Cat climbing shelf in one compact Billy

Cave Lion fashions a fantastic Billy Cat climbing shelf. It looks pretty easy to do too. Looks fun!

"I made an Ikea hack of my own a few weeks ago and thought you'd like to share it too. The shelf is made from a 40cm wide Billy shelf and it cost only 15€ (the shelf was a bit damaged at the store but it suited our purpose fine) and 5€ for the carpet (so that it's not slippery). We also added a few corner irons and bolted the shelf to the wall so it wouldn't fall when our cats play in it. ...

Bedside lamp and shelf

Bo salvage a ceiling lamp and converts it into a bedside lamp.

"I had this old ceiling lamp that I don't remember the official Ikea name for and I think its been discontinued. And my bedside shelf didnt have any nice place for a lamp but i liked the dome shape of that ceiling lamp. Problem was if you looked at it from any other angle than it was supposed to be looked at - from below ....

19" server cabinet from Lack with Vika Curry legs

Matthijs, inspired by the simplicity of the LackRack(.org) hack, decides to create something a bit more practical for everyday office use, made by three stock Ikea products plus some regular stuff from the local hardware shop.

For instructions please click here. The page is in Dutch but it is pretty self-explanatory.

Make your own Ikea doll houses

Ikea is the new mini. Mini doll houses that is. I love these two Ikea doll houses and the dolls too!

Variera is the room

Chris throws out the veggies on the Rationell Variera shelf insert and brings in the minis. The Variera pattern makes a terrific "textured wall". And the toy kitten is just too cute.

Super easy kid's table hack

Nicole cuts the Ingo down to size for her kids.

"We really wanted a kid's art table, but we werent satisfied with the kids tables sold at Ikea... way too small for 2 kids plus art supplies. Instead, we sawed the legs down on a cheap Ingo table to coffee table height...which is perfect height for the Ikea kiddie chairs.

Ikea ad campaign

Since we are on the subject of thesis, here's another one from Carmen, a recent graduate from the Ontario College of Art & Design Advertising programme. For her project, she whipped up a repurposing catalogue and some cheeky ads too. Now, why didn't I have so much fun at school?

She says, "For my final thesis project, I did a made up advertising campaign about repurposing and Ikea was my client. During my public grad show, and many portfolio interviews, everyone told me I should do something with it. So I figured, why not ikeahacker.

Ikea tents in Haiti

Not quite a hack but Carmen highlights the situation in Haiti and how Ikea tents were used as temporary shelter by the La Maison des Anges in Tabarre, Port au Prince.

She writes, "Basically, as you know several orphanages found themselves in the streets after the earthquake and for 5 or 6 days, 40 kids at La Maison des Anges in Tabarre, Port au Prince, slept in Ikea play tents in a courtyard, before they got proper Red Cross tents."

The rains are about to pour but the debate is still going on ...

Do a Panna?

Over at Apartment Therapy, the good folks came out with an idea on turning the humble (and cheap) Tullsta into a designer Tokujin Yoshioka Panna chair. Batting, moving blankets and a staple gun may be all you need to replicate your own. What do you think?

Toothbrush cup nightstand

Fancy some reading and a glass of water before turning in but have no space for a nightstand? Here's a simple solution from Angela.

"It's not so much a hack but rather a creative misuse of an Ikea product. When I remodeled our bedroom last year, I realized that there wasn't enough room left for nightstands.

However, we do tend to get thirsty during the night and I just love to read a couple of pages before falling asleep. To solve our problem ...

Ikea snow boots

The blue bag halter dress must have inspired some to put the scissors to the hardy bag. Here's a raincoat featured on the Ikeahacks group on Instructables. (We have some amazing projects there, don't forget to check it out.) And now, we have snow boots!

Megan faced over two feet of snow in Pittsburgh and no snow boots for Superboy. That's when Ikea hacking creativity kicked in. The boots are not what you'll wear on a regular basis but for the little emergency, it did the trick.

"Unfortunately, my son's snow boots and pants were left at his nursery school.  My husband created waterproof snow boots/leggings out of an ikea bag and packing tape.  The key was using the bottom corner of the bag for the toe (these are over my son's sneakers) then wrapping around his legs and securing with tape."

Ikea chalkboard magazine box

Here's one from Jackie of Lovehome.co.uk. Notches up the "organisationability" (well, you know what I mean) of the wooden magazine box.

"At Lovehome.co.uk, we've come up with a cute way of hacking Ikea's wooden Knuff magazine storage boxes (£2.99 each) to make them both pretty and practical. Perfect for neat-freaks everywhere who like to organise and reorganise their magazine collections without resorting to annoying sticky labels."

See more of the Knuff chalkboard magazine box.

A dash of colour for the Samtid

Linda adds zest to the Samtid.

"I bought a Samtid lamp with a white shade that didn't looked good in front of my white wall. So I decided to hack the lamp. The new shade is made of transparent polycarbonate 1mm thick. I made it a little bit bigger than the original. I fixed the shade with bolts and nuts. For the colour effect I bought felt, added buttons and wrapped it around the shade. I made some more felt wraps in different colours to change! That's it, very easy and fast hack!"

The cherry blossom lantern

With Chinese New Year just roaring in in just a few days, this seems apt. This one's from Joey.

"Here's the Ikea hack I did on the Regolit lamp! I needed a soft glowy light source for the corner of my sitting room, but it has got to be cheapest possible, since we are on a budget....and it's t.i.g.h.t...so I remembered this lantern from Ikea.

Gorm unit parakeet habitropolis

Victor and Rachel, inspired by the winning hamster home, hacks a cage for their parakeets.

"The Hamster House inspired this hack.  We had an abundance of Gorm shelving units and were tired of the look of our traditional bird cage - Blue and Cheesy.  Although the original cage was large, it was not the ideal amount of room.  Our birds, Hamilton and Edith, fly around our apartment on a daily basis when ever we are home (supervised of course) but spend the working hours cooped up.  We wanted to give them a chance to spread their wings when they could and have more diverse perches and toys to play with.

Kitchen work station

Courtney goes to work and help hacked a kitchen work top from Lack side tables.

"My brother and sister-in-law moved into a larger apartment last month, an apartment with a much bigger kitchen, but still very little cabinet/counter space. Thankfully there was an empty wall to utilize for an ikea hack.

We bought four lack side tables and found an approx. 5 feet long counter top in the 'as is' section at Ikea...

Side chairs into mid-century-ish club chairs

Tim gives a new mid-century twist to these side chairs.

"I'm not sure what the Ikea name for these side chairs is, but they were old and wobbly and the back legs were breaking off. I made a simple base out of 2x10's and used the original arms from the ikea chair as a curvaceous way to hold up the back and keep it strong. My wife, Susan, stitched up ...

Play kitchen from Benno TV unit

Nadine made a play kitchen for her daughter, Katharina, over Christmas. Here it is.

"We wanted to make a kitchen for our daughter. The basic is a Benno TV. We used many things from Ikea - I do not know all the names but everybody who likes Ikea will know the things.

Bathroom shelves into a pot rack

A massive pot rack from Dave.

"I built a pot rack from Ikea bathroom shelves. Took 2 shelves, assembled them, flip them upside down, build a oak box around them, fasten them to oak frame with both a screw in the lower flange (what would have been the top flange).

Also added a top and bottom brace inside the oak frame for support, then attach to the ceiling with eyebolts into the ceiling joists attached to wire and turnbuckles. It was a great simple project. I added the Ikea hooks to hang pots underneath as well."

Related hacks:
- Omar pot rack
- Stolmen vertical pot rack

Molger Cabinet and Bygel rail for the bathroom

Here is another two from Jari B. This time it's his bathroom.

Molger Cabinet: Two pieces for the price of one.

"I purchased this now discontinued Molger cabinet, for the sole purpose of removing the sliding mirror from it and using it as my bathroom mirror. I'd been looking everywhere for a new mirror, and this was the one.

Borris mat modular carpet squares

Jari B needed carpets and found a cheap solution using Borris door mats.

"I needed some kind of floor covering for the kitchen area in my tiny apartment, and having recently moved, I'm on really tight budget at the moment. My kitchen is right near the entryway, so it's also serves as a high traffic area. I wanted something durable, perhaps indoor/outdoor, washable, and that could withstand the abuse of high traffic and the occasional kitchen mishap.

Lab bench from kitchen cabinets

Ikea has been trying to beef up use of their products in offices for some time now. So, am glad to see it happening. Chris and his team hacked a freestanding lab bench that looks custom built.

"I have been doing stuff like this for years at home and work and am glad that it is being showcased. I work for a product development company called Daedalus - we develop a lot of medical, lab and safety equipment for all kinds of companies. As part of our development work, we often need to perform research or functional testing on the equipment we design so we built ourselves a dedicated testing lab/room.

Fret not, use an Ikea pencil

FloMac, Caroline and Maria tip me on this hack seen on There, I Fixed It.

FloMac says, "I've just seen this hack, it's like a Lapicientos hack!"