Hacker Help: Varde Base Cabinet into an Breakfast Bar Island

Materials: Varde Base Cabinet, Countertop TBD

Description: I moved into a small apartment and am in need of more storage and counter space. I decided that a kitchen island with storage and 2 overhands would be best so it could double as my kitchen table and desk area.

I am planning on buying the Varde base cabinet: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/30158391 and installing a counter on top.

My question is, since the Verde is not attached to the floor, do you think it could withstand a countertop with an overhang on the back and right side? My concern is that if you are sitting on the long side of the bar that if you put pressure on the overhang that the unit would tip.

Also, do you think the material would make a difference, a lighter formica verse a granite when it comes to tipping?

Above is a rendering, ignore dimensions and drawers. Assume the cabinet/ base is the Varde...it illusrates the overhangs.

Would love any help!

Thanks!

~ Keara, New York, NY

***

Hi Keara,
Here is a Varde kitchen island that may give you an idea of what is achieveable. Any input, anyone?

~ Jules

Hacker help: Any ideas on how to turn the Mala into a menuboard?

Materials: Mala

Description: Ok. So I bought a Mala Tabletop paper holder and paper roll for our son to draw on. I then saw this Junction Paper Holder (see pic, right) and want to hack my Mala into this expensive wall board. Any ideas on how to do this? Thanks.

~ KJD, MA

Hacker help: Can you ID this coffee table?

Can someone please give me the name of this coffee table, I bought it in 2007. Hope the pictures help. Thanks!

~ plo

Hacker help: Creating a sectional from 2 Klippans?

Hi there. This isn't a hack, but a question: Has anyone hacked two Klippan sofas into a corner sectional? Not having a Klippan (yet!), I can't even tell if it would be possible. Any advice/suggestions would be most welcome. Thanks!

~ Dorothy, Dallas

Hi Dorothy,
I've yet to see one. The only sectional is this with Pallbo footstools (pic, left). Thoughts, anyone?

some questions ....

any ideas for a built-in ironing board?

linda is wondering if "a nice hacker somewhere has figured out a built-in/slide out ironing board that can be used in pax. it would be so convenient, don't know why ikea hasn't made one."

you know the name of this?

denise needs the name of these acrylic photo frames attached with a thin wire.

if you do, just leave a comment. thanks.

can anyone id this sofa?

fabe bought this sofa back in 2000 and now needs to get a new slipcover but he can't identify which model it is.

"we've been to a variety of websites and the ikea store, but no one has been able to identify which model it is. and because it is an older model that wasn't continued, we're wondering if anyone has a new slipcover (bemz and eBay seemingly did not)."

here are the dimensions:
cushion depth --> 27 inches
arm depth --> 38+ inches
height --> ~26 inches
length --> ~88 inches

it looks somewhat like the ektorp but the dimensions are off. anyone?

ikeahacker forums now open!

finally!

you can now post your hacker help questions in the forums, rather than email me. hopefully, you'll be able to get your advice, ideas, solutions and answers much faster.

to fully access the forum, you'll need to register yourself - it's quick and painless. all it takes is a username and email and you're off and running. you'll get to post, reply, vote and send private messages to other users. do drop by the watercooler and introduce yourself as well. it'll be great to finally get to know you.

for starters, i've posted some questions i've received such as:

• how to solve the problem of a poang chair digging into your back?
• have you seen a knappa lookalike?
• can i make sliding doors out of hinge pax doors?
  

also, i've decided to move the genius ikea hack contest submissions to the forum. don't email me - just post 'em there. to kick things off, i've posted tay's super shelf. go check it out. you still have a bit of time before the contest ends - so post your ideas pronto to win prizes.

besides that, i thought it was time for a new look, so i've made a new banner out of ikea's assembly man! :) and also improved the search system with hacks now listed in categories on the right side bar.

phew! seems like there's a lot happening. skip on over and have fun at the ikeahacker forums. see you there.

- jules

can i make customised pax plexiglass sliding doors?

"i have two questions and i wonder if anyone can help.

1. pax wardrobe - i don't want to pay for the glass sliding doors... i was thinking of gettting a pax frame, buying the malm sliding door runners, and then buying plexiglass of a pleasing sort and making sliding doors out of that. has anyone tried this?
2. failing that, i might go for aneboda doors (pix, right) ... but i hate the plastic on the center panel! does anyone know if it's possible to remove their cheap plastic panel and insert something else more sturdy and/or attractive? i'm not sure how the plastic is attached to the door, if it can be unscrewed, or cut out, or what." - michelle
   

anyone?

do you have problems ordering ikea online?

"i want to know if anyone else has had difficulty ordering ikea merchandise through their online or phone services? i have had about five orders "mysteriously" disappear from their system. i have the email inquiries i've sent and i've documented the frustration on my blog in this post.

i originally ordered the vika amon/vika artur desk on september 8 and have yet to see it. it seems the trestles are always out of stock, even when i call first to see if they have any then immediately place the order. i still get the "out of stock" email. i even had one phone rep give me a delivery date, which came and went. i know someone else would have given up a while ago, but there is no other desk that i want. in addition, the nearest ikea never has this part in stock either.

so i would like to know if anyone has had this problem or if anyone has recently received this table through phone or online ordering. also any suggestions that someone can give me would be greatly appreciated. thanks." - lisa m. williams

lisa,
sorry to hear of your frustration. anybody has advice for lisa?

click to view all hacker help questions.

need help choosing bookcases for heavy books

"i'm trying to figure out which bookcase would be best for lots of books (meaning something in which the shelves won't be prone to sagging). the space for the bookshelf is approximately 76" long by 18" deep by 102" high. i have a nice galant desk setup in beech veneer, and would like to match that finish if possible. i'd like the shelves to fill up the space as much as possible." - kristine


kristine,
for heavy books, it would be better to choose shelving made from solid wood. the particleboard bookcases such as the billy or bonde system tend to sag under weight. as for solid wood bookcases, you do quite a few choices, though colour wise, you're not so lucky. the norrebo (pic) in solid birch is a modular shelving system that lets you cover as much space as you want but the colour is not a great match. or you can also try the leksvik or ivar, which you could stain to match your desk.

other ideas?

painting the norrebo a shade darker?

"i'm debating buying a norrebo shelving unit - i love the style, but the pale wood is going to clash horribly with the rest of my (dark, funky, Victorian) decor. i'm wondering whether i could either paint it right over the surface (veneer?) or sand it down and stain it darker. has anyone tried either of these things? thanks. - sarah

sarah,
i think the norrebo is solid birch with clear lacquer. you could sand it down to strip off the lacquer and then stain it with a dark glaze, such as the behandla glazing paint. i've never tried it but it should work.

any other ideas?

help! can't find karlanda 'add on unit'

"i purchased a karlanda couch and 'add on unit'. the couch came, the add on unit never did. after waiting for almost a year for my order to come in i was informed it would not ever, as it was discontinued.

so, now i have a couch and what i need is a sectional. also note, my couch is a slipcover, not leather. i have looked everywhere. perhaps readers of this site can help?" - darcie

darcie,
not sure what you mean by a 'sectional' but i am assuming that it is kinda like an extra big footstool that you can place against your sofa to extend it. if it's discontinued, you may want to try craigslist or ebay for a used one. or perhaps try some of the other footstools such as the arild for size?

but i am more inclined to go without a 'sectional', since it would be difficult to find a perfect fit. how about adding an armchair if you require more seating or the ever popular poang plus footstool if you need to put your feet up. anyone else?

> view other hacker help questions

need ideas on mounting scavenged lack shelves

"i have what I have identified as two lack shelving (light birch) units one long, one short that we lugged home after finding them on the curb. they did not have hardware and i am trying to find out how to mount them - any help would be appreciated. i am thinking sweged bolts into masonry walls." - beth

beth,
i'm assuming that they are the lack wall shelves. the original would have a concealed mounting hardware (a multi-pronged bracket that you fix to the wall and slot the shelves over the prongs). you can try checking with ikea whether you can buy just the mount, though i doubt it. if not, the stilig brackets may work to hold them up but they won't give you the floating shelf effect.

any other ideas?

can you decipher this ikea word art?

"i need a hacker of a different sort...

for a wedding gift in 2000, we received a piece of ikea word art that all of our linguistic friends are unable to decode or even guess the language of...

it appears to be an actual language since it has a word root, prefix, and suffix, but i have to face the possibility it's simply art made to look like language...

however, i would really like to know what is hanging on my wall!

if it is written in some little-known language from the third world, and the artist knew that it would hanging in living rooms all over north america, i have a guess as to what it would say:

THESE IGNORANT WHITE PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT IS HANGING ON THEIR WALL!!!

the longer it hangs there unhacked, the more worried i become that i'm right!" - greg, surrey, bc.

dear greg
i would be concerned too about what i hang on my wall. but i'm as clueless as you.
so, please crack the code, some one?

need help taking ikea furniture apart

"we finished furnishing our one-bed apartment with exclusively ikea furniture and just when i thought everything was perfect, we found out that we have to move out of state! i want to take everything with me, but there is no way to get the ikea bed (malm) out of our bedroom unless we take it apart. is there some place where we can get instructions on dis-assembling IKEA furniture?

we also have the following:
1. lillberg sofa
2. a futon no longer shown on the ikea site
3. magiker sideboard

but the bed is the one i really need to take apart if I hope to vacate my apartment. please help! thanks." - tweety

(tweety also wrote to ikea's customer service and the 'official' reply is that they "are unable to give advice on how to dismantle ikea products as they are not made to be taken apart once assembled.")

tweety,
not sure if i'm much of a help either. i guess i'll just back-track how i put it together. anyone?

can i make a multi-fold room divider out of wardrobe doors?

"not unlike vince's room divider hack, i want to use these pax drammen doors, 6 of them ought to do it, to create a room divider.

but here's the rub, i want them to fold up against a wall when they are not in use (most of the time). they will only be brought out to divide the living room in half when we have guests. the 'guest room' will then house the windows though, so i like the idea of it letting light through.

so i want to do something similar to this:

note how, when you need to, you can fold them against the wall, flat?

where there are a number of doors, they are center mounted and sliding. raydoor's solution for the lowest end is $5800, for 10' x 10' worth of door (4 10'x2'6"), and they need 75 days of lead time. also, if one breaks, it's another custom order.

the problem is threefold:

1. how do i find hardware that is reliable and sturdy (sliding stuff always breaks, even more so if you add rotation around a single point).
2. how do i mount it to the pax doors?
3. the doors are only about 7' tall, so how do i hang it in a 10' space and still leave the ceiling looking nice and open, not dividing the room into two when it's not used?
4. can i just get the pax stordal put the track on a hinge, and swing it across the apartment, then pull the doors across when i need it? is that too ghetto?

ikea would be a good solution for this not only because of its cheaper price, but its better availability (i don't have to wait 75 days and pay an extra grand for a replacement)." - michael

michael,
the 3 feet gap between ceiling and door is definitely a problem in what you're planning to do. a way could be to attach the top and bottom of the doors to a rod of some kind (curtain rods perhaps) and connect both ends of the rod to the track but that could be tough to do in reality. and perhaps quite ghastly looking. an option is to do a folding screen instead (here's a link for multi-folding door hardware but not sure if they are any good. i think the best bet is still your local hardware store.)

if you're still keen on sliding, vince explains in the comment sections here how he hung the doors using stolmen poles. drilling holes into the pax wardrobe required. you can hang the doors a foot off the floor to balance out the 10' ceiling height.

not sure how your living room is, but if you do have wall space next to the proposed door space, you can push the sliding doors all the way in (something like a pocket door, without the pocket), flushed with the wall, rather than fold them like your original idea.

other softer options would be to use ikea curtains like this or curtain panels on pulleys, so you can draw them away when not in use.

anyone?

how to paint plastic?

"so i have the trones for shoe storage at my landing strip. i bought them in cream as they matched the wall and sort of disappeared. now i've gone and painted that wall a light brown color.

i really need help on painting the trones. how can I do it? will the paint stick? is it better to spray paint or can i use the same paint that i used on the walls and apply it with a roller?" - peacelamp

peacelamp,
as the trones shoe storage is plastic (polypropylene), i would suggest that you buy paint made for plastic, rather than use your wall paint which may not adhere. krylon fusion for plastic is a possible one and comes in an easy to use spray can. but colors are pretty limited so you may not get an exact match to your light brown wall.

how to paint:

1. clean the surface real good with a mild detergent, rinse well and dry. make sure that it is completely dry.
2. spray on a thin coat, covering it evenly.
3. let it dry thoroughly and then apply again. applying multiple thin coats of the krylon paint will prevent runs and drips.
   

but if you're keen to make the storage stand out rather than disappear, you could try stencils. or decorative painting with plaid paint for plastics. a simple trim in perhaps a darker brown could be potentially chic.

have fun!

related post:
> view all other hacker help questions

hacking a two level lack media unit?

i received this email from ehsan asking for hacking advice or suggestions. he has a pretty well thought out ikea media unit hack and has even photoshopped how it could possibly turn out. but has some doubts that needs clearing.

"i wish to combine two lack shelving units to make a media storage for my new tv (which i have yet to buy) and av equipment.

i am buying a 46" lcd tv soon, and while my current ikea kaxas tv bench could hold it, i have nowhere to put the center speaker (right now it rests on top of the tv). if i could wall-mount that would solve everything but i can't, so i need to make a stand that can hold the tv, plus the center speaker beneath it, plus some other large av components.

this is a photoshopped depiction of my idea.

the main modifications i need to do:

• combine two lack shelving units into one (horizontally) by removing one of the long panels on the second unit and attaching it to the first one
• on the first (top) unit: removing the center shelf then moving the other shelves closer to the middle, to create three larger spaces instead of 4 small ones
• on the second (bottom) unit: rearranging two of the shelves to make the two middle spaces wider

what I am concerned about, and hoping you or your readers might be able to give advice on:

1. will this configuration be sturdy enough to hold a large lcd tv (approx. weight is 79 lbs. or 36kg) and some other hefty components (HTPC probably the heaviest, about the same weight as a regular full-sized pc) without buckling, bending, etc., especially after i remove one of the shelves from the top unit. ikea says it has a max load of 110 lbs. or 50kg, but doesn't specify if that's when the unit is horizontal or vertical.
2. i believe the lack is constructed with cardboard inside. it comes with screw holes for the end and middle shelves, and dowel holes for the two inner shelves. if i need to attach the shelves in different positions, i will need to make new holes. are the pre-drilled holes reinforced somehow? will my new custom holes be nothing but holes in carboard, and thus not have any strength?
3. would it be better to install castors or rest the unit flat on carpet?
4. a simpler approach would be to just rest one unit on top of another, instead of making them share the long panel - i think it would not look as good, but would it be better for strength / stability?

if i end up attempting this i will be sure to document it and share my results." - ehsan

phew! this is quite a project. my guess, and it is purely a guess, is that it will hold the weight if you position the center uprights in places where it has to bear the highest load. so if your tv base can somehow spread across the two uprights below, it may just hold.

as for what's inside lack, your guess is as good as mine. matt in his hack did reposition his center upright further in and it was okay.

for a tall unit loaded with heavy (and expensive equipment), i would not recommend castors. and i totally agree that your version looks better than just stacking a lack on top of another.

i've already reserved a spot for you on this site, should you attempt this. all the best, ehsan.

and now over to you peeps, any suggestions / advice / cautions?

> view previous hacker help questions

a polish for fiberboard?

eric recently purchased the lack coffee and side tables from ikea and has a question: "as you might already know, they are composed of a thin fiberboard finish and i was wondering if there was some sort of polish or any other product i could apply to it to prevent those dang surface scratches. it's been less then a week and is already showing signs of wear. any thoughts?"

personally, i've never polished my coffee tables (aiks!) so i'm not sure what is available. anyhoo, any martha-esque person out there who can offer eric a clue?

> view all previous hacker help questions.

tags: ikea, hacker help, lack coffee table, lack side table

pimp my boj

help! my boj is so boring!

marion from sydney writes me asking for ideas how she can spice up her boj drawers, and cover the flaking bits. (boj is no longer produced by ikea, i think.)

"i've been wanting to hack my tired looking white boj drawers for years but haven't worked out a good way to attack the white laminate. mostly, i am wanting to change the colour and cover the flaking top. i figure i can change the handles easily enough and find some funky alternatives to white plastic, but i'm over the white laminate. i was wondering if you or any of the readers might have any ideas on how to hack it?" - marion

this is a picture i found, not marion's actual boj drawers.
but you get the idea why marion desperately wants to hack it.

right on, marion. i have 2 ideas for you.

#1. masking tape magic
the first is inspired by jonathan fong's walls that wow where he uses masking tape to dress up a wall (see pix from ivillage). i thought the same neat trick could add a lot of sizzle to marion's boj.

1. think of your colour scheme and how you want the stripes laid out.
2. buy coloured masking tape in your scheme.
3. stretch it across the top of your boj from one end to the other, and if you like, down the sides in unequal (or equal) lengths.

tip! if after sticking the tapes, you want to re-arrange the stripes, squirt some lighter fluid on the tapes for easy removal. but first, test the fluid to see if it leaves an oil stain on the laminate.

pro: no mess. cheap. and will mask the flaking beautifully.
con: you might not get masking tapes in the colours you want.

#2. blik it beautiful
if you have a bit of cash to spare, you can turn up the sex appeal of your boj with blik. this paisley decal will set you back $45 for a set of 10. let's assume that you're feeling generous and you do get the decals:

1. arrange them on your boj till you are satisfied with the layout
   
2. stick them on
3. sit back and admire
   

pro: no mess. lots of design options.
con: pricey (to me, at least).

these are my 2 cents. any other takers? please click on the comment link to leave your ideas and save marion from boredom.

and yes, marion, if you do hack your boj, pretty please send us a picture. we would love to see what you made out of it.

tags: ikea, boj, drawers, jonathan fong, blik