hackeas: ideas that make you go ‘why didn’t i think of that!’

this hackea post is about quick and snappy repurposing. no big hack but neat ideas nonetheless.

slim solutions for narrow hallways
paula has a long narrow hallway that needed some lighting and storage. here’s what she did.

she says, “i had a long narrow hallway with 2 wall sconces. i was looking for a low profile lighting sconce and found these lock ceiling lamps. i painted the white bases with gold spray paint and wall mounted them. for the opposite wall i bought 2 three packs of trones shoe storage and mounted them side by side. the books are held by invisible bookshelves from the whitney museum.
IKEAhall Sconces

simple clothes hanger
paul repurposes a shelf bracket for his shirts. he says, “the short story behind this is that a while ago i had a rather large ikea wardrobe that took up quite a bit of visual as well and physical space. because it was a bit aesthetically jarring i was looking for other smaller and simpler options. i looked at a lot of the clothes storage systems at ikea but couldn’t find anything minimalistic enough. when i was walking through the store one day (perversely not buying just looking!) …. i saw the slinga shelf bracket and thought it would make a good hanging rail for the clothes. a few screws and wall plugs later and voila. it’s been completely stable and frees up a lot more visual space while hanging the same amount of clothes as previously.”
IMG_1523_1

summer lovin’ place mats
andrea uses place mats instead of table cloths for camping. she says, “this past summer my vinyl camping table cloth wore out and i couldn’t find a replacement that i liked. while in the as-is area at ikea, i found a bin loaded with place mats (possibly from the amulett or hurra range), shrink-wrapped in sets of four for like 95 cents. they are made of a stiff plastic-like material.

i bought a package to use on the picnic table when camping until i found a table cloth. as it turns out, i like them better for camping than table cloths or those floppy vinyl place mats you can get at other stores.
placemat2placemat

they clip into place with a table cloth clip (the silver piece each one has on it in the photos). as you see in the photos, i can re-position them on the table as i need them, so it isn’t a big deal that they don’t cover the whole table. it’s much easier to clean the back side than a table cloth. they are much more durable and they look sooo much nicer than a red-checked table cloth (which i’m not crazy about).”