Fa la la la la la ...

Free printable from 12 tribes

It's Christmas and I am taking a day off from blogging, unplugging from the Internet and connecting with everything warm, toasty and family. But I will be back with the usual programming tomorrow.

In the meantime, let's revisit some hacks from Christmas past.

1. The Snow Globe: Make a whimsical snow globe from IKEA wine goblets. Reindeers complete the scene.
2. ISIG ornament glitter: Tired of your blah ornaments. Glamourize them with a little glitter.
3. The Expedit Advent calendar: Book mark this and make your own Expedit advent calendar next year.
4. The IKEA Xmas tree: Who says trees have to be green? Here's one that will light up your nights.

Designer-Lamp from a vase

Materials: BLADET 45 cm

Description: Here my "??Hack�?" of an IKEA Bladet (45 cm) vase into a "??Designer-Lamp"�.

The "Highlight" of this floor lamp is the use of a Squirrel Cage bulb (in my case a Globe with a Diameter of 120 mm).

The vase "Bladet" is very suitable for this project, because of the thickness of the glass (about 10-12 mm at the ground) which is quite insensible, as you have to drill a hole with a diamond coated hole saw drill in the middle (!) of the bottom.

I have never drilled a hole in glass before and used a very cheap diamond coated drill (...eBay), watched some "??how-to-drill-glass-videos" at youtube and it was quite easy.

The required electrical material (screwed tube, screw nuts, a porcelain bulb socket (for screwed tube), cable, light switch and a plug) you should find at your local do-it-yourself-store.

Because I took a squirrel cage bulb I used a dimmer instead of a light switch because it looks very cool, if the bulb is just glowing.

After drilling the whole (in the diameter of the screwed tube), you have to assemble the bulb socket on the tube. Afterwards you fix the screwed tube with each one nut over and one nut under the glass-bottom. If you add rubber washers, you can "move" the tube a little bit if you worked/drilled inaccurate.

As distance between bottom and ground (because of the cable) I fixed five rubber buffers (DIY-store) with double-sided tape.

At least I filled the vase with sand up to the bulb-socket. This looks cool and prevents the lamp from tipping over.

~ J�rg, Germany

A Bamboo Storm...

Materials: Storm Stand Lamp, broken bamboo blind, glue gun & embroidery thread

Description: What do you get when you cross an old Ikea Storm lamp with a broken bamboo blind?

A festive warming glow to illuminate the dining nook.

See more of the bamboo lighting.

~ S., Berlin

Glanza Christmas Wreath Chandelier

Materials: Glanza Light, Garland, Christmas Ornaments

Description: I found this Glanza chandelier at a local flea market still in the box not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it but LOVED it.

So Christmas rolls around and I come up with an idea. I found some white and red bud garland (but any could be used to suit your style) and set it atop the chandelier. In a hanging position I just started hanging ornaments on it until I was satisfied with the results. Plugged it in and Voila!!! This is hanging above my kitchen sink and it makes me happy to do the dishes (well maybe happy is an exaggeration) but still it's lovely. I staged the area with Christmas wrap for affect. The whole thing cost me about ten bucks!

Enjoy!

~ Deborah, sf bay area

BR�DA & LAGG Portable Tabletop Play Stove

Materials: BR�DA Laptop Support, LAGG Trivet, DUKTIG Child's Cookware Set, DUKTIG Child's Utensil Set

Description: My friend wanted a play stove for her daughter but didn't want one that would take up floor space.

Inspired by IKEA Hackers' play stoves, I was off to IKEA to see what I could come up with. After spotting the DUKTIG cookware set and utensil set, I wandered the rest of the store to figure out what I could use for the stove: the BR�DA laptop stand turned around lays flat on a table and the LAGG trivets look like pretend burners!

I used replacement lid knobs for pots for the stove knobs and a small plastic tea canister for the utensil holder. The trivets and knobs were glued on with crazy glue (the knobs were backed with the soft part of a round velcro piece to provide a surface for the glue), a locking "velcro" type fastener was placed on the bottom of the utensil holder, and decorative sticky page markers were used for the label on the utensil holder and for the stove knobs.

~ Alicia

Hide wallmounted bookshelf with Ikea panel curtains

Materials: Old bookshelf from ikea, Kvartal curtain hangers, Anno Inez panel curtain

Description: We have a quite small apartment, with huge windows. Thus we had a bookshelf mounted high above our TV. To use for storage. We used an old Ikea shelf. That you mount on the wall with the help of metalhangers.

In Swedish we call it an "Konsoll hylla"

But it became quite distracting with a lots of different boxes and different colors. We decided to hide it some way. Our first thought was to use sliding doors.

We realized that they would be to heavy, and above all, WAY to expensive. So we landed on the idea with some sort of curtain. We still wanted the sliding door feeling, and thus we choose panel curtains.


Since we have a ceiling that isn't straight, we had to find a way to mount the hangers for the curtain. We choose to buy KVARTAL wall hardware.

This is how we did it.

We started by measuring the shelf. Then we counted how many hangers etc we needed, and went to Ikea.

When we came home, we took the Kvartal wall hardware, and cut of the Wall mounting part. So we just got a straight piece. With the hanger part left.

We then screwed it to the top shelf of the bookshelf. Use the already made hole. We bought the extra long, so we didn't have to make any holes. We did this AFTER we had mounted the Kvartal triple rail as the instruction said.

After that we just hung them up, and measured how long we wanted the curtains. and put them up. The top shelf is still visible. But we will just get some boxes that look the same. But that we'll have to do some other time!

Happy hacking!

~ Aya, Sweden

Lack Bedroom Desk or Dressing Table

Materials: LACK coffee table, HOPEN 4-drawer chest

Description: This is a very simple hack. I wanted a small desk in my bedroom, but didn't want an additional piece of furniture. Instead, I made this using pieces I already owned.

I removed the magazine shelf from a small LACK coffee table (article number 401.042.94) and attached it between two HOPEN 4-drawer chests (article number 801.295.89). The dressers are slightly deeper than the shelf, but I view this as a feature instead of a flaw: Lining up the three pieces so the fronts are flush gives a 1.75-inch space behind the desktop perfect for clipping a lamp and running cords.


Attach the shelf to the dressers using the same hardware that was holding it in place on the coffee table. To prevent damage to the sides of the dressers, drill four 1/8-inch pilot holes. I placed sticky notes on the dresser to make markings and lined up the brackets with the inside edges of the notes (this was easier than measuring). This puts the brackets about 3 inches from the edge of the desktop).

I also drilled 1/8-inch pilot holes in the bottom of the desktop, this time to make it easier to attach rather than for aesthetics.

As a bonus, I now use the coffee table in my closet. The table top acts as a shelf that's the perfect height to sit above laundry baskets.

Remember that this "desktop" is still just 1/2-inch particleboard made for storing magazines, so it definitely cannot hold something weighty like a television or book collection. In fact, I would recommend that you reinforce the desktop with additional larger angle brackets regardless of how you plan to use it. Also, note that the desk sits higher than a standard tabletop so you'll need a slightly-taller-than-usual seat (the dining chair in the picture sits about 4 inches too low to be comfortable).

Also, there's no reason why you need to purchase the LACK coffee table for this hack. IKEA's "as is" clearance bin has plenty of finished particleboard and hardwood pieces for $1 - $3.

~ Nick