BESTÅ TV Stand Turned Kids Corner

Materials: BESTÅ TV stand, sander, hammer, nails, piece of foam, paint, staple gun, fabric

Description: We purchased a BESTÅ TV stand a few years ago, but when we moved we mounted our TV so we had no need for it.

Here is how it went:

Step 1: We sanded, primed, painted & sealed the TV stand to turn it from wood to a charcoal grey.

Step 2: We painted the inside of the TV stand with chalkboard paint.

Retro Lamp

Materials: Jara shade, Rodd table lamp base

Description: I choose some fabric that I like, decorative cords and extras (like this pendant, or buttons, or other things that you prefer).

For the fabric, I tend to cut it in little pieces and assemble on the shade as for a decoupage work - it's easier to glue all the pieces as a patchwork!

I use fabric glue and hot glue for all the decorations.

Be creative, you can even use old fabrics like pillow cases, aprons, etc.... and little objects you don't want to throw away!

~ Gloria, Italy

IKEA Lack bookcase to bench

Materials: IKEA Lack

Description: Well, my hack was inspired by this site, I just wanted to share the result, as it is my first project :)

Used an IKEA Lack bookcase 1x4 bought from a used furniture local website.

As the shelf was pretty scratched and dark brown, which didn't match anything in my apartment, it needed repainting.

How to: Mount a SAFE floating 2 x 4 EXPEDIT shelf

Materials: 2 EXPEDIT 2 x 2 shelf units,

Description: This is slightly a hack, but more of a work around for those who want to mount an EXPEDIT 2 x 4 shelf on the wall.

The instructions clearly state that you cannot mount a full 2 x 4 bookshelf on the wall (fig. 2). Also, I have baseboards, a power outlet and a phone jack (yes, we still use a LAN line). I wanted the book shelves flush to the wall and not cover up the outlets.

IKEA featuring JBL

Materials: IKEA Bestå, chipboard, JBL 15", basport & Zachry amp

Description: This hack is in the "€noticed but not seen" approach!

I was disappointed of the Sony sub I had and also wanted a very clean installation in my living-room. So an idea grew in my mind and after some calculation I found a great JBL speaker that was able to handle both small boxes and high power, so together with my 400W Zachry that not was used for another project they fitted very well in to the volume of a Bestå shelf.

Small notebook stand

Materials: IKEA STEFAN chair, screwdriver, universal wood saw, rasp, sandpaper (optional)

Description: I decided to make a small notebook stand so that I won't have to sit on my chair stooped as an old man while looking at the screen. It still isn't perfect but it definitely makes a difference. I emphasize that I own a 16" Toshiba notebook! Bear this in mind and before throwing yourself into work with full steam check out whether the size of your notebook actually fits the surface of the backrest! Or modify the instructions according to your needs. I think from the pictures the steps are quite obvious and the whole process should be very easy, however, certain manual skills are required (as with all the hacks). With a little creativity it can be reproduced even without actually seeing the pictures. In the attachment I highlighted with red circles the parts you will need from the chair.

My steps were as follows:

Darth Vader floor lamp and other stuff

Materials: TROGSTA Floor lamp, HEMMA Floor lamp base, solvent printed adhesive foil, acrylic laser cut elements

Description:I've two simple Ikea hacks.

First is a Darth Vader lamp. I use Trogsta floor lamp (around 10$) and solvent printed adhesive foil with gray glue for more dark effect. I stuck the foil on the shade and that's all. 5 mins later I've got a brand new floor lamp.

ODDA and a half

Materials: 2 ODDA wardrobes. Nothing else.

Description: I liked the design of the ODDA wardrobe, but a single one was not enough. My problem was that I have a sloping ceiling so there wasn't enough room for two ODDA's.

My hack consisted in using one and a half out of two wardrobes and combining them into one single unit.

You start by building a normal right half.

Then you have to drill a few 5mm holes to attach the middle shelf of the central part.

The most delicate operation is the shortening of the left side. The panels are hollow and I wanted at clean top edge so I cut the surplus at the bottom and inserted at bit of scrap wood in the void at the bottom.

This panel now needs drilling quite a few new holes because everything has been shifted downwards.

Once the left panel is ready, everything can be assembled like a normal ODDA.

As a side note, what is left over can be assembled into a one-module wardrobe.

My plan is to add an extra compartment with a top-hinged door on top of the right side. This will give a nice staircase effect and more storage at no cost.

~ Finn Bo Jørgensen, Brittany, France

Faux Gator Coffee Table

Materials: LACK table, faux gator upholstery fabric, staple gun, sewing machine

Description: My poor IKEA LACK coffee table has been through a lot. Originally black, I attempted to paint it silver (big mistake), then painted it white, then covered it with a white and gold patterned contact paper. For year€™s I'€™ve wanted to cover it with some sort of reptile skin. I never imagined it would turn out THIS fantastic.

Here'€™s what I did:

A Norden kitchen island

Materials: One Norden item and some Franklin chairs

Description: I was looking for an island in my kitchen which is not separate from the living room.

As I'm not a billionaire, was searching a cheap solution...
As I already have a Norden item from Ikea, the size of it was too small for me, and I wanted it to be able to sit 6 to 8 persons. I also thought it would look better if it was closed at the back.

Invisible flat screen TV suspension on SLOPING wall

Materials: IKEA REDD shoe rack

Description: Unfortunately the REDD shoe rack is out of production now, but there must be thousands of them out there...
1. Cut off the folded edge at the bottom of the shoe rack with an angle grinder or hacksaw.
2. Cut off the corners (e.g. in an angle of 45o) on the part that will be placed on the sloping wall. This will make the suspension even more €œ"invisible".
3. Find/buy 4 bolts that fit into the mounting holes on the back of your TV. Be sure that they have the right length.
4. Place the shoe rack on the backside of your TV and determine where to place the four bolts. (see picture) Be sure that the top of the shoe rack is placed so it cannot be seen from the front of the TV - but also so the top edge of the TV does not touch the sloped voila!
5. Precisely mark the spots for the 4 bolts and use your drilling machine..
6. Find the right place on the sloping wall for your TV and place the shoe rack there. Use some appropriate screws to fix the shoe rack on the wall. You might have to drill 2-3 extra holes for some screws "€œbehind" the big holes in the top of the front of the shoe rack. Be sure that the wall is strong enough for the weight!
7. Now you are ready to fix the TV on the shoe rack... and you will see it "€œsoar" in the room.

~ Leif Sønderby, Harlev, Denmark

Bathroom bookcase

Materials: Billy bookcase, Kvissle organizer

Description: I redecorated my bathroom with all new Ikea products but the one that was hacked was the Billy bookcase. I wanted something that spaced the sink from the wall just enough and would also align with the sink/cabinet. The only thing I found was the bookcase. I also wanted it to float with the sink cabinet but align with the window frame.

Stealing Space From the Outside

Materials: PAX Clothes Closet + Sliding Doors

Description: Our Eichler Kitchen pantry was not big enough nor did we have space to add a bigger one.

We stole space from the outside. So - opened up a wall - pushed a PAX Clothes Closet with Sliding Doors through the opening - added Ikea pull out kitchen drawers - put a window on top - then enclosed the outside of the closet with cinder block.

~ mike graff, san jose

Antilop children bike adapter

Materials: Antilop chair, 3 wheels bike

Description: Take an Antilop chair, remove the legs, fix it to the bottom of the rear basket of a 3 wheel bike, child facing rear side.

Remove the basket's rear side. You are ready to enjoy country rides with your child in security (don't remove the original belt :)

~ Antoine Le Villain, Bozcaada, Turkey

Malm bed ledge hack

Materials: Malm Queen size Bed x 2, L brackets

Description: I wanted a bed ledge, but I didn't need Malm's existing slide out storage (or want to spend that much, and I like to reuse/re-purpose). I wanted a ledge the same length as my Malm Black/brown queen bed, and none of Ikea's ledges or occasional tables had the right dimensions or colour match.

A bowl becomes a dome

Materials: Blanda bowl, door knob

Description: A small burrow was made very slowly by a drill into the middle of the bowl's bottom for the knob. Good idea, minor hacking.

See more of the Blanda dome.

~ Kiki, Hungary

How to: Create a personalised picture with Lack and decal

Materials: Lack

Description: I have an old LACK side table from IKEA that I no longer use.
My sister-in-law wanted me to make her something personal and from the heart. That is when I realized that I could do something fun with the old table.

1. I made a personal picture using Illustrator. I then send it to Parts of Sweden and let them print a furniture decal for me. They already have lovely decals so you don't have to know how to use Illustrator. You can choose between all the Disney motifs and many more.

The romantic Holmö

Materials: Holmö floor lamp, two types of fabric and my sewing machine

Description: I had a broken Holmö floor lamp from Ikea, the paper was torn by the kids playing and was looking awful ind my living room. I had spent months looking for at new lamp in a different design (WITHOUT paper) but simply couldn't find one matching my furniture and style like the model of this one.

I do a lot of DIY projects in my home and use my sewing machine on a regular basis so I figured out it should be possible to recreate the shade somehow. So out in the fabric store I found myself some grey cotton and some beautiful grey lace. I went home, tore the broken paper of the two round metal pieces that were supporting the shade in top and bottom.

Measured out the fabrics and cut the two different fabrics in the same size.
Then I made a seam down the body of the shade and sewed the round metal pieces into the shade in the top and bottom.

Installed the shade back on the lamp, took a grey satin band and tied it around the top, finished it with a bow, and voila, the most beautiful lamp I have ever had :) (the picture is unfortunately not shown with its satinband and bow, it makes a big difference)

~ Charlotte Mølgaard, Aarhus, Denmark

Simple But Effective Occasional Table

Materials: Lack Shelf, Vika Adils Legs

Description: A very simple hack. I didn't like the Malm occasional table (or the $130 price tag) so I built one for $34. I combined the 74" Lack Shelf with 4 Vika Adils legs. I have the low headboard Malm, for the high headboard the Vika Kaj legs would be better.

Freestanding it's not the most stable but behind the headboard its solid as a rock, it is about 1/2" lower than the headboard which provides a nice lip to keep items from falling on your head.

~ Matt Hannan, Wheat Ridge, CO

Oh my deer!

Materials: Ung Drill, deer heat, wallpaper, spray paint, oval wooden plate

Description: Make a contemporary deer.
You don't need the glass and background of the Ung drill.
I spray painted the Ung Drill. And made a new background out of plywood. Because the cardboard is not strong enough to hold the deer head.

Glue the wallpaper on the plywood place in the frame and mount the deer head on the plywood. And it's finished.

See more of the Ung Drill deer head.

~ Lynn Ruisendaal-Bosch, The netherlands

Mammut Retro Arcade Cabinet

Materials: Mammut Children's Shelf Unit

Description: About a year ago I bought an X-Arcade Tankstank, a pro-quality joystick designed mainly for playing retro arcade games. The joystick itself was fine, but playing with an arcade stick on the sofa didn't feel right, so I set about creating a more arcade-like experience.

I didn't have the time, space or budget for a full replica arcade machine, but what I did have was a spare 32-inch LCD TV, so I set about finding a piece of furniture that could house it.

The unit had to be sturdy and it had to fit in with the look of our summer house, which is basically a room for my three year old son. When I saw the Mammut shelf unit in IKEA it seemed like the perfect thing.

LACK/MONGSTAD/BESTÅ bar

Materials:
IKEA BESTÅ shelf unit (201.021.54)
IKEA BESTÅ shelf unit (501.021.57)
IKEA BESTÅ black glass top panel (901.965.35)
IKEA BESTÅ VARA glass door (701.785.80) x2
IKEA INREDA drawer without front (901.812.23)
IKEA BESTÅ… VARA drawer front (501.473.73)
IKEA INREDA bottle rack (901.965.21) x2
IKEA INREDA mirrored glass shelf insert (501.965.42)
IKEA DIODER LED light strip set (501.923.65)
IKEA MONGSTAD mirror (000.815.91)
IKEA LACK wall shelf (401.037.51)
The Container Store oak undercabinet stemware rack (390040) x3

Description:
After spending over a month shopping around for bar furniture and not finding any one piece that was "just right," we resolved to hack together our own. We had started off thinking about doing another EXPEDIT bar, but after walking around the IKEA showroom, inspiration struck and we put together this LACK/MONGSTAD/BESTÅ bar.

We assembled the BESTÅ shelf units and put them together to form a three-wide unit. Before doing anything else, we realized we had to put in the DIODER lights because we wouldn't have any other way to do so once it was wall-mounted. We put a hole in the middle unit where the drawer would later be so that we could string through and hide the lighting control in the drawer. The shelf units with lights were mounted on the wall with the top about waist high.

ALANG Wireless Bedroom WakeUpLight

Materials: Ikea Alang, Ikea Sparsam (Dimable), Philips HUE, Philips LivingWhites

Description: I wanted to have a way to turn on my bedroom lighting, Ikea ALANG at the ceiling and two Philips LivingColors behind the bed, when it was time to get up in the morning.

Having a Wireless Zigbee network at home to control my lighting I was looking for a way to make my Ikea ALANG bedroom fixture Zigbee enabled. I had some spare Philips Zigbee plugin units laying around and looked for a way to join the two.

Hacker help: TYLÖSAND sofa head rest

Materials: TYLÖSAND sofa

Description:
Dear IKEAhackers,
Once my boyfriend and I were living on our new rented flat and the first time we sat on the ikea TYLÖSAND sofa (it's included on the apartment and we can't swap it) to watch a film we knew we have a problem because the sofa is placed on the middle of the living room with no wall behind it and it's not possible to rest the head unless you are practically lying down.

This problem becomes worst because my boyfriend is quite tall and also he has backache frequently, so we are been thinking about it for a month. What can we done in order to transform the TYLÖSAND sofa on a more ergonomic sofa?

Our first idea was to find or to order a new and bigger cushions but after we think cushions are very soft to rest the head and they will bend back as there is nothing hard holding them.

Now I'm thinking about to order a metal tube structure which can be placed between the original structure and the original cushions, but I don't have idea about how to do that, so, would you mind to help us to fix it? I miss the TV Sunday afternoons :(

Many many thanks in advance for your time and your help.

Best regards,

~ ana, Madrid, Spain

BEKVAM BAM BAM

Materials: BEKVAM Stool, PEXTO blacksmiths stake plate, electric drill, w 1/4" countersink bit, Electric Sabersaw w wood blade, 1/4"x2" carriage bolts & washers (x3)

Description: Creating a solid, yet portable base for anvils and stakeplates is a difficult challenge. Making those look *good* is even harder to solve, so while this IKEA-Hack is actually commonplace among blacksmiths, ferriers, metal-artisans and the renaissance re-enactor crowd, it's going to seem a little 'niche' for the rest of us.

1. Procure and assemble a BEKVAM Step Stool from IKEA (Article Number: 601.788.87).

2. Take your handy household stake-plate (PEXTO is a good brand) and lay it on the top of the bench. Measure and mark the holes.

MÖRKT Tea Light Lantern Goes LED

Materials: MÖRKT Lantern, Flexible LED Ribbon, 12 Volt Battery Pack, and a 2-Position Rotary Switch

Description: So to start off, I needed to drill a few holes into the lantern, 1st in the base for the installation of the rotary switch, and 2nd through the tea light tray to run leads into the hollow open base.

Next I cut the flexible LED ribbon just long enough to fit inside the tea light tray. Doing so gave me access to wire the LED to the switch and the battery pack that would store in the hollow base.

Cat Hack - cat tower & scratching post

Materials: Stolmen

Description: Inspired by earlier hacks (such as this) we decided to hack IKEA for our cat, Billy.

We live in a rather small apartment and wanted him to use the height of the apartment as well, so that his living space is optimize (especially since cats love high viewing points). We bought the Stolmen Post and Mounting Fixtures at IKEA, went to a DIY shop and bought: plywood, paint, glue, doormats and rope. Additionally we uses extra bolts and such, I think the photos say enough.

Worthy Mentions of 2012

Though they did not make my shortlist but I love these amazing hacks as well. They are among the most interesting, functional and well-crafted in 2012. Hope you like them as much as I do. Here goes:

Condo Perfect baby changing table - collapses to hide behind a door, flips open for a full sized changing table.

Lack shelf into coffee table - Great new use of the ubiquitous shelves. And nothing is wasted.

Besta photobooth - Out of the box, out in the field. And it takes photos.

Expedit reshuffled - Just a little tweak but it made the Expedit so much more gorgeous.

LEGO dining table - Two of my favourite brands together. Love, love.

A serious table for kids - Adjustable table for the would-be Frank Lloyd Wright.

Customised glass splashback - Kitchen magic from Rationell glass shelves and wallpaper.

Remove control storage Lack - A hack every home seriously needs.

Blanda Matt sings - Sexy speakers with all the right curves.

Work in a Box - Opens into a workstation, closes to hide everything.

Mandal LEGO storage - A fabulous storage system and so easy to do.

Space age TV - Because I love The Jetsons.

We have it! The KNUFF transformable coffee table is the IKEA Hack of 2012

Updated: 20 Jan
The votes are in and a big congratulations to imchaser, creator of the Knuff transformable coffee table! It was a clear winner with 25% of votes, while the Frosta X came in second with 14% and the  Expedit extension next with 13% of votes. The Trunk Bar edged over the Karlstad sofa for fourth place with just 2 votes. What a close fight.

Thank you everyone who voted and made your choice known. Like one commenter said, we did have a bounty of good hacks in 2012 and it was a tough to choose just one. In the end, the originality and creativity of the Knuff hack won the day. Kudos, imchaser.

Prezzies! Yay!
Bragging rights aside, the winner gets to play with PANYL and their hundreds of colors and organic, life-like woodgrains.

The winner gets a choice of either:
a) A fully customized ODDA 3-drawer dresser (including the actual chest, which be will prePANYL for the winner using their newest custom "HackPack" concept. (This prize would be USA only).

b) $200 in PANYL gift certificates, which could be used towards merchandise and global shipping at PANYL.com.

If you're unsure what PANYL is, check out their website.

Till next year!