IKEA hacking: a personal review

If you aren't familiar with the term IKEA-hacking, IKEA hack or similar terms, then I recommend that you either try searching for it on google or visit the lovely site www.ikeahackers.net. I've been a following the site since 2008, and so far there are a few things around our house that have come into existence because of a hack I saw on the site.

Hacking here means using one or more products (found at IKEA) to create something other that what the original product was meant for, or using raw materials (found at IKEA) to create something unique.

This "personal review" is not going to be a review of hacking in general, just a photo collage (with links to the 'original' hacks) of all the things I've personally made that are hacked. My own IKEA hacks.

Since I've already posted about the earring display, I'll give you:

Lion-USB-holder
Original hack found here.
So far, I've made two of these.
The first one was for my brother, who really needed something that made his USB-memory more visible. This was after he accidentally lost an important USB-memory with ALL the important things he had done at work.
The second one is the one I'm using myself, and there's been times when the yellow lion has helped me find it in the mess on my desk.


Black trash-bin, as pot for plant
Original hack found here.

Because it was SO hard to find cheap ones large enough.

Fix for our laundry basket holders

Basically, some white shelves I found at the "As is" section (swe. Fyndhörnan) that I sawed off and fitted into the closet. I still can't believe there was only one shelf int this closet when we moved in! Unbelievable.

Various painted pots around the house
No original hack, this one's too easy to vary.

Fixed bed spread
No original hack, this one's too easy to vary.

Basically, instead of having a bed spread with the corners open, I sew the whole thing into this lid-like thing. Now it fits snugly around the bed frame, which I definitively like.

Various painted photo holders around the house
No original hack, this one's too easy to vary.

Slightly fixed bathroom soap shelf
No original hack, this one's too easy to vary.

Since I hate drilling new hole into bathroom tiles, I just found a way to re-use the holes that were already there when we moved in. Much better that way, than to damage perfectly good tiles.

Sewn things with IKEA-fabrics
No original hack, this one's too easy to vary.

Lots of people sew things, using the fabrics found at IKEA. You have to be slightly picky though, as some fabrics are not that great to begin with (e.g. awful print, threadbare fabric that rips easily). But there are are people who do other things with the fabrics than just to sew interior design things (like pillows, table cloths, napkins, curtains...). Dresses, festival tents (yup, I've seen those too, since IKEA started selling water-resistant fabrics), bags, you name it.

IKEA lights in living room
No original hack, this one's too easy to vary

It gets really dark in our apartment during the winter, and since our potted plants need all the light they can get, I installed these cheap ones by attaching them to the window sill above.

And that was basically it. So far, at least.
Do you have any IKEA hacks of your own? Please, post the links here - I'd love to see them :)

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