A little love from IKEA

Hej!
Finally, IKEA has given me a nod. Though a little, sideway tilt of the head it makes me all giddy inside. No, I am not flying to Sweden (yet), just an interview on IKEA Hackers for their blog, Livet hemma. It will have to do for now, till I shake Ingvar Kamprad's hand. You can read the interview here. It's in Swedish. (Google English translation here).

Equally, I was curious about Livet hemma and it being written in Swedish didn't stop me. Yes, pictures-thousand-words thing rings true for this site - lovely, lovely room sets and beautiful shots you'd come to expect from IKEA. It carries updates, has a cool forum where members can show off their IKEA and even a hacks contest (this decoupaged shoe cabinet, black and white lacy bekvam, light plate and Billy cityscape are my favourites). Wanting to find out more, I shot them a series of questions.

Click to read more>>

New year, new look!

Today, I am rather ambitious. First off on my to-do list would be to change the Ikeahackers template and also get the Hack of the Year 2010 post done.

By Brett Jordan

A new template has been a long time coming and I finally settled on how I want the site to look, at least for 2011. I've heard lots of comments and feedback for you and will strive to incorporate some of them. It still will be a clean, simple site without any fancy smancy. Why? I like simple and I think that works best.

But first off, I want to announce that Ikeahackers have its own little domain now. The more astute among you may have noticed. I've finally moved it from IkeaHacker.blogspot.com to IkeaHackers.net. I like the 's' in hackers because this site wouldn't be where it is today, if not for all your contributions. I also couldn't get the more common, IkeaHacker.com as it was already taken. So IkeaHackers.net it is. I would love it if you do me this favour: if you have a blog/site which links to Ikeahacker.blogspot.com, I would be so grateful if you could change the link to the new url. A domain name change loses mega doses of link love and I am hoping to salvage whatever I can. So please. And thank you.

While I get the new template and the post underway, the site may look wonky. Do bear with me. I hope to get this done in a day, without shutting it down and annoying you with an "Under Construction. Please come back later" page.

Stay tuned.

Hacking my template

Firstly I want to thank you for your feedback and help when I asked for it. In many ways, your comments gave me a clearer view of how to improve Ikeahacker as well as chart a direction for it. Thank you, thank you! I feel re-inspired.

In response to that (I wouldn't want you to think that I wasn't listening!) I have made a few tweaks to the current site. Mind you, this is not the big redesign I was talking about (which I am now seriously considering Wordpress. Any thoughts?). I don't want to do too much on this template since I won't be using it in the redesign. But I do want to make sure that your experience on this site, while I work on the new design for the next coupla months, is a lot more useful and friendly. So here goes:

Many of you asked for:
1. Better navigation
- I've added the "older" and "newer" posts links at the bottom of the page. Hope that takes away the frustration of browsing the archives.
- Related posts complete with thumbnails are now under each post.  

2. Better search
- Under the existing categories section, I've added a drop down menu of all available Labels.
- I've also begun adding the Ikea names of the items hacked into the Labels. I do still forget some times. So do bear with me while I get the hang of it.

3. Less clutter
- I've increased the size of the left content area, as some of you mentioned, to give it space to breathe. This lets me include bigger photos too.
- Removed the Recent Comments (which many didn't find useful), moved the Friends Link List to a dedicated page. Tidied up things in general.
- Used images for the Top Hacks instead of text. I kinda like this alot myself! :)

Little tweaks. But it's an improvement, don't you think?

I need your help to make Ikeahacker better

After almost 4 years of managing this blog, I am going to say I need help. The volume of hacks has grown and honestly, I've not been able to keep up with it. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy receiving all your wonderful hacks and be amazed at your creativity. That has not changed.

What gets to me is that instead of spending time improving and enhancing the content of this blog, I've spent many hours cutting and pasting, downloading pictures, resizing photos, setting up links and the like. I know it comes with the territory and I do take it all in my stride. But, I am sure there are ways to work smarter and be more productive.

So I came up with a Hack Submission Form. The goal is to make it easier for you to share your hacks as well as simplify the process for me to get it up on the blog. This is where I need your help. The Form is in ... ahem, cough ... beta. I need your help to iron out the kinks, report any issues and give me feedback on whether it drives you up the wall. If you have a hack that you wanted to share but haven't, this is your moment. Read this post on how you can post your hack.

Now, on to the help I really, really want
The Form is in essence a contact form, nothing fancy. What I REALLY, REALLY want is a WYISWYG editor. Something like this (pix, right), where you can compose your message and get it to me in 99% "ready-to-post" form. Alas, I couldn't get WriteToMyBlog to work and I my email to its support failed to get a reply.

WriteToMyBlog uses TinyMCE, an open source word processor written using the JavaScript programming language. If you know how to achieve something similar (and integrate it with Blogger), please, please contact me at ikeahacker [at] gmail [dot] com. I would love to explore possibilities with you.

Besides this, I am also working on a new template. This one has been around for a year or two now and it looks tired. Hope to unveil it before we hit the start of our 4th year. (Phew! Has it been that long?)

I've also received ideas from some of you. (Thank you!) Second the idea if you think it's good and I'll see what I can do.
1. Some one suggested having a "Wish list" for people who like a hack but can't/don't know how to build it themselves. Others can choose to fulfil the wishlist for free or for a fee.
2. Another suggested that I have a "Visitor's Lounge", where first-timers to this blog can familiarise themselves with the weird and wonderful world of Ikea hacking.
3. I'm also thinking of having the "Most popular hacks", a list of the most commented/viewed hacks.
4. As well as a "Table of contents", to make searching for hacks easier.

If there are other improvements you want to see on this blog, let me know in the comments below. I look forward to hacking this site with you.

Read this to know how to post a hack. Then share your hack via this form.

ikeahacker is ...

TWO!

woohoo! roll out the swedish meatballs.

thank you, thank you, thank you for sticking around and supporting the site. seriously. your hacks, comments and emails have kept me going. please do forgive me if i have been slow in replying your mails or posting your hacks. the last few months have been challenging for me as i finally said goodbye to life in the agency.

it is a dream come true to be able to work from home. and this site has partly given me the freedom to blog and freelance full time. while the dream is sweet, living it out is another thing altogether. i am an absolute newbie at freelancing and it has been a steep walk up the learning curve these last 3 months.

but i am not complaining - nothing beats waking up and strolling 5 steps to my 'office'. i do plan to start a new blog. it will be very different from ikeahacker and a lot of more personal, as i take stock of the lessons, trials and joys of working as a freelancer. hope to get it up by end july, if i don't get too lazy sitting around in my jammies watching tv.

but what i am really interested to know after 2 years of running this site is ... what do you think i can do to make ikeahacker better?

share your thoughts on one or all of the following:
> i think it would be great if i see more hacks on ...
> ikeahacker can help me hack better if ...
> this site will really rock if ...

click on the comment link and let me hear ya. all ideas welcome, fire away.

selamat design offer and a chat with date my house hosts

this is a totally off tangent post. no hacks. not ikea either. :O but don't go away, it is still good stuff.

selamat designs wrote me and asked whether they could pass on a tidy little discount to my readers. well, who could say not to discounts? certainly not the bargain hunter in me. i checked out their site first, of course and their furniture pieces are pretty interesting. living in malaysia, i've seen rattan done to death but selamat designs have given this traditional material some degree of freshness, ie. the bon adventure collection (first row, left pic).

check out their site. to get your 10% discount on any purchase at selamat designs, you'll need to enter the coupon code SELAMATSPRING

next on the list, i was recently invited to a bloggers only teleconference with date my house hosts, nadia gellar and bob guiney. the point of the show is to help sellers up the desirability of their homes in the eyes of buyers. see their top 10 rules for dating a house.

i did ask nadia and bob about the value of having ikea furniture in the home ... well, sad to say, it won't let you win big. but if you use your ikea furniture wisely and make it work, it won't turn off your date. they do caution against using conspicuously ikea pieces too, why? check out the call.

i had some trouble with the numbers and was late for the call ... 13 minutes into it. also be warned, it is 50 mins long and dotted with lots of pauses (some i thought rather uncomfortable). it's my first (so, no stars for performance there) but i learned quite a bit about how difficult it really is to ask good questions. i never thought so, till i hear myself now and it's 'slap-my-forehead' urgh. still it was fun. if you think i speak funny, that's because i speak 'manglish'. hah!

try out the ikeahacker app for facebook

a new thingamajig to play with. glen of lifedev (and who runs liferemix, the blog network i am part of) has developed a facebook app for bloggers.

what it does is allow you to receive and share blog content on facebook itself. pretty neat huh?

so if you add the ikeahacker facebook application on your profile, you'll get a feed that looks like this:


go on, add my app or get your own. it's pretty simple, no programming necessary. let me know how it goes.

2007 from the rear view mirror

2007 is the first full year for ikeahacker and what a ride it has been. some good, some misses. like many bloggers, i did come to a point where i wondered where to take this blog and whether i should even be continuing with it. but here i am at the end of 2007 and feeling pretty upbeat about 2008. i know i wouldn't have made it to 490 posts (including one last post today on 2007's top hacks) without your readership, hacks and comments. thanks, all of you.

i also want to thank other larger communities like the instructables ikeahacks group, ikeafans and liferemix, for inviting ikeahacker to join their fold. blogging can be lonely and it was wonderful finding kindred spirits.

a special thanks to bemz for sponsoring our contest. i learnt a lot running that contest and will definitely cook up an exciting one for 2008.

another good thing is how ikeahacking is gaining popularity and press coverage. getting some ink on the new york times, german paper, spiegel and many others were some of the best moments of 2007. but big boys aside, it is really you who read ikeahacker, blogged about it, told your friends and linked to it that made all the difference. thank you thank you thank you.

i will be taking tomorrow off. will be back on the 2nd with a fabulous hack to kick off 2008. you too, have a wonderful start to your new year.

jules, signing out.

ikeahacker joins liferemix

hmm ... i'm not sure whether ikeahacker (me? productive?) fits the profile but i am honoured to be invited.

liferemix is a network of productivity blogs, featuring syndicated content from really cool sites. check out the sampler - 100 great tips to improve your life.

after reading about 10 posts, i felt that there is hope for a more organised, less cluttered, more zen-y me! i am currently working on the waking up early bit the past week. so far, bed-5 me-2.

go subscribe to the rss feed and get awesome productivity tips daily.

calling for hackers in the NY area

you hack ikea?
you live in new york?

then, you could get you and your ikea hacks in the new york times. woohoo!

penelope green of the new york times' home and garden is doing a story on ikea hacking and wants to feature a few of us hackers in the flesh.

if you're interested, please drop me a line at ikeahacker [at] gmail [dot] com with your contact information as well as hacks you've done. it doesn't matter whether your hacks have or have not been featured on this site.

thanks!

i'm on a jet plane

i'm off to australia in about 5 hours. woohoo!

can't wait for the movie marathon and stale airplane food.

first stop will be sydney for a week and onwards to alice springs. we'll then join a backpacker tour down to adelaide, stopping for the mighty uluru and other sights galore. (i bet 5 ikea allen keys that the tour guide will play this song. it's in the tour guide manual!)

for the next 2 weeks, i'll try to post from wherever i am but i reckon it will be spotty.

have a great weekend and see you in the land down under.

ikeahacker is 1

took me 11 days before it dawned on me that i've been running this blog for a year now. it didn't seem that long ago when i first thought of compiling ikea hacks on one site, which was how ikeahacker started.

i can't believe i'm writing post #302. woo-hoo! thank you readers and all you ikea hackers who contributed to this blog. couldn't have done it without you. muaks! click to revisit some oldies but goldies from 2006.

over the past 12 months, i've tried a few things - different layouts, launched a forum (which unfortunately got spammed too much and will be ending on june 15). i also ran ikeahacker's first contest, collaborated with instructables and syndicated their ikeahacks group. (btw, if you haven't, gray's expedit bookcase hack is definitely worth checking out!)

ikeahacker also enjoyed a few moments in the sun on boingboing, yahoo picks!, lifehacker, hemfeber, apartment therapy chicago, the guardian internet guide, bluelines martha stewart blog, real estate journal, made blogger's blogs of note to name a few. thank you, thank you.

phew! guess it really was a hack of a year.

but i am still having a blast. keep those hacks coming. in all honesty, it does gives me a buzz whenever i receive hacks from you. that said, i will try to post them up as quickly as i can. do be patient with me if your hack does not appear soon.

for year 2, i have a few new things brewing. a contest is in the pipeline and i want to start interviewing the more prolific ikea hackers among you. hopefully, i can get round to them when work is a little less crazy. drop me a line if you have new ideas for ikeahacker too.

all in all, i have a good feeling about year 2. so stick around and see what swede things lie ahead in the blue-and-yellow store!

- jules

new blogger migration

hey, i'm finally moving the entire blog over to the new blogger. so, you might experience some screwy layouts and missing blocks. but hang in there. ikeahacker should be up and about in no time.

missing pixs

blogger is a little screwy today. my header's gone missing! at least on my screen. i don't know if it's the same on your connection. also some pixs like the hensvik chest and bowl sink hack are gone too. hope it gets restored quickly. :(

got instructable?

notice the shiny new tab on top of the header? as mentioned here, we're all set to roll ...

you now have two ways to submit your ikea hacks:

1. email me at ikeahacker[at]gmail[dot]com as usual. yes, i will still be very happy to receive them and post them up on the front page :) or
   
2. create an instructable on the ikea hacks group and it will be published on the projects page instantly. (please do not email me if you've uploaded it to the group to avoid duplicates.)

seriously, if you have those step-by-step photos and a penchant for details, an instructable is the way to go. like these very noteworthy ikea hacks on the group:
> eric's ikea mini server rack
> a very cool ikea dj console
> the persistent vinyl clock

you may also remember some of these hacks i've posted previously like the tord coffee table edition, international analog clock, homemade sun jar and ikea lack coffee table hack. all from this very hacky bunch of people. go join them. i have.

visit the projects page for more hacks from the group.
happy hacking!

[thanks jeff! for making all this possible. hugs!]

i promise not to run around like a whacka tourist

major digression in this post. that's because i'm in the midst of researching my big outback adventure and decided to pick the brains of those of you who have been to oh-so-delectable-mr-jackman's homeland or lucky devil you, actually shared the same air space with him in his pre-hollywood days.

i'll be down under for 2 weeks in july. sydney for a week's conference and then, 7 footloose days in alice springs, uluru and darwin, not necessarily in that order.

the last time i was in sydney, i totally didn't know where to head for great food and got lost trying to find the famed australian-melt-in-your-mouth steak. is it true? is it really droolworthy? please tell me it's not a myth.

also, is it a good time for the outback in july? what are the must see's and do's? besides the spectacular uluru of course. should i do the harley davidson or the 4WD trip? barbecued kangaroo or grilled croc? hugh or julian? decisions, decisions. but oh what fun.

whacka: australian for idiot

ikeahacker meets instructables

i've always been a fan of instructables, the ubercool how-to site. when jeff wrote me about collaborating ... to say that i was thrilled to bits would be an understatement.

we are still working out the details and i hope to make the full announcement some time new week. in short, you will soon be able to contribute your ikea hacks via instructables.

so if you're hacking this weekend, remember to snap 'em step-by-step photos. we want them!

snap previews anywhere removed

okay, i get it. snap previews suck. so i've taken them down.
thanks everyone, for guiding me back to the light. :)

preview a link

i've just installed snap previews anywhere which serves up a small thumbnail snapshot of a link. hover your mouse here and you'll see what i mean.

the previews are supposed to help you decide whether the link is worth the click time. the links are not advertisements.

i'm in two minds about snap previews actually. some part of me thinks it is useful. some part of me think it is a nuisance to the reading flow.

anyhow, they can be disabled. click the 'disable' option on the top right corner of the box and then choose to disable it for this site, if they absolutely irritate the socks out of your shoes.

anyways, i probably trial run this for a week or two and see what feedback i get. hate it or love it, let me know.

and the winners are ...

votes have been cast and the judges have chosen their favourites.

armand's picks:

1st - lack shelving in the style of charlotte perriands.
witty, stylish, cheap.

2nd - ikea meldal greenhouse.
anything green get my GO signal.

3rd - ikea skubb monster kite.
what would the world be without whimsy?

arash and kelly's picks:

1st - tini because the transformation comes 'alive' and a great game for kids and dogs. the most imaginative of all we thought

2nd - randall for the Charlotte shelving.
most stylish idea

3rd - giusy's greenhouse.
a great new line for ikea

my picks:

1st - tini's skubb kite.
most creative use of an ikea item. taking it totally out of its usual parameters.

2nd - randall's shelving.
a touch of class for the lack shelving unit

3rd - winnie's rapunzel bookcase.
i think it's such fun.

popular vote

1st - randall's shelving with 77% votes

2nd - winnie's rapunzel bookcase & tini's skubb kite (tied at 11% each)

after tabulating the scores ... i'm proud to announce that we have the winners of the genius ikea hack contest.

first prize goes to randall kramer for the lack shelving in the style of charlotte perriands.

tini's skubb monster kite takes second prize.

and coming in third is guisy's meldal greenhouse.

congrats winners! your geniuspad, compliments of arash and kelly, will be enroute to you soon.

thank you everyone who sent in an entry or voted in the polls. it's been fun! if you have ideas for a new contest, do let me know.

click to view all entries.