Nordby TV bench turned into towel rack

I've definitely never thought of using the Nordby TV bench as a towel holder. But Susanne sure did.

She says, "It did not involve much 'hacking': just turned upside down and hung with two solid brackets on the wall."

If you read German, she writes about her TV unit turned towel holder here. Click here for a google translation to English.

A little Trofast experiment

Tobias experiments with an alternative to the Trofast frame. The original is made from solid pine but this could be just a sturdy (since Tobias can stand on top of it). If need some thing cheap to go with the tubs, which cost only $2 - $5, this may fit your budget.

"I've always been intrigued by the Trofast plastic tub/drawers, but the $50 - $90 cabinets seemed a bit overpriced. So I knocked together a simple frame out of 1 x 12 to hold some of the drawers.

Instead of routing out tracks for the drawers to slide on like Ikea does (a nice design, but I don't have a router), I cut strips of 1 x 2, which also reinforce the corners of the open frame. It's screwed and glued with Gorilla glue, and I can stand on top of it. Total cost of lumber, drawers, fasteners and glue was less than $20."

Lack spring table

If you're looking to add a splash of colour for Spring, here's an easy and cheap way to do it. Sandra shows us how on her Lack bedside table.

I took a white Lack side table I had and some post cards (from postal free), glued them on the table and bought a glass piece to put on the top.

Lack retro media cabinet

I'm loving what Jeff in LA did with the Lack shelving unit. The sliding doors and hairpin legs are just perfect.

He says, "After discovering your site and seeing some of the other lack media cabinet hacks, I thought I'd send some photos of my own. Yeah, I know, I need to do something to hide those wires between the TV and the cabinet.


My materials were:
1 white Lack shelving unit
1 12-foot dual-channel aluminum rail guide from a local cabinet hardware store
4 stainless hairpin 8" legs from Ianmaclean.com
A piece of 1/4" scrap plywood I had laying around
Raw walnut veneer
Watco danish oil
Spray adhesive
Two 2" brushed nickel sliding-door handles

Tools:
A jigsaw
A utility knife

It was pretty straightforward.  I cut the aluminum slider channel into two sections matching the interior length of the cabinet, and screwed them in.  I measured and cut my plywood into two long doors, then cut the walnut veneer into matching sheets, but slightly oversized.  I sprayed adhesive on the plywood and the back of the veneer, then stuck them together and trimmed the excess veneer off the edges.  I rubbed them with Watco danish oil and lightly sanded them with very fine sandpaper to give them the rich color.  Using the jigsaw, I cut 2-inch holes in the door panels and pressed in the circular handles, securing them on the backside with a glue gun (I could have used the tiny nails that came with the handles).

Usually, the slider rails are sold as separate upper and lower guides where the upper guide is twice as deep, allowing you to make shorter doors that can be lifted up and out for removal.   But I wanted the aluminum rail to be as low-profile and invisible as possible, so I used the shallower lower guide for both top and bottom. Plus, I was a cheap bastard and this saved me from having to spend another $35 for another 12-foot aluminum track.  So these doors cannot be lifted out for removal.  I loosened the screws on the lack cabinet, fit the doors in, then re-tightened the screws.

One snag was that my sheets of plywood were just thin enough to fit in the slider channels *before* applying the veneer, so with the veneer on they were too thick and snug to slide easily.  So I had to spend some time sanding the edges on the back side of the doors to thin them up.  In retrospect, I should have just bought some even thinner (maybe 1/8") board."

Kitchen pantry from scratch 'n dent cupboard

Edward turns a pile of as-is wood into kitchen storage.

"I recognized a pile of wood in the scratch and dent area as a cupboard, which I think was from the Akurum series. Our tiny kitchen was desperate for some extra space, so I bought the wood, for I think $5, a set of Vika legs, which were easily shortened with a hack saw, and turned the cabinet on its side, re-cutting the original long horizontal cross shelf into shorter lengths for the new orientation. A little paper inside the glass doors hid the brick-a-brack and it was done."

Kid's play storage

Well, you've built your kid a play kitchen. It's only a matter of time, you'll need to add a cabinet to it. Sergio builds one from 2 Rast bedside tables. Nicely done. Ikea should consider a grown-up version of it.

The tables are stacked one on top of the other, with the bottom one turned upside down. Sergio did quite a bit of work securing both tables together and ensuring they align. The doors are specially cut from planks, with hinges added.

Fill the cabinet with kiddy goodies and it's all set to go.

See instructions in Italian or a Google translation to English. Click this link to see the cabinet in action.

Get into the details for your home office

It's the details that make the whole ensemble work. Matching the colour, lifting the bookcases. Small touches, but nicely done. Take a look at Jennifer's home office.

1. Expedit shelving - 2 vertical, 1 horizontal. My hubby went to Home Depot and got unfinished furniture legs, took a door to the paint department to match the color, and painted the legs to match. We wanted the shelves to look more like furniture by lifting them off the floor.

2. We bought Vika Fagerlid legs and Galant system table top, and ordered from local glass company to fit a glass on top.

3. Then, of course, the newest stools available, Egil stools, which are very comfortable!