a flat tv wall combo unit

alex gets stylish with his flat tv furniture using the besta range and some neat ideas.

"i always see these stylish tv panel/bench combinations in designer shops and they were all at least 1000 EUR. the combination in the pictures shown is all together about 400 EUR and consists of the following parts:

2 besta benches
4 besta holmbo drawer fronts
2 besta holmbo doors as wall panels
1 lack wall shelf
3 grundtal spotlights

the benches and the lack shelf were installed as per instructions. the doors for the wall panel are fixed with one 14mm bolt each to the wall.

finally the grundtal spotlights were fixed with tesa powerstrips below the lack shelf. remember to hide the cables.

then, you need to pin the flat tv holder through the panel on the wall as instructed in the original manual and then you are finished."

this is making me love the besta range even more!

[thank you, readymade blog for the very nice shoutout! also, ikeahacker made the news in germany on spiegel online. thanks, konrad!]

ikea wall lighting stand mod

what to do if your wall mounted light fixture has an ugly plastic stand? simon shares how he modified the light stand so all you see is the lamp peeking out of the wall.

now you see ugly stand

now you don't!

view ikea light fixture mod instructions and more photos on simon's blog.

jail cell to modern baby crib

i love this modern baby crib from mary and hubby. goes to show a little creativity goes a long way.

"my husband and i were in desperate need of a crib, we wanted something modern, but within our budget. but modern cribs meant we'd have to shell out a load of cash. so we looked into ikea and found the almost perfect gulliver crib, except for the fact that it looked like a mini jail cell. of course, ikea had none in stock. we luckily found a used one on craigslist.

we bought some nice laminated wood and cut new end panels, using the old end piece as a
template for all the screw holes. we milled out a little design detail and we had a unique modern crib."

one lucky baby!

simple ideas for cat litter boxes

sara's wheelaway cat litter box
sara sent me her cat litter box constructed from 2 snack boxes. she flipped a smaller snack box on top a larger one. cut a hole for her large kitty to go through and attached the two boxes with hinges.

should you want to paint it, do remember to paint it before you construct the boxes - it will save you time painting round the metal plates. sara also added wheels. last thing is to place a litter pan in it and you're set.

the finished cat litter box

cut an entrance for your cat with a jigsaw

attach the two boxes with hinges

view sara's cat litter photoset and instructions on flickr.

***

robert's version (updated Jan 30, 2008)
this is a cool version of sara's idea. same 2 snack boxes but with a square cut-out, which is probably easier to achieve. the stenciled paw prints are just too cute, don't you think?

see robert's instructions on his flickr set.

***

dee's kitty litter hideaway
this is dee's version, build from a hol storage box. she just cut out a section from the side for a concealed litter box that's big enough to hold an extra large litter box, the extra litter and all the extras (poop scoop, litter deodorizer and bags).

dee also added 2 bygel cutlery caddies with the center section of the holders cut out so they could be hung through the holes of the hol storage box. perfect for brushes, combs and extra little things she uses for her pampered persian!

dee's bonus: you can even use the piece you cut out from the hol for a kitchen trivet!

(on a side note, after a year running this site i've received only one doggie ikea hack. dog lovers not ikea hackers? :O )

other cat furniture:
> build your own cat stairs
> stairway to cat heaven
> compact kitty box
> cat bed
> stolmen cat gym
> the cat pod
> no pooper cat litter

microsoft surface started as an ikea hack

chris tipped me on this piece of trivia.

do you know that microsoft surface originated from an ikea hack?

a microsoft what? in short, it's a surface computer that turns a table top into an interactive surface. so you and your team can use objects, touch and gestures to collaborate easily, moving beyond the mouse and keyboard.

the interesting thing is that when bill gave the idea the nod in 2003, the team made the first prototype with an ikea table. i don't recognise the table though. any idea, any one? they cut a hole through its top and added a sheet of architect vellum as diffuser.

the prototype

it's not a great looking hack but i guess it did a good enough job. and because of its humble ikea beginnings, the world can now have the shiny one below.

the upgrade

anyone tried it?

ikeahacker joins liferemix

hmm ... i'm not sure whether ikeahacker (me? productive?) fits the profile but i am honoured to be invited.

liferemix is a network of productivity blogs, featuring syndicated content from really cool sites. check out the sampler - 100 great tips to improve your life.

after reading about 10 posts, i felt that there is hope for a more organised, less cluttered, more zen-y me! i am currently working on the waking up early bit the past week. so far, bed-5 me-2.

go subscribe to the rss feed and get awesome productivity tips daily.

ikea catalogue 2008 is out!

every new ikea catalogue is a bit of an event for me. i can't wait to get my hands on it, leaf through it - first a quick overview, then a slow study of new items, new ideas and creative uses. also, very importantly, to see if they've dropped the prices of old items further, which is always a good thing.

well, it is the time of the year again and i've just spent the last 2 hours flipping through the online catalogue. i'm still not done with the 370 pages!

at first glance, some of the the stuff looks seriously good. i'm eyeing the besta tv units and i am in love with the red linnarp glass cabinets you see on the cover.

i hope they look as good in person. guess i'll be checking them out at ikea this weekend.