LACK Video Console shelf with hidden cables

Materials: Wood, fabric, LACK shelves

Description: Console shelf with hidden cables

Since I moved to my apartment, I wanted to hook up all of my consoles. I grew up in the 80s, played a lot with my Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and I feel still in the mood to play the old Mario, Mega Man, Zelda or A boy and his blob.

So I wanted a shelf where I can leave all my consoles hooked up to the TV and be able to play every game at every time. The big issue was only, that all consoles need at least two cables, one for power and one for the video/audio. With the 8 consoles which I want to connect, that makes 16 ugly cables which have be hidden somewhere.

There are different possibilities to hide cables. But if you want to have a minimal design for the shelf, there is not much directly available. Due to the fact that I didn't want to cut new shelves too much, I came to this solution:

I've built a frame out of wood (simple roof batten) with the width of one small LACK shelf, drilled some holes to screw the shelf to the wall and I predrilled the holes for the actual shelves. The whole thing was covered than with fabric. At every position where a shelf will be, I made a cut to the fabric to insert the cables, the lowermost gets a very big cut to ensure that every cable from all consoles can exit the construction. In addition, the screws for the very small LACK shelves from IKEA were screwed inside.

The most difficult part is to get all the cables inside. You can do this while the shelf is not mounted on the wall and sort them inside or try to get them through while hanging on the wall.

If the cables are through the cuts, the LACK shelves are attached and the consoles can be connected.

~ .holger, Hamburg, Germany

Turning IKEA Hemnes into Built-Ins

Materials: Hemnes Glass Door Cabinet with 4 Drawers (2)

Description: We used two Hemnes cabinets to make a custom built in china cabinet in our kitchen.

See more of the Hemnes built-in and this post for instructions on how to add moulding to the Hemnes.

~ Erin from {A Charming Nest}, Indiana

Extractor Hood for horizontal cabinet

Materials: Akurum - luftig - rubrik

Description: Hi, we just assembled our kitchen for the beach house. We really liked horizontal cabinets but since Ikea do not provide an extractor hood for them we had to improvise.

We bought a Luftig BF325 hood and found a way to accommodate it into a horizontal cabinet.

We cut part of the bottom of the cabinet (the exact width of the hood. With a spare shelf we made a vertical reinforcement for the cabinet and a fixing point to attach the hood.

The trick worked fine and the result is great.

~ Roberto, Venezia - Italy

LERBERG as bookshelf extension

Materials: LERBERG DVD rack

Description: I am always trying to fit more books into our place. Now we don't have any more wall or floor space, but books keep accumulating...

So I came up with - not a real hack, since I didn't alter anything - but a new use for the LERBERG DVD rack.

Screwed to the side of a (BILLY) bookshelf, I get a little extension, that doesn't use much space, is minimalistic but can house a pile of paperbacks :-)

Now I am dreaming of a real hack: Connect two LERBERGs back to back (on a board) and fasten the whole thing somehow onto a SNUDDA Lazy Susan... But for that I have to find 40x40 cm floorspace.

See more of the bookcase extension.

~ Susanne, Antequera

DIY Cabinet Doors

Materials: AKURUM wall cabinets, pine boards, Kreg Jigg, self tapping screws, forstner bit, circular saw, cordless drill, assorted drill bits

Description: Hi! I'm Nikki. I recently installed some AKURUM cabinets in my studio to use as storage. Wanting to increase my work surface I mounted them lower so I could eventually top them with a counter top. One of the main problems that I encountered was that the wall I was installing my cabinets on was the same wall where our water shut off valve was located. Needing to keep the valve accessible at a moments notice I was forced to leave a large gap in my wall of cabinets.

The other problem I encountered with the cabinet doors was the price. Since this room is not essential my budget must be kept to a minimum, and well who wants to buy the cheapest doors available? No one, that's who. So the only option that was left was to do something custom. I purchased pine boards and used my Kreg Jigg to create one giant slab of wood. Then I marked the widths I would need for each door and cut the slab.

Once I had my doors I used an Ikea cabinet door from our bar to make a template for the forstner bit. Using the template I drilled the openings for the hinges in the back of the doors.

To cover the gap that allows access to the water valve I made a door that would cover both the opening and the cabinet and mounted the door to the wall instead of the cabinet.

If you need a little more detail, or perhaps want to know how I finished my doors, come visit my blog, The Ambitious Procrastinator.

~ Nikki Kelly, Denver, CO

Cat litter box in a living room, why not?

Materials: FAKTUM Wall cabinet, H�?RLIG Door, INTEGRAL Hinge, spruce lath, & CAT flap

Description: We live in a small cozy apartment and we figured out how to have and also discretely hide a cat litter box in a living room.

At IKEA we bought FAKTUM Wall cabinet size 40x92cm, HA?RLIG Door 50x92cm, and INTEGRAL Hinge 125 degrees.

At local Bauhaus (wood handy shop) we bought a spruce LATHS 3x (40x5x5cm), and at local pet shop a CAT flap.

Before assembling the FAKTUM cabinet, take one side of the cabinet, and cut a appropriate hole for the cat flap.

Since we wanted that a cover door would be a little over the cabinet, we took the HA?RLIG Door to the local joiner, where he cut them and burned a new ABS edge tape on it, so they would be apx. 2cm over the cabinet.

Meanwhile color the spruce laths, let them dry, and then from inside mount them with nails, if necessary stick some felt floor savers.

~ Sebastian, Europe

EKBY MOSSBY wine rack

Materials: EKBY MOSSBY, EKBY BJARNUM, thunder group 10" chrome wire glass rack

Description: I needed a wine rack, but since I live in an apartment I had no room for a standing bar. All the hacks were of standalone bars or under cabinets and my cabinets were too low to hang wine glasses. And everything online was either too small or very pricey.

So I purchased a Ekby Mossby, held it up with the Ekby Bjarnum brackets and drilled in 10 chrome wine glass wire hangers. As you can see in the picture it fits my wall perfectly. Enjoy.

~ J M