Another Billy pantry

B�atrice helps her friend Michelle kitty proof her kitchen. Well, adopting a stray cat does have its consequences.

She writes, "Recently, my dear friend Michelle adopted a stray kitten, named Kurutchan (the little black one in Japanese). However, I soon nicknamed her Little Monster, for there's nothing Kurutchan loves as much as sending things into the air.... especially at 3 am in the morning!

So after Kurutchan had gleefully broken crockery, bottles, jars of homemade jam, etc... even my friend admitted that open shelving in her kitchen was not working anymore. Since her kitchen is not that big, Michelle and me (as her long-time DIY partner in crime) decided that the usual kitchen cabinets would not fit.

In a fit of inspiration, after flicking through the Ikea catalogue, we decided to use a bookcase since the depth is only 28cm. The Billy bookcase seemed perfect, but as it's only 40 cm wide, it wouldn't have provided much storage, so we decided to buy 2 and to put them side by side. Then, to make sure you-know-who was not going to go in, Michelle bought 2 Billy Byom doors.


On our way out, we found a Gruva lamp in the As-Is section, and because lighting is important in a kitchen, we decided it would be a nice touch to put it on top of the new custom kitchen cupboard.

Around the same time, Michelle was given a glass door from an older Ikea kitchen cabinet, which was great because a glass door would be both "cat-proof" and light. Because we thought it would be nice to have similar knobs, we carved one in a bit of wood: a first And a success! It took us about an afternoon to put everything in order, and about 15 minutes to paint the door and the new knob white. We were both very pleased with the result!

Kurutchan loves her new crow's nest, and fewer things get broken these days... Michelle and her cat are now going to enjoy their new kitchen together."



Related hack:
- Billy finds new purpose as a pantry

Flaren stealth cat litter box

More cat litter problem solvers. This one is from Jon and I do like how discreet it is.

"Our new apartment didn't have a good cubby to hide away the cat box like our old apartment," says Jon, "so we decided to hide the litter in plain sight. It's an easy 4 step process:

1. Find a covered cat box $30
2. Find a cabinet that it fits in (in this case, a Flaren sink cabinet)
3. Find a pet door
4. Cut a hole for the pet door and install.

I added a couple litter mats $20, one inside, one outside, and the litter tracking is almost non-existent. I put rails on the bottom of the cabinet to make the box easier to slide out for cleaning, provide some storage space to stuff litter bags, and to hold the interior mat in place. Since it is an open-backed cabinet, I nailed a sheet of corrugated plastic (like on a yard sign) to the rear to close it off. Because of this and the cat flap, odor is contained and not a problem. As an added benefit, being a sink cabinet, it is made to get wet and the surfaces are easy to clean."

See more of Jon's stealth cat litter box.

Related hacks:
- Quick and easy cat litter box
- Snack cat litter boxes
- Compact kitty box
- No pooper cat litter

Need kitchen space? Get a cart

A movable cart is a great mini kitchen island. Extra counter space, storage and serving space. What's not to like? Terry does a great job making the Bekvam fit his kitchen's look and feel.

She says, "I thought you might want to see how I changed an Ikea Bekvam kitchen cart.

First, I stained it to match our new Ikea Liljestad cabinets, then sealed with Varathane. I used leftover tiles from the backsplash to tile the top. To finish the tiled top I added a frame of wood, stained the same color as the cart."

Bowling alley chair hack

Chris scores some seats from a bowling alley and pairs them nicely with Ikea swivel legs.

He explains, "Through my relentless searching of craigslist, I found these free seats from a bowling alley. Initially I was going to build a bench with them, but a stop at Ikea led me in a different direction.

Whenever possible, I do not buy products made in any country that tolerates poor working conditions. One of the reasons I go to Ikea is the variety of countries the product are made in. For more on working conditions in ikea factories, you can go here.

Anyway, during Ikea's winter sale at the south Philadelphia store, they have $9.99 Hajdeby office chairs (not on website) which unfortunately are made in China, but the time I was more preoccupied with my idea than looking at the label on the box. The chair is similar in appearance to the Svenning swivel chair. Except the star shaped base of the chair I bought is steel, not plastic.

The only thing I needed to do was figure out a way to attach the two. This is where assemble-it-yourself design comes in handy. The way the chair bottom is designed, you can basically use anything as a seat... anything you can bolt or screw to anyway. In my case, I only needed two pieces of 3/4" solid square aluminum bar (which I have, because I work in aluminum) and a few bolts. The only tricky part was
figuring out the weight balance of the chair, so I had to clamp everything in place and try sitting in it a few times before drilling/threading/bolting everything together.

It's actually quite comfortable. Putting the first one together took maybe 90 minutes. The second one will probably take 15 minutes. There are lots of seats still available at the bowling alley, so I might make a few more... or might make something else with them... not sure yet. Now what do I do with the seat cushions that came with the base? Guess you'll have to wait for part 2."

Billy finds new purpose as a pantry

Michael comes up with a neat solution for his small dining area. Great use of space.

"The kitchen in our new house was too small," says Michael, "so we converted this set of Billy bookcases (with extenders and doors) to a pantry. Note the chairs and legs on the custom table top. The connecting shelf and trim was from cheap particle board shelving you can get at any hardware store.

A trim Lack stereo shelf

This is a nice hi-fi set up from Christopher. Reminds me of how Dad use to stack his amps. Cool. I like.

He says, "I just finished my own Ikea hack, and I wanted to share.

I've got 2 Expedit shelves to hold my records and smaller items, but I wanted a coordinating shelf to hold my stereo. As we all know, the Lack system goes very well with Expedit. Unfortunately, my stereo components are just over 16" wide, and would look odd on the 37" wide shelves that come standard on the Lack bookcase. So here's my solution:

1. Buy a Lack bookcase. Using a slice of pizza, bribe your neighbor to help carry it inside. Unpack the box.

2. Measure and cut shelves to desired width. In this step, accuracy is of prime importance. If the shelves are not cut square or identical, your book case will not go together properly. I used a circular saw with a sharp blade. In this case, I cut the shelves exactly in half, but in theory, they could be whatever width you like.

3. Since the shelves are mostly air inside, there is nothing to screw into when you assemble the unit. So I used some blocks of maple cut to fit exactly inside the shelf. I mashed the cardboard in to make room for the wood blocks, and used Elmer's Ultimate glue to firmly attach the blocks inside the shelves. This step is important, as well, since this is what holds the left side of the bookcase to the right side of the bookcase. Cutting corners on this step will cause catastrophic shelf failure, and could lead to property damage and/or serious personal injury.

4. After the glue has dried, the parts are ready to assemble. Use appropriate size drill bits and drill holes in the wood blocks that match the original holes in the particleboard. Assemble the bookcase as originally intended.

5. Load it up with your stuff, knowing that nobody will ever know that you hacked it.

6. As a bonus hack, I used a part of an old bed and 2 leftover plates from a universal LCD TV mounting kit to make a bar across the back of the turntable area to attach the lights, since the Lack shelf is too thick for the clamps that hold the lights on.

Loft and bedroom with kickass desks

Charyl sets up a couple of wardrobes as a room divider. I know the wardrobes are not hacks but thought I'd include them for an overview of the room. The desks are nice - the Pragel countertop and Malm drawers make two good looking work spaces.

She says, "My sons are currently sharing our loft space which is about 11 x 17. We wanted to provide some sense of privacy, so used two Aneboda wardrobes as a privacy screen / storage.

We also created desks and storage for them using 73.5" Pragel countertops and two Malms. The desk runs the length of the half wall and although it's 33.5" high with the combined heights of the Malms and counters, it's comfortable with adjustable office chairs. My eldest son connected the countertops to a couple 2 x 4s on the wall and to the back of the Malms with L brackets; two adjustable legs are used on each front corner � very sturdy. He also drilled holes in the counters for cords and attached power strips right underneath. (And yes, something needs to be done with the back of the wardrobes, like wall paper or cork board!)