fitting the cyril computer cabinet for iMac

another hack from aprica, who is also the luxe lack coffee table hacker. this time it's an unintentioned hack due to buyer error.

"i wanted to pass this info along because i doubt that i am the only mac owner to be seduced by the cyril computer cabinet. i am truly of the "AR" measure twice, cut once school but i simply lost my head when i saw the cyril on pages 292-293 of the 2007 ikea catalog. right there was my dream come true, a clean and simple cabinet with room for my iMac G5, printer and desk accessories. the photo in the catalog showed my exact computer.

i measured my underutilized entrance hallway and saw that it would fit perfectly in the space and, when closed, would recede into the background. i quickly purchased the item and remained blissful as i put the unit together. it was the single most difficult ikea item (of many) i've constructed but also one of the coolest. the design is ingenious and the hinges (they're imprinted with the logo "ferrari made in italy"), drawer, and panel are high quality.

my moment of despair came when i had the desk in place and tried to place the computer inside. alas it did not fit - the mac was 1" too high. how could this be, i wondered? i quickly realized that the desk in the catalog was sporting the smaller size iMac not the one i have with a 20".

after some deliberation with my man, we decided to cut a recessed notch across shelf going about 4 1/2 inches deep and extending as far as we could while still leaving the magnetic closure next to the drawer intact. we had to partially take the unit apart to do this.

as you can see in the photos, the computer now fits just fine."

vintage mirrored luxe for lack coffee table

aprica had enough of eyeballing way-too-expensive vintage mirrored tables and took things into her own hands.

"after coveting numerous vintage mirrored tables ranging from $450 to $2500 on eBay and at other online sites, i decided to make my own using a 35" long ikea lack coffee table. while the cost for materials came out close to $200, i am really pleased with the results of my 'luxe' (it's all relative) lack hack.

originally i wanted to replace the included shelf with a glass shelf but in the end liked the simplicity of the parsons style coffee table.

i had the mirrors cut (with sanded edges) at a local shop and adhered them with liquid nails made specifically for mirrors."

frame it in colour

a quick and simple frame hack from fotoron to bring out colours of your photos or wall art.

"i had some prints that i wanted to frame inexpensively. the ribba frames were great, but the matte boards, (like most of the matte boards provided with ikea frames) are not true white. the off-white/cream color doesn't work for most images in my opinion, photographic or otherwise. i was inspired to paint the mattes with basic acrylic paint, which the boards took very well. a simple fix, which i think turned out well."

slim pantry for small kitchen

christine needed a pantry unit to fit between her fridge and door of her kitchen. she also wanted it to align it with the fridge. here's what she did with 2 akurum base units from the ikea kitchen range.

"i could take a high cabinet if it was a little shorter than the standard ones and it would snugly fit against the fridge. instead, i bought 2 akurum base units - one with drawer and one with only shelves.

used the one with drawer at the bottom and flipped the shelf unit on top, fastened with 4 screws. since the usual top has no cover i used one of the shelves in between the units. bonus is that it costs about $100 less than the high cabinet and gives a lot more flexibility on size and configuration."

also see:
> bonde kitchen storage
> freestanding kitchen cabinets
> ivar crate storage system
> gorm pantry

compact computer desk organizer from mini chests

jake's compact computer desk organizer is a neat solution. my desk is not large enough as it is and this little guy leaves a small footprint.

stack all your comms gear on an ikea fira mini storage chest. first, remove the top 2 drawers (which you can now use as penholders) and cut out the back of the chest for the cables to go through.

see more of jake's computer desk organizer.

news: bemz's serendipity slipcovers

if you have ikea sofas but don't want to be stuck with the limited selection of slipcovers, then bemz is the place to go.

Bemz is a Swedish company that designs slipcovers for Ikea sofas and chairs. They recently released a new collection - Serendipity, inspired by Sweden's 18th century Gustavian style.

"We noticed that Rococo themes are definitely in vogue right now, so we invited our designer, Katarina Wiklund, to create an update of traditional Gustavian Swedish designs," says Bemz founder Lesley Pennington. "The new collections are available in 100 percent cotton and a luxurious linen and cotton blend from Belgium."

the collection features rich, opulent, rococo-inspired floral prints and traditional swedish stripes and checks. i like the gustavian flowers on the tomelilla armchair best (pix below). i can imagine it looking really good in my reading nook.

but at €109.89, i have to settle for ikea's slipcovers for the masses for now.
see more of bemz's serendipity slipcovers.

eva's compact ikea kitchen room divider

i love eva b's room. quirky, fun and bursting with personality. her compact ikea kitchen cum room divider really works for me.

"while trying to think up interesting ways of using wasted space in my bedroom and adding a bedsit feel to it, we decided to wonder around ikea. i loved the idea of the varde kitchen, but the practicality of plumbing and the small fridge put that idea out. i then saw the stolmen wardrobe system, poled shelves - perfect for a room like mine. so we bought it with some shelves and poles ... and then saw the gloriously orange bathroom cabinet boxes (can't find the link on ikea website) and added them.

this has made a great room divider and a compact kitchen for my 'bedsit'."

bookcase sliding door hides secret passageway

ooh ... this is cool. nicole's bookcase sliding door that hides an entryway to the bathroom. love the disappearing doorway act.

"my husband and i are installing all sliding doors in our modern remodel. in the den area we have very little wall space for any display area, so we decided to make a bookcase into a sliding door for the 1/2 bath. of course we used ikea, bonde to be exact.

open ...

sesame!

how we did it:

1. we took a standard bonde bookcase and added 4 castors to the bottom.
2. then we added matching birch toe kick from the kitchen dept to hide the castors.
3. next we added some plywood on the back for added stability and stained it a dark walnut to match the stained ikea mirror in the bathroom. we inset a flush pull handle.




4. the last step was to attach the track to the wall and the hangers to the bookcase.



5. accessorize bonde as desired.

definitely easier said then done."

click to see nicole's bookcase sliding door photoset and details.

art up your malma mirror

great looking frames from nici using the malma mirror.

"i am sure i am not the first to art up these plain ol' pine mirrors but a little decoupage of cool papers, shimmery paints, feathers, glass micro beads ... makes them a lot more interesting!"

see other wall decor hacks.

one million stipple side table

this is one hack that made me go "OMG! how did she do it?" i marvel at mia's patience in stipple painting the ikea lack side table. i would have just painted 10 big dots and be done with it.

"i had a blue lack side table that was too plain, so i did a stipple painting on the top surface. this particular design took about 7 hours and each dot is approx. 1/8". my husband guesstimates there to be about a million dots. i have no idea - but it was fun!"

see more of mia's stipple table.

desktop cable box

too many wires and cables snaking on and around your table? niclas from germany gives us a cable box idea to hide them all.

"i used two björken bathroom wall cabinets and mounted them together. the two björkens sit on my desktop and all cables and electrical wires are inside.

as the connecting bottom and top panels were removed the doors will not close properly, so i put in four pins which were included to hold the glass panes and rested the two glass panes over the pins. now the door closes perfectly and you can put more heavy things like an monitor on the cable box.

i put in two multiple sockets to connect all electrical stuff like monitors, lamps, printer, mobile phone charger and notebook charger. in it is also an active usb hub to connect two external hard drives (which are also placed in the björken), an usb web cam, my ipod adapter cable, my printer etc. soon i will build in a 'roll-on usb cable' (pix below, left) so i only have to pull a cable out of the björken to attach to my computer. and when i pull it out of my notebook the cable will automatically roll up.

i also cut a hole on the top side of the cabinet, the accommodate speaker and network cables."

black and red clothespin floor lamp

michael sent me a photo of his tv room and it was instant lust. lots of ikea items in there, go spot 'em. and yes, that's tord boontje's to-die-for "until dawn" curtain panel.

but the thing that really caught my eye is the little lamp on the right. it's made from an ikea floor lamp base and topped with a black ikea lamp shade. the "spine" is from 2 packs of black and red clothespins from ikea. the proportions may seem out, but it totally works for me.

check out the tv room picture on flickr and mouse over the notes. that's the fun bit. also, see this living room picture which is simply awesome.

robin inspired home theatre furniture

cecelia was shopping for furniture to house her new tv set but ended up creating her own.

"i wanted to construct home theatre furniture and needed it to house a 42" plasma tv, a 5.1 amplifier & dvd player, three front speakers and a sub woofer. i went to ikea but none of their tv furniture fitted my needs.

before

spanking new home theatre set

i fell in love with the robin chest with drawers and it inspired me to design my own model. i used six drawers from the robin in the final design.

i also used six kitchen legs and a pair of wall cabinets which i had to cover with the same wood veneer used in the construction of the whole thing."

see more of cecelia's home theatre furniture.

vintage wallpaper for fira boxes

another fira mini chest hack to add to the collection. i really like this one from patty. the vintage wallpaper definitely takes it up a notch.

"i have 5 units that will be bolted into one tall stack. i had thought about papering them all alike but i have decided to finish each one with a different vintage wallpaper.

i should have known this before i started but these wood boxes need a light sealing before papering...duh. i learned on the first one that a light coat of paint or a varnish will make the paper adhere and be smoother."

see more of patty's vintage wallpaper fira mini chests.

hack your own custom built-in shelving

john's hack of an ikea bookcase into a custom built-in.

"the area shown (pix below) is a 1970's southern california wet bar. i cut the cabinet down so i could install a 36" tile counter (used old counter), repainted the cabinets, added ikea pulls, then the book case.

i basically cut up a $39 book case added a few left over dowels and fitted it inside my existing opening. the cabinet below houses a rack of my audio equipment sounds great, looks great."

mini web server cabinet

this one's from robert who tipped me on his web server cabinet project.

"it's a file & web-server that i have built to fit into an ikea galant effektiv cabinet. i wanted a server in the office but i couldn't stand to have another computer around buzzing all day long. so that's how i came up with the idea of hiding the server in one of our ikea galant cabinets we already have in our office.

it's not really a hack but i think it's a pretty cool and unusual way to use a galant cabinet."

view more of robert's web server cabinet.

update: the cabinet is an effektiv with older style doors. thanks, narf.

customizing ikea in an eichler style home

some weekend eye candy from jenny. she sent me a couple of links to this gorgeous update of a 1950's eichler style home by architect mark marcinik, as featured on sunset magazine, north california edition.

this ikea kitchen cabinets (akurum?) gets custom stainless steel sliding doors.

while this amazing bathroom vanity is propped on top of effektiv cabinets. love the blue and white doors.

read the article on the eichler home update, or go view the slide show.

photos by thomas j. story, sunset magazine.

gorm kitchen storage

i've always been fascinated with a larder full of food and enjoy ransacking my friends' kitchens just to see the brands they buy. advertising research, heh. terry's gorm kitchen storage unit had me squinting quite a bit to read those tiny labels.

"i wanted a quick cheap way to fix my food-storage shelving. in order to stack small cans and bottles, i needed to prevent them from falling out the back. on a whim i bought two pieces of 2ft x 4ft pegboard at home depot. (if you can fit a larger board in your car, you can buy 4ft x 8ft pegboard.) there were two kinds of pegboard; this silvery one was cheaper, about $2-$3 each.

amazingly enough, the holes on the pegboard lined up both vertically and horizontally (with one exception, explained below). i attached the board using long screws/bolts and nuts with fender washers (big flat washers with small screw holes) so the screw head wouldn't slip through the pre-drilled shelf hole. the screws need to be long enough to go through the washer, the gorm upright, and the pegboard. the 1-1/4" screws i bought were too short; i had some 2" screws that worked but were a little long. also, here's the only tricky part: that cross brace that aligns the system can get in the way depending on where it is affixed; best to affix it after installing the pegboard, if you have a choice.

trickier still: this is where you discover that you didn't quite get the shelving square when you affixed that cross brace. the very bottom pegboard holes did not quite match the upright holes, but this was due to a slight sideways skew of the shelving.

the cans under the pegboard helped to hold it in place while i installed the screws. voila, finished shelving with two pegboards attached. of course, this could be handled more elegantly with more forethought, but I'm happy with the result - and the cost.

pimp my lamp

hummmlan embellished the kaskad lampshade and grundton floor lamp base into these sweet lamps.

"i like to redo and reuse things. i thought the lamps would be nicer if i 'pimped' them a little. i’ve used small 'mirrors' and some ribbons with beads on them. and just glued them on the lamp shades. easy as that!"

convert a vestby bed frame to a bookcase

andy built this low slung bookcase from his ikea vestby bed frame. great repurposing of old furniture.

"i needed a low, long bookshelf, and was unable to find one to buy, so i decided to do a conversion project with my old bed, and it worked out great!

it was quite simple, and made really efficient use of the materials the vestby was comprised of. pictured below (left) are the six, six-inch long pieces of wood that were the only pieces salvaged from the original vestby (right) that i didn't use in the bookshelf. i used everything else, including all the hardware, and only needed to buy a box of screws to finish the project.

this project was actually quite cost-effective as well. the vestby costs $59 CDN, and the pine itself would cost about $70 to buy at home depot, according to my estimate."