two-person job. We used an electric knife, and I can't imagine anything else that would work. I used the book, Singer: Sewing for the Home, to help with the how-to of the upholstery project.

Ikea didn't carry canvas baskets for either of these shelves, and I thought canvas would be much more practical than Ikea's plastic, paper, or wicker options. So, I found canvas baskets at Wal-Mart. (It was really hard to find what I was looking for!) Wal-Mart seems to carry these sizes in different colors every year during January/February. We're enjoying our new setup!"

See more of Amy's window seat.