IKEA Joxtorp – let it shine!

ikea joxtorp hack

Why don’t I just get the Joxtorp from Ikea (costs $5) until I find the perfect lamp, I was over it being so dark. So up when the Joxtorp and wow, I actually really liked it. Hubby like it too… score.

But then night came around… and the chair turned into the interrogation chair. Why? Well this lovely Joxtorp is cardboard (!) and no light can escape it except for at the bottom, so all the light was flooding the chair. It looked like an old movie jail scene with the bad guy sitting in a chair the light shining down on him while being asked “where were you on the night of October 23?” Humm… what to do?

Then I had an idea. A brilliant idea. A horribly, awful, brilliant idea! Why don’t I cut triangles into the lamp and cover the holes with vellum, then the light can escape. “It could be awesome. It could not work and suck. It was $5 – where is my exact-o knife!”

Here is what I did and what you will need

You will need the Joxtorp lamp from Ikea and a hanging cord, exact-o knife, waxed sandwich bags, hot glue gun, pencil, ruler and patience. Take the lamp apart (or before you put it together) and take one piece at a time and place upside down on a cutting mat. Measure 3/4″ of an inch away from all the score marks and draw lines to create the triangles. (You need to do a minimum of 3/4″ because the tabs used to hold it together will still be hidden). Cut out all the triangles and repeat on all 6 pieces. Yes this takes some time, but it is easy.

Next grab your waxed sandwich bags and carefully slice off the top pieces, not the side with the seam, and be very careful not to crinkle the paper. Grab your hot glue gun and carefully and slowly glue each triangle into place. Then trim the waxed paper to just the edge of the hot glue using the exact-o knife. – Repeat 29 more times.

ikea joxtorp with triangle windows

Assemble the lamp as the instructions say, hang and ta-da! Totally geometric hanging lamp that emits a beautiful light at night and looks pretty amazing during the day too!

See complete tutorial here.

~ Molly Eleen