shoe shine

shoes! buying them is a pleasure but housing them gives me a headache. i've toyed with the idea of a pax shoe cabinet but i hate its inelegance. flimsy trones also does not cut it for me. but here's an idea from avid hacker, pk shiu, which may just fit like a sock.

"we bought two ikea magiker short shelves with doors for our entry hall. the original idea was to use those cabinets as secondary storage, while giving us a display space for the entry hall. once we put them up we realized that they are perfect for shoes. the only trouble is that we could use double the shelves. today i found a new shoes rack that is not in their catalog called fran. they fit perfectly in the cabinet, but you need to take one of the doors off temporarily to put them inside." read more here.

related hacks:
> a winning enetri display cabinet
> david's mix and match console

vika wonderful

they say you can tell a lot from a person's workstation. from this you can divine that matt jalbert's a classy, musician/designer type, no nonsence bloke willing to blow big bucks on music and gadgets. okay, so that's a no-brainer.

pseudo divinations aside, this is how matt hacked it, "i like the same legs paired with ikea's vika lauri table top at 46" x 30". the legs attach with one allen bolt; everything is stock ikea. plenty solid, and a perfect match for apple computer's aluminium product designs." read more here. check out his music too.

here's another study table top hack with versatile vika legs.

endearing enetri

when pinky sent me her hack for the enetri unit, i was so distracted by all the cool stuff (the cameras, the tray!) on her display as well as the chic coffee table. while the enetri never caught my eye, it made me do a double take in here. it never looked so good.


pinky writes, "just saw your amazing website and thought i would send my own ikea project. when I moved to an apartment with much higher ceilings all of my stuff seemed ill-proportioned (plus that enetri shelving is rickety and generally irritating!). this is a media center of sorts courtesy of my (i think) discontinued console with the legs removed and the enetri unit screwed to the top. i took out one of the shelves to fit the electronics and covered the remaining ones with drawer liner. i'm pretty happy with it! oh and the sofas visible are also ikea, recovered with cotton duck and ikea curtain."

related hacks:
you may also want to check out this magiker shoe cabinet hack and david's dining room console.

no blues for your greens

pk shiu sent me his plant pot hack that may just rescue your greens from drowning in the rain. it's a neat little physics trick. i do the same to clean my fish tank but never thought of putting it to use with plants. nice one, shiu.

shiu demonstrates his physics with the ikea ps fejo self watering plant pot. "because the pot is self watering, meaning there is a water reservoir in the bottom, there is no drain hole. with a few days of non stop rain, the pot of soil turned into slush. what to do? physics to the rescue. i bought four feet of aquarium pvc flexible tubing/air hose from a pet store. filling it with water first (or you can suck the water into it after insertion), i dug down into the mush/soil and inserted the tube under the top plate of the water reservoir. as long as you keep the outside end of the tube below the pot, gravity from the outside end of the tube will draw the water out."

and there you have it - anti-flood measures. read more here.

this other pot hack involves turning trash cans into planters.

more pixs on 2007 range

after my previous post on ikea's new range, holly of decor8 tipped me on more pixs of the ikea newbies. and what a droolfest it turns out to be. ikea seems to be getting it right this season, after what i personally thought was a rather lacklustre 2006. read more here.

commitment-phobic me loves this modular tylosand sofa. and the hot, hot colour!

more to hack in 2007

caught a sneak peek of ikea's 2007 range in design*sponge. lovely lovely. and that means we hackers can look forward to more hacking options.

frosting my billy cabinet doors was one of the things i've always had in mind to hack. well, guess ikea beat me to that. i can't wait. read more here.

one for the music

when i saw this in audioasylum's forum, it reminded me so much of my dad. and the many afternoons i spent helping him saw and drill to make his audio cabinets. now, it's as easy as driving to ikea.

"just buy an ikea lack side table and screw in some spikes where the legs would have otherwise gone (you can use spike cups if you are concerned about your floor). the table's dimension is just shy of 22x22. these tables are wood veneer over fiberboard and particle board, which sandwich a fiber lattice honeycomb core. as such, the design is that of a rigid, low mass, rapid energy dissipation support & isolation platform. this is a cheap but outstanding tweak. place your favorite cones between your cdp and platform."

sounds good to me. read more here.

other audio visual cabinet hacks:
> a hip mobile music console
> fixing the gaje speaker stand

don't give this the slip

okay, this isn't exactly a hack, it's a business. still, i love the idea of providing ikea customers with options. bemz does beautiful slipcovers made to ikea armchairs, sofas and cushion specifications. the site is a virtual changing room for sexy sofas. click on the swatches and before you can say "klippan!" your ikea sofa gets dressed in different hues and patterns.

hmm ... i hope they soon do quilt covers, bed trims and the like as well.

other living room hacks:
> vince's sliding door turned room divider

going potty

it's surprising where ikea hacks turn up. just goes to show how much the big blue and yellow has infiltrated our lives. anyways, trawling through the www, i found this little gem from gardenweb's forum. it is so simple that i almost want to slap my forehead and say "why didn't i think of that?"

our pot hacker writes, "i bought several small trash buckets from ikea a few years back. they cost 99cents each. i don't remember if i drilled in holes with a makita or stabbed them in with a hot knife--anyway, do add drainage. " ooh, i like the stabbing bit. read more here.

another pot hack:
> pk shiu's anti flood device

a hold up

some of the most useful hacks are the most obvious. eric sent this to apartment therapy, a neat trick to store his electric razor. "i found a simple and cheap solution to free up some bathroom counter space if you have an electric razor. using two baren wall pegs from ikea, i created a simple wall holster for my electric razor."

hack project for under $50

holly becker of decor8 is a crafty one. she recently posted a neat ikea diy. finally, i’ll dust off my old postcards and bring life to my white walls. click for holly’s step by step guide.

have legs will combo

apartment therapy's featured best product is a hack of a countertop-table legs combo. it's sturdier than the fiberboard tabletops. this uses "the vika inge legs by olle lundberg which will only run you $40 and, rather than fiberboard and laminate, skip over to the kitchen section and get the pronomen solid wood countertops which will only run you about $49 and come in multiple lengths and widths." read more here.

ikea everyday fabulous

my bad. i didn't start this blog till june, so i completely missed out on the ikea everyday fabulous exhibit which happened from may 19-23 in new york.

insta-reporter christine capulong reports at apartment therapy, "the exhibit was not about introducing the latest designs ikea had to offer, but rather to show how 'good design could transform the most ordinary day into something spectacular'. it was all about unleashing your creativity and making every day fabulous.

this was Ikea's first exhibit during new york's design week producing an event that was completely inclusive and totally 'unconventional'. according to anders dahlvig, ceo of ikea, the purpose of the exhibit was to showcases 'eye-opening ideas' of products that customers from all over the world love and buy."

way to go, anders. read article and see more pixs here.

ingenious colander water fountain

20' x 30' of billy and books. it's a love affair.

bag this hack

i'll not look at those big ikea yellow (or blue) bags the same again, after this hack from funk-station. two nifty cuts, some sewing and voila, you have a shoulder bag - big and sturdy enough to hold 2 laptops.

"the basic idea behind this hack is to transform a huge inconvenient bag into a small fashionable bag." and who would have thought those big blue plastics could ever be this chic. read more here.

update! if you're too lazy to hack, you can now buy the ikea hack bag here. only 50 available. so no tweedling your toes.

driller thriller

i should have paid better attention at home economics class in my schooling days. alas. ragnheiður osp sigurðardóttir stitches up a first prize in the d*s/fred flare spring spruce up contest. it's almost a pity to have to sit on the lovely motif. but if i do, i'm sure my butt would feel a million bucks. the winner says, "i chose the benjamin stool designed by lisa norinder. it is mass produced and i wanted to make it unique. by drilling holes in it and decorating it with embroidery, each and every stool becomes different and more valuable."

gotta get my drill out now. whirr. whirr. whirr. read more here.

hip ikea music machine

jwrl created a mobile music console i would love to hack. the ikea music hacker writes, "it's an ikea cabinet, a tft arm, a neovo f15 monitor, custom built mobo tray and cooling, wireless keyboard & mouse from labtec but mostly operated with the remote that came with the soundblaster live usb (better looks). intended use: playing mp3's in the kitchen while cooking ;)"

i can already hear steak sizzling to beautiful day. read more here.

other audio visual hacks you may want to hear about:
> how to fix the gaje speaker stand
> audioasylum's clever lack table audio cabinet

divide and conquer

hats off to vince's entry in apartment therapy's smallest coolest apartment 2006 contest. it's ingenious, using ikea's sliding wardrobe doors as an ultra cool room divider. very chic. and so livable that i almost want to move in.

vince writes, "the room divider was created by utilizing aluminum and glass wardrobe doors from an ikea wardrobe system. they slide open to access the sleeping and gym areas. the doors are held in place by tension poles from an ikea shelving system." Brilliant. read more here.

other ways to spruce up your living room:
> custom sofa slipcover from bemz

my top 5 hacks

this is a difficult one. because there are so many nifty hacks.
so, i'll stir the list at the end of every month. and, hopefully, i'll lick the cream.

#5 ikea cam creature

what i like about this is that you'll never know it is ikea. and that it probably took a slightly deranged mind to think of ripping a brum bear apart and harvesting its skeleton for a webcam holder. but did i tell you i like weird?

#4 lack table audio cabinet
a solid audio solution. i should write some blah-blah about form following function, but you know it already.











#3 benjamin stool with motif
here, my girly-ness kicks in. i'm a sucker for motifs. and though this hack is not brilliant, the pretty purples brings me to my knees.



#2 cheap yet chic stair lighting
i like the "out-of-the-christmas-box-thinking". taking electroluminescent wires and lining your stairway with them is way cool. an otherwise drab stairway get an uber cool clubby look.









#1 vince's sliding door room dividers
this blog was part inspired by vince's hi-tech hideout. it was also the first hack i posted. well, you know what they say about first loves. yes, that divider is a thing of beauty.


tags: ikea, favourite hacks

facing hacker's block?
lost for ideas?
or just need a tip or two?

post your questions in the ikeahacker forums and get help from ikeahacker readers. we may not have all the answers but it sure beats trying to figure it out alone.

previous hacker help archive:

1. pimp my boj
2. polish for fiberboard?
3. hacking a two level lack media unit
4. how to paint the trones shoe storage?
5. can i make a multi-fold room divider out of wardrobe doors?
6. need help taking ikea furniture apart
7. can you decipher this ikea word art?
8. need help mounting scavenged lack shelves
9. help! can't find karlanda add-on unit
10. painting the norrebo a shade darker?
11. need help choosing bookcase for heavy books
12. do you have problems ordering ikea online?
13. can i make customised plexiglass sliding doors?

update! i will no longer be accepting hacker help questions via email. kindly post your questions at the ikeahacker forum.

about me

hello! welcome to my blog on ikea hacks.

in may 2006, i did a google search on ikea hacks and saw that there were so many wonderful ideas floating in the www. how great it would be if i could find them all in one place, i thought.

3 seconds later.

a light bulb explodes in my brain and the rest, as they say, rolled out like swedish meatballs. it took me a few nights of sleepless html-ing but i'm happy i did. finally, i am of service to mankind. heh.

besides that, you may interested to know:

> jules is my alter-ego, named after the chair.

> ikea does not pay me to do this.

> i'm single. when hauling ikea flatpacks up to my apartment, i wish i had a man, any man. ;P

> i love decorating and living with creativity.

> i love red. and peanutbutter.

> i also love books. my all time favourite is tuesdays with morrie by mitch albom. i hope to live with as much joy and grace. i'm now working through why work is weird (jerry connor) and blink (malcolm gladwell). mind provoking stuff.

> travel is my other passion. last year i made a trip to australia's great ocean road. i can still smell the sea. my companion of choice is the super-battery-saving canon powershot a70. i hope to upgrade to an a95 soon, mainly because it has a flip out rotating lcd screen.

> and yeah, i'm not all that good with the allen key. really.

i would love to hear from you and share your hack experience, please email me at ikeahacker [at] gmail [dot] com. i will get back to you. in the meantime, happy hacking.