Expedit Paper Trays

Materials: Screws/ extra Expedit shelves

Description: I was looking at paper trays because im always getting the printer/copy paper mixed up. I looked online for cheap plastic ones thinking they would be $1 a piece but the cheapest i could find was $3-4 so I decided to make my own which I think looks better anyway.

1) in one of the open cubical I drilled 2 screws on each side at every 3.5".

2) I rested the extra shelf on top of the screws.

Whalla

~ Thomas Hart, USA

EXPEDIT wardrobe with plants

Materials: Wxpedit, Dampa, Bigarra, Ikea plants

Description:
1) Assemble 4x4 EXPEDIT with only one vertical row of shelves on the left and without the bottom.
2) Before adding the right vertical panel put in two screws that stand out half an inch to hold the DAMPA curtain rod.
3) Cut the rod to the right size, put it in place, add the right panel.
4) Add three EXPEDIT inserts with doors on the left.
5) Add the plants in BIGARRA pots on top.

Assembling it is faster than assembling the whole Expedit.

This wardrobe is great to create a semi-transparent division between entrance and living room.

~ imaia, Vancouver

Expedit Baby Closet

Materials: 2x8 and 4x4 Expedit shelves, white

Description: We have very limited space and really small closets in our home, so I came up with an idea to utilize vertical space for baby clothes.

We already had the 2x8 Expedit, so this hack only cost around $40 for the new 4x4 unit, closet rod and rod holders.

We simply put the 4x4 Expedit together leaving out the inner shelving, and installed a closet rod. The 2 units aren't attached to each other, but I did use those gummy sticky dots for stability in addition to the wall mounting hardware included with the Expedit.

~ Valerie Foster, Phoenix, AZ

Expedit Bar

Materials: Expedit, Capita, Lack

Description: Just screw the LACK wall shelf with CAPITA brackets on an EXPEDIT room divider.

Ready for the next cocktail party :-)

~ Eva, Leverkusen, Germany

Sofia Stripes on an Expedit Shelf

Materials: Expedit shelf, Sophia fabric

Description: It was super basic- I just trimmed some $.99/yard Sophia striped fabric to the size of the Expedit shelf.

I temporarily taped the edges of the fabric onto the back of the shelf to figure out where I needed to cut holes for the cords of the printer, modem, xbox, etc.
After the holes were neatly cut, I simply used hot glue to affix the fabric to the back of the shelf, keeping the fabric stripes in line with the lines of the shelves.

I then trimmed the edges so that it does not stick out from behind the shelf.

See more of the striped Expedit back.

~ Laura, South Carolina

Cat Activity Center/Sleep Center

Materials: Ikea Expedit Bookshelf, carpet scraps, sisal rope, cat beds, toys, velcro, staples

Description: A while back, I saw a photo of an old bookshelf converted into sleeping compartments for cats at a cat rescue. It was old and dirty, but I thought it was brilliant. Sooo- I had the idea to buy a 4x2 Ikea Expedit bookshelf to convert into an entire Cat Activity Center. The beds, toys and scratchers are held to the shelves with industrial strength velcro so I can replace individual items as they wear out.

The carpet and sisal are attached with staples. I had two extra spaces when I was done, so I added some regular rope for them to play with and some self-grooming brushes. As you can see, the center is a hit with my cats (I volunteer as a foster for a cat rescue).

The best part, I got the Expedit second-hand from a neighbor, so the whole thing was MUCH cheaper than those cat trees you buy at the pet store.

~ Susanne Campbell-Vincent, La Habra, CA, USA

Secret Passage and Fort for Kids Using Expedit Bookcase and Desk

Materials: Expedit

Description: I recently redid my little boy's room. Like everyone, we didn't want to spend a lot of money, yet wanted something that would last into his teenage years.

We decided to purchase the Expedit bookcase and desk since they would grow with him.  When he's an adolescent, he'll actually be able to use the desk as a desk, but while he's a toddler, the bookcase serves as a
toy/book organizer as well as a secret passage into his fort which is actually the area under the desk.

To create the fort, I took a shower curtain rod and a sheet to make the curtain that hangs under the desk. We added a rope light for a few bucks underneath and our little man loves it.

~ Amy W.

Buffet Expedit

Materials: EXPEDIT / EXPEDIT ACCESSORY / GLIRA

Description: I took a "16 boxes EXPEDIT", and turned it to a buffet. I didn't put the 2 top racks on their places but I replaced them in other boxes (photo #1) with cleats (#2) to create smaller compartments where I can arrange CD or other stuff.

On the top, the left large place became a bar (#3). I just added a metal part (covered with adhesive wood grain) (#4 & #5) on one of the door to fill the hole (#6). Change the doorknobs into GLIRA and that's it!

~ Noëlle, Bourg en Bresse, France

A lamp made of .... EXPEDIT

Materials: Expedit

Description: The pictures are of our house, where we were searching for a long time to find a celling lamp to fit the style and size of the main living room.

Finally we used the EXPEDIT shelf!

I put some wires and bulb sockets inside, and then screwed the shelf directly to the ceiling (Oufff! Not easy, you need 2-3 people for that).

Then using small shelf supports left over from another furniture, I installed milk coloured plastics to hide electric installation and make the light softer.

Finally my wife painted it to a grey colour (was white) to fit the room colours.

LOOKS and WORKS GREAT !!!

~ Joanna and Pawel

Unexpected advent calendar

Materials: Expedit, Kraft paper, Scotch tape, red paper

Description: This is an advent calendar unexpected (25 days) we did in our agency for our audience/clients.

Find below the instructions to make it.

1- Buy an Expedit
2- Cut out squares of paper
3- Print and cut the figures
4- Stick figures
5- Arrange the gifts in boxes
6- Hang the squares with scotch tape
7- Play day by day


See video of the advent calendar.

~ Agence nu, Paris

Bookcase with scratching post and hammock

Materials:Expedit Bookcase, LACK Wall shelf, Shelves Carriers, Material from an old scratching post

Description: I took an Expedit bookcase and a LACK wall shelf to create a storage cabinet which also functions as a cat playground.

~ Siebrenna

EXPEDIT board in IKEA sale corner to a nice coffee table in my home

Materials: 1PC - EXPEDIT Board AUS$19, 2 Pack of EKBY BJÄRNUM Bracket 9, 2 Pack of $15.00/2 pack, 8 Pcs screw nuts that suit the thickness of the board (Not included with bracket), 4 Pcs of metal nuts from EKBY BJÄRNUM Bracket

Description:

1. Turn the board upside down.

2. Attach EKBY BJÄRNUM Bracket with the screws in to each corner of the board (flat chrome side face out).

3. Screw in the metal nuts that come with the EKBY BJÄRNUM Bracket to the hole that appear on one side of EXPEDIT Board to cover it up.

~ Kanya, Melbourne

"Minibar" Ikea Style

Materials: Expedit, Dioder, Hutten, Rill

Description: I wanted to have a small bar inside my living room.

So I decided I take a 2x2 Expedit in white, sawed a "Hutten" down to only 6 bottles, they fit now perfectly inside the Expedit. Painted them white for a better match.

Used Rill at the base of the Expedit for easy moving.

For the nice lighting I used a white backboard from a hardware store, lifted it about 1 cm and montaged a Dioder for lighting.

~ Daniel Ottenberg, Cologne Germany

Expedit entertainment center with a colorful twist

Materials: Expedit 4x2 bookcase, Lack wall shelf, 4 capita legs, Annamoa fabric, 2 Kassett boxes, 4 dowel rods, fabric tape

Description: This is a combination of previously seen hacks with a twist. We went with the standard Expedit bookcase turned on its side, with a Lack wall shelf on top supported by Capita legs. We added two Kassett boxes to store the Wii and XBox360 games and controllers.

This was all great until our 8 month old started exploring and becoming more curious about the video game systems and boxes. So we needed a way to keep her out.

So we picked up some Annamoa fabric and some dowel rods. We drilled some holes about a half-inch from the top and bottom of each opening and ran dowel rods through the holes. We then cut the fabric with an extra 1.5 inches on the top and bottom. The excess fabric was folded over and "hemmed" with the fabric tape creating a loop for the dowel rods to run through. once the dowels and fabric panels were in place, we added some hot glue to the outer holes to keep the dowels in place.

To open the "panel doors" simply slide the fabric left or right. The fabric is a little stiff to start, but should loosen up over time. A nice side-effect is that the XBox360 controllers will work without having to slide the panels to the side.

In the end, we added eight "doors" to the unit for a total cost of about $25. Much cheaper and more attractive than other "door" options.

~ Cork Gaines, Texas

Expedit random shelving hack

Materials: Expedit

Description: When my wife and I walked into a swanky expensive design shop here in Lund, Sweden there was a shelving unit that had random heights for each shelf. Very cool but way out of the reach of our budget. See pic on left.

(By the way, this was a year or so ago and only yesterday after the hack was done did a friend of mine take a look and tell me Ikea now do something similar! You can imagine my sigh but at least ours is 'bespoke'!).

Anyway, first off I always thought our original 5 unit Expedit just dominated the living room and so the seed of either replacing or chopping it up has been there for a long time.

In my opinion they look great if left in a room with lots of space not butted up against a wall in a small space.
So the main problem was all our picture albums were the wrong size for the original spaces and the various bits of cool items to display just invariably get stuff piled in with them.

Clutter, clutter,clutter! Unless you have some kind of design OCD. Essentially, not very practical.

So, I measured the size of the items I wanted to display, then disassembled the Expedit. I moved the whole lot outside and started cutting the horizontal sections- first with a circular saw then I switched to a jigsaw as the plastic on the shelves would chip and crack too much with the circular blade.

As with the inspiration picture I wanted something that felt random but still in some way structured.

These are the steps I did - sorry for the lack of pictures. It was a blinding hot day and I couldn't find the camera till late in the day...

1. The full final width was only 90cm to fit the chosen space in our living room, so this was the first cut on the top and bottom pieces.
2. I divided up the horizontal shelves into 5 piles and cut each pile in different widths. Some at 7cm, 9.5cm and others at 22.5cm and 25cm.
3. I laid the side section of the Expedit down flat on two stands attached the base section to form an L shape.
4. Then I started drilling holes for the dowling rods in the newly cut shelves and also in the side section.
5. Generous application of wood glue then set the vertical 9.5cm shelves in place. Though when finished will be horizontal.
6. Placed the long (once again will be vertical in the end) section on top of the shelves with wood glue and nailed each shelf in place.
7. Continued with the next level of shelves - this time the 25cm, followed by the 7cm and so on.
8. When the 5 levels were complete I put on the other large side piece and then the top section.
9. I screwed in some L brackets on the main inner corners to strengthen the whole frame.
10. Done and then with the help of my father-in-law, rotated the whole thing 90 degrees upright and voila! Job done and then lifted it into the front room.

My wife came home and was well happy!
WIN!!!

~ JC, Lund, Sweden