high kitchen countertop with storage drawers

one kitchen size does not fit all. here's how carsten added almost 8 inches of height to his kitchen base unit.

"as i am really tall, i always wanted a kitchen with a high countertop. these are insanely expensive, so we used a standard ikea faktum (similar to akurum) kitchen with white arlig doors an placed these little wooden drawers (we don't remember the name, but they are quite similar to the mackis drawers), that were painted to match, on top of them.

then we topped the whole thing off with a dark brown countertop that is fastened to the wall. the bigger brown square in the middle is one of the boxes turned sideways to match the overall length of the kitchen. the result is a countertop height of 108cm instead of the standard 89."

start your day with coffee in bed

at the rate i am failing at trying to wake up early, i should be making sven's bedside table with coffee maker hack. a piping hot cup of coffee ready the moment my alarm clock rings. waking up to the smell of coffee ... heaven!

sven says, "the starting point was that my girlfriend wants a coffee in the morning to wake up. and i do not feel like getting up every morning before her to make this coffee. this hack is based on the benjamin stool from ikea, the electro-boy timer and a coffeemaker, so she can now decide at what time the coffee is ready in the morning.

the coffeemaker was partly changed and integrated into the benjamin. then it was directly branched to the electro-boy timer. in the timer is still another socket left in the timer to plug in a light or radio. now you can programme the timer, load the coffeemaker and you will have coffee and light/music to wake up in the morning. another important thing is that i put an additional switch that makes the coffeemaker work only with a cup in it. that avoids flooding your sleeping room accidentally.

in the pictures you see the coffee-making version and the "light" version on the other side of the bed."

peter reborn as a floor lamp

another vintage hack from a discontinued product, the peter shelving. alex turned it into a sleek floor lamp as a birthday gift.

"this is an old (1995) hack and the shelf 'peter' (first pix below) is discontinued for a few years now.

anyway, i shortened the 'ladder' (the side unit) and got rid of all runs but the lowest two. The head of the lamp consists of aluminum spare parts and a halogen lamp. The base is a slab of granite."

see more of alex's peter floor lamp.

Heartbroken over Goteborg

finally, some thing different! a poem for a sofa.

"I remember fondly a spring day,
seven years ago this May.
That’s when my new Goteborg came home to play.
It was my second apartment, all on my own
Into a two bedroom I had grown.
I skipped through Ikea, glisten in my eye.
To my Goteborg I would fly.
He was so handsome and proud, a crisp green
surely he wouldn’t be hard to keep clean.
Finally he was home completing my set
so sadly I would regret.
The stains of time, so set in and true…
The fades of the sun have hit him too.
Why not throw the cover in the wash you say?
I did, to my dismay...
I ended up with shreds of threads
Looking like hay.
Please bring back my Goteborg today…
Tears and rips, alas what shall I do?
Bemz shall help renew,
The love of my Goteborg has remained true.
He has been my warmth on a rainy day…
and my perch to watch the birdies play.
He has sat with my friends when a movie would fright…
Been a shelter on a cold night.
O’ how I long for him to stay…
but dire straits put me in a pinch.
The money I can’t stretch another inch.
No cover, no money the outcome is up to you….



Vote yes to save my Gotie from the trash. Please!!!!" - Sarah



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

make it smell good again

a minor fire makes a stinky sofa. give lisa a sweet smelling new slipcover.

"I think our sofa deserves a second chance not only because it's starting to look really saggy but the fact that it stinks!

We had a minor fire two weeks ago in a flower pot in the living room and the smoke just won't come out not matter that we've washed the covers. The couch itself we still love so why buy a new one? Don’t you agree?" - Lisa





want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

pierre and christine's "love again" couch

a story of second chances - for love and for sofas.

"We are two ikea-fans living in rainy Vancouver, BC. Our Nikkala was purchased upwards of 10 years ago, when Pierre was living in Paris. He purchased it with his then-girlfriend, with whom he was just moving in with. Orange is Pierre's favourite colour, and he is a huge movie buff - as other Nikkala owners have attested, the couch is perfect for lounging and watching a movie. The couch's moderate size also made it perfect for lugging up and down flights of stairs, as the majority of apartments in Paris don't have elevators and are often five or six flights up. Besides a couple of moves, the couch's destruction began with the claws of Pierre's girlfriend's cat, Tsunami, laying the ground work for years of further destruction.


Pierre and his girlfriend got married a few years later and moved to San Francisco together, shipping the Nikkala with them – six months spent on a container ship to get to the US before they finally got their furniture delivered. The couch saw them both adjust to a new country, learn a new language, and come to love the city of steep hills and 4 'o clock fog. But after a few years disaster struck – Pierre lost his job (and consequently the right to stay in the country) at the same time as his marriage was dissolving. When his then ex-wife moved back to France, he packed up his stuff and took a job opportunity in Vancouver, looking for a fresh start. The Nikkala got packed into a truck once again and made another cross-country journey.

That was four years ago, and Pierre and I met shortly afterward. We spent many evenings on that couch as we got to know each other and eventually fell in love. Two and a half years ago we moved in together and the Nikkala had a feline friend once again. Our cat Lola has sped up the demise of the current slipcover, bringing it to it's current state.

Once a vibrant orange, our faded-peach friend is still incredibly comfy and the frame and cushions are in great shape. We've also since trained our cat to not destroy the couch in the future by purchasing her a proper scratching post and putting double-sided tape on the couch to break her habits. We would love to give this couch a second chance just as Pierre had his chance a few years ago. We've chosen a nice graphite grey to contrast our bright colours in the carpet and the cushions, and we think this will be stain and wear resistant – not to mention really classy.

We hope we can give our Nikkala a chance for love again! Thanks!" - Christine & Pierre



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

uglydolls demonstrate against ugly sofa

uglydolls look better than ann's sofa. give her a pretty new one?

"My name is Ann and I live in Sweden. My living room would look a lot better with a fresh Bemz slipcover for my Karlanda sofa...

I tried to dye the cover myself but it ended up a disaster. After having dyed the cover I found out that it wasn't made of 100% cotton. Instead it is partly linen and needed dry cleaning!

So after washing and dyeing it at home in the washing machine, it had shrunk! I had to work for hours to get the cover back on the sofa! There's no way I can dye it again to make the color look better because then I will never get it back on!

Me and my daughter feel ashamed when people visit. Usually we try to hide the entire sofa with blankets but of course it never looks good.

Our sofa is so ugly that not even our (very cute) Uglydolls will spend any time on it (except for when they are demonstrating against ugly covers)!

This is the Bemz slipcover that I (+ my daughter + the Uglydolls) would love to win: Sybary- Midnight Grey.





want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

a new slipcover for silke?

the last of the cat entries, for now. phew!
(if you're thinking of sending in an entry, no more pet stories, please!)

"Unfortunately for my Tomelilla armchair my two cats love it as much as I do. I love it for its comfort and it's simply the best spot to read. My two furry roommates adore the chair...
...because as cat you can sleep on it, munch you treats on it, watch the birds and since the zipper doesn't work anymore, creep underneath the cover and hide when there's a rain storm.

Since they both share this view, my chair has seen a lot of cat-jealousy during the years... for the best spot is always the one already taken." - silke





want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

harald pimps ikea for his mac mini

the mac mini. it's way too cute to be hidden. so harald pimps a stand for apple's smallest desktop computer.

"after experimenting with three trunna lights (can't find the link on ikea's website) from ikea germany (regensburg), i made these two light mods for my mac mini.

i just cut the cables and soldered new connections. then i glued the acrylic in symmetric positions on thinner acrylic plates. for the console i used milky polycarbonate from the hobby-store, cut it round and attached it top and bottom.

unfortunately i sold the mini a year ago and the trunna lights at ikea are now round."

see more of harald's mini mac console at www.pimpmymini.com.

gaelle's grey sofa to go red

gaelle's stromstad wants to slip into something red.

"As you can see on the pix, our Stromstad sofa is very tired. It came into our life in 1999, and it has been our best friend till today. It is also our Pomme cat's best friend, so its original grey slipcover needs to be changed as you can see on the other pix.

We moved in to a new home (a house in a mountain), and a little baby girl was born in February, we'll love to have a little more color in our new living-room. So we hope to win this red slipcover to replace our grey one.

Our cat, Pomme des Muses, a lovely Siamese, can go out to play with mice, so that our Stromstad can have a little rest now. It deserves a second chance for its second life."



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

a new klippan slipcover on the menu?

cooking accidents on the klippan. how in the world did that happen? but it did with thomas.

"My Klippan 2-seater is still in a good condition, but the surface is simply *#f*?ß. The spots come from cooking experiments gone wrong, little puppy dogs feeling too well ;) and the effects of age.



I would like a nice dark and elegant cover so I can give my guests a nice and comfy place to sit and talk. Woven whimsy graphite gray



or Sybary midnight grey." - Thomas



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

lavanya's sofa that nobody wants to sit on

lavanya's sofa is a huge turn off for her friends. a new one could perk up her social life again.

"My reasons why my Lillberg sofa needs a new bemz slipcover:

1. I thought my Lillberg sofa would add a touch of sophistication to my studio apartment, get rid of my seating woes (it is a 3-seater, can seat 4 or more depending on proportions). It did, but the faded (after wash) patchy stains/scratches on the cover invite "how-disgusting" stares now.


2. Friends keep staring at the stains, plop themselves on the floor - my sofa is the last option for a decent seating. Some dog-nail art can be seen on the cover.
3. Black definitely adds to my overall gloomy situation- I need color! Or at least a print. :)


HELP!" - Lavanya



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

ikea hack on YouTube

thought we'll take a video break from the contest entries. alessa sent me a link to a funny video from antirelusionist based on this laptop desk hack. nice to see ikea hacks getting some tube-time!



enjoy!

can't afford a wedding centerpiece? hack one from ikea

this is some thing new - an ikea wedding centerpiece. kim used tall and short glasses, candles and lots of plumeria to make her own centerpiece. and it costs only $25 per centerpiece.

kim says, "i thought i would submit my ikea wedding hack: using regular drinking glasses as candle centerpieces.

all you need for an ikea wedding centerpiece

sure, it's not anything super fancy... but it's a perfect example of using ikea as your craft store and not using everything for its original and intended purpose!"

see more of kim's wedding centerpiece.

maureen's sad sofa story

will be posting up quite a few contest entries today and tomorrow as the contest closing date (oct 5) is fast approaching. do bear with me (and the cats!). i seriously never knew that our feline friends were the no. 1 destroyer of sofa slipcovers. anyways, i have one sad tale, 2 cat stories and one short entry for today. vote on! - jules

______________

maureen has gone through a fair bit with her yellowed ekeskog. your vote could help put a sweet end to this unfortunate chapter.

"My name is Maureen and I own an IKEA Ekeskog Sofa that my husband and I purchased in 2004 in the color 'Mannarp Dark Blue' a year after moving in together. I was very pleased to have finally found the sofa of my dreams and style, after a year of living with nothing but a ratty hand me down. Unfortunately for me little did I know that a year later I would be so unhappy with my color choice. After owning this couch for a year I watched in horror as it slowly started turning a yellowish hue, anywhere an arm was placed the couch began to get a yellow hue to it! I sent numerous e-mails to IKEA asking what to do and none were ever replied to. :(

And now I will rewind a little, shortly after purchasing my dream couch I became horribly ill on and off for a few months and then after a visit back home I was in the Hospital 3 days later having my appendix removed. I felt such horrible pain after the surgery because they put too much gas in my stomach for the Laparoscopic Surgery, I was scared and confused and it was not helping that I could not yet communicate with the doctors because I speak a different language. I left this hospital shortly after only to end up in another one where I learned that they put a little too much gas in to my belly for the surgery.

When I was sent back home from the hospital in 'good health' I had often a lot of pain and could barely move around some days, it took a year of convincing doctors that something was still wrong with me and that what I suspected as me having developed scar tissue from the surgery was actually true.

These are the main reasons why I was only ever to e-mail IKEA and not go there in person. One day when I was not feeling so much pain I went to IKEA in person to ask about my slipcover and why this was happening and I was told to bring in the receipt and cover with me the next time I went there. Sadly because I was still in so much pain the next time was not for awhile longer.

When I had finally had my scar tissue removed and I was on my way to recovery I went to IKEA with my receipt and slipcover to ask for a refund, only to be told that I should have complained sooner and that what was happening to the slipcover was 'perfectly normal?' When we had explained that we e-mailed several times over the course of a year, we were told something funny and that was "Well, we read all e-mails sent to us!" Yes we were only told this and not that they actually reply to them. We were then told that we could return the cover for only 150 Euros worth of credit. At this time, a new cover would have cost 300 Euro more, we were also told we would have to wait over 4 weeks for the new cover in the color we wanted to be in stock. We decided to just say the heck with it in the end and leave after talking to an 'IKEA Master' in the couch area. I have never been so disappointed with IKEA's customer service or lack thereof as I was that day. To make matters worse my husband's wallet was also stolen while we waited to speak with customer service on the issue with our couch cover.

It is now 3 years later and my couch is a very horrid yellow in certain spots and faded blue in others. Not exactly the couch of my dreams. :(

If I win I would love to have a new slipcover from bemz in Chocolate Brown, it would go nicely with our newly redone wood floors.
Please help my dream come true again!" - Maureen



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

poekie wants a new slipcover to sharpen its nails

i guess it had to come to this. poekie the cat sends me an entry.

"To Whom It May Concern:

First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Poekie and I am a cat.

Yes, I'm sure you must find it most unusual to receive an e-mail written by a feline, however, desperate times call for desperate measures.

I live with 2 feline friends, Alice and Anita in a flat in Vila Nova de Gaia, a city on the outskirts of Porto, Portugal. There are 2 humans which I have allowed to share our space with us. They are generally good people, though I don't really like it when they interrupt my naps on the table when they want to eat, but hey, they bring home the bacon!!! I would also prefer it if they slept on the floor, sometimes it gets too tight for all 5 of us on the bed, but unfortunately, nails can only go so far...

Anyway, to cut to the chase... what is totally unacceptable is the fact that they realize that we badly need a new slipcover to sharpen our nails on (this one's definitely no fun anymore...) and do absolutely NOTHING about it!!! The cheapskate bastards!!! So this is our humble and desperate plea (or should I say MIAOW??) for a new slipcover... We may have to resort to drastic measures, like kicking our owners out, and you wouldn't want them to be homeless, would you??

To sum up, PLEASE SEND US A NEW SLIPCOVER TO DESTROY!!!


We would be extremely grateful...

Poekie.

PS: NOTE FROM OWNER (Sofia): I had to put food on the sofa for the photoshoot so I definitely deserve a new slipcover!!!!"



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

bree's sofa and the jealous cat

bree from canada has a jealous cat. the kitty does look mighty upset.

"In the picture you'll see my cat, Ursula, my 11 year old tortoise shell kitty who is extremely jealous of the new addition to our family...our 3 month old son Linus. As you can see she has taken out her frustrations on our living room sofa."






want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

sandra's slipcover request

a short entry from sandra. and no pets!

"The picture speaks for itself! As you see, I really need this. Let me win, please." - Sandra.






want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

chelsea's chocolate brown wish

a new addition to the family meant the end of the pristine white covers for chelsea. she's gunning for a chocolate brown set now.

"My name is Chelsea and my boyfriend and I love dogs in fact they are our passion. So when a friend of a friend needed to get rid of their beautiful great dane, we were more than happy to adopt him! His name is Neko and is the best dog ever, so well behaved and lovable!

The only problem, he loves our couches as much as we do, therefore, they are ruined! There are numerous stains all over, on every piece of furniture, a rip on the loveseat, and dog hair everywhere!

At first, we wanted a modern look and decided to get the white covers, however, now that we have him, it just is no longer practical, so we would love to have the ektorp chocolate brown covers, because they would warm the place up and hide some of the dog hair.

Now, let me say that because of Neko we are short on cash because of the unexpected costs we had with him, so as a first resort I attempted to dye the covers myself to save money and to get us by for awhile. Well, two days later, the footstool looks peach, the loveseat has dye stains all over it, and the rest is still hidden under several blankets. It would be so nice to enjoy our living room again without worrying about the stains and dog hair when we have company. So please, please, please, help us, we desperately need it. Thank you!

1. This is Neko. Isn't he gorgeous!!!

2. An example of some the stains, the pictures do not show the stains well, but trust me they are there!

3. The peach mess

4. A close up of the peach mess

5. The dye disaster

6. The beautiful before

7. And the covers we would love to have.




want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

the music cube plays on

deborah from australia unearths this ancient hack. i have never seen the music cubes, so it's great seeing some thing from way back then.

"i took this pic (below) last year because i planned to sell them - that's why it looks so tidy. however i just cannot part with these cabinets because they are so useful and solid - none of that sagging plastic-coated cardboard you get today.

they were known as music cubes (right, a sketch of what it used to look like). the top could be removed and used as a shelf inside so they could stack. like the shelves, it didn't go right to the back, so cables would hang down inside the cabinet and not get dusty - which is why i love them. the back stops short of the floor, so you can get an electricity cable inside.

they are so old - i bought mine about 14 years ago in the annual sale as they were phased out - they came with an optional plastic cover for your turntable.

i used them as open cabinets for a few years to house my cpu, powerboards etc, but got sick of having to get down on the floor to wipe under them. you could easily see the dust because the vacuum cleaner couldn't get in. also i bought a new mac and the cpu was too deep to fit with all the peripheral cables sticking out.

so i went to a kitchen place and from one sheet of laminate 1200 x 2400 (4x8) they cut one single big top, four doors with cup holes drilled for the hinges (all edge banded) and two little plinths to infill the fronts.

the two cabinets are 1220 x 650mm or about 4 x 2 feet - and still used for electronics and powerboards."

deborah also shared this cute little tip, if you collect glass eggs. the fler candle holder is just right for displaying them!

save john from his purple karlanda sofa?

john and mia tried to save their karlanda but turned it into barney instead. can bemz save them?

"To make a long story short, someone at home accidentally knocked over a mug of coffee all over the sofa which made it look like if someone had, excuse my language, pissed all over it. So we tried to dye it dark-brown using a textile color that turned it into a purple monster with black spots, we have been to Ikea but they stopped selling Karlanda and the cover.


Me and my girlfriend deserve to win a new slipcover."




want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

amanda's dingy klippan to get new slipcover?

this is from amanda, who has to live with a dachshund and a dingy klippan.

"We have had our Klippan for 2 years now, but it looks like more like 20. We have a dachshund (wiener dog) and bought the black cover for our sofa when we first got it, the cover lasted a few months. We bought the cover and it was never fitting quite right which enticed the dog to constantly pull the excess fabric, this lead to torn seams. The dog also has an addiction to Dingo bones, which means our black slightly holey slipcover was always covered in “bone crud” when dried this is not pretty. After a few washes we could not even get the cover back on the sofa. We have been using the sofa as is with the natural color canvas and a blanket thrown over. The sofa itself is now dingy and has its bone crud issues, we have cleaned it numerous times but it never quite works. Please help!!"





want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

hack bedside tables into music studio racks

paul from the uk has been hacking ikea furniture for years to use in his music studios. the rast bedside table makes a snug rack for music machines.

"over the years i've used their tables recut to make groovy desking, their tv stands to make drum machine plinths, but the main use i have at the mo is that every desktop rack unit i use is made from the bog-standard £9 ikea rast bedside table!

i usually drop the lower shelf a little just to fit more rack units in, but that's pretty easy. a couple of strips of racking later and they just fit a 19" rack module perfectly!"

click to see more photos of paul's music studio.

kate's storage ideas for a small kitchen

small spaces are always a challenge, especially in the kitchen. you have no place to store the 72pc dining set mom gave, let alone have room for a dining table. kate with some ikea hacking solved her small problem.

"i have a teeny tiny studio apartment with an even tinier kitchen, which has virtually no counter space or storage at all. i had no room for a full size table, and i needed something to do double duty. the only space available for all of this is the entrance to the kitchen area, less than 5' long, and i had to leave some space open to walk through!

the billsta square table top was the perfect shape - right width, right depth, and suitably kitchen-feeling. however, the base it was grouped with is a pedestal, which would mean losing all of the space underneath for storage. so i got 4 vika kaj legs instead. the table is pre-drilled for the pedestal base, but the wood is very soft and attaching the vika legs was easy. one caveat - the bolts that come with the legs are too long for the billsta table, you need to get shorter ones from a hardware store. the colors of the table and the legs are a perfect match for the franklin folding bar stool. i got a cheap andy rolling cart to put underneath, it's great for storing my utensils and my potatoes!

for a little more storage space, i put some jarpen shelves up on what seemed like an annoying small wall that juts out in the kitchen area. i had a magnetic spice rack set, which came with a square metal base that stands up on a counter, but to save space i used a magnetic strip from an ikea desk accessory that came with magnets for hanging notes in your workspace. i think the spices look even better this way than with the original holder.

my apartment is one of those "i live in an ikea catalog" type spaces; i'm particularly happy with the dignitet curtain system. It makes my little living space seem bigger, and less like i'm sleeping in my living room."

will yeonwoo win the case for a new klippan slipcover?

yeonwoo and jonathan submit their case for a new mud coloured klippan slipcover.

"Please find attached photographic evidence of why a Bemz slipcover is desperately needed in this household:

1) The culprits: Attila the Greyhound and Haggis the Scottish Deerhound. The victim: Klippan 2-Seater.

2) Attila is a Sofa Connoisseur. Here he is tasting and nibbling his favorite.

3) Furniture porn? Nay! Rather, this is what happens when you leave a puppy alone for two minutes.

4) We bought an iRoomba Scooba recently to mop the mud (from dirty paws) off of the floor. Unfortunately, it does not work on sofas. i.e., why I need a mud-colored slipcover.

5) But you see, the dogs really love this couch. We bought a dog blanket from Costco as a futile attempt to cover the stains and rips, but the blanket always ends up on the floor and the Klippan is left naked and shivering in its embarrassment.

6) IKEA does not make any slipcovers that I like. Bemz does. Imagine how beautiful this scene would be with a Bemz slipcover...

PS. We also have two cats."


want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

a pronomen bath tub surround

update! a few readers commented that the photos were gone. no idea how that happened - could have been hijacked or hotlinked. anyways, i've uploaded them again. and sorry, if this appears as a repeat post on your rss feed.

***

i like bathroom makeovers and here is a fantastic one from philip, featuring the ikea kitchen countertop, pronomen.

"here are some pictures showing how a tired 70's bathroom went wow with help from ikea's pronomen countertops and the numerar edging. finish was behandla wood oil.

for slightly more than the price of a good sheet of plywood the pronomen is a wonderful product to base a design on. total investment with 2 countertops and the bath surround was 4 pieces, around $300.

the bath surround and supports were constructed with a frame of pressure treated 2x4s. the pronomen was then cut and mounted to this frame which simplified things somewhat. the man breaking out the old tub is jose, a salvadorian. he did all the construction work including the very confusing angle and corner cuts! he got very excited about the project and added some very nice, slightly turned edges.

the tub and bidet are from duravit while the sinks are kohler. and the faucets are american standard. tiles are "in-stock" lowes travertine."

share your home on America at Home

i'm late on posting this notice. if you've not already read it on ikea's website, for this week only from september 17-23, you can join millions of americans and 100 of the nation's leading photographers to capture the emotions of home for a collaborative photography project.

capture distinctive rituals, traditions and intimate moments that transform your house into your home and upload them to the site. the very best pictures will be published in a coffee table book, a website and an exhibition to be shared around the nation and for all time.

log on to http://www.MyAmericaAtHome.com for more information and daily photo assignments like today's, which is mid-day madness:

"Who's home? Come one, come all. Show us your dashing kids, lovely friends or even that one strange black-crowned night heron who just built a nest in the front yard maple tree."

see photos taken by other participants here.

AmericaAtHome is produced by the same team that created the acclaimed Day in the Life and America 24/7 photo books and in partnership with ikea.

how to fit a larger tv into your old media unit

frank had a little predicament when he decided to upgrade his tv. it was too tall and too wide to fit into his existing borghamn media storage unit. what frank finally did was to add plexiglass "feet" to his borghamn to give the verticals a bit of a lift. here is the end result:

no instructions from frank, only self-explanatory process photos.

first published on this forum (in german).

pamela to win symmetry light olive green slipcover?

presenting pamela's break-up sofa. the boyfriend's gone but she's still in love with nikkala.

"I'm a busy 33 year old artist living in a tiny house with 3 rambunctious kitties. This is my beloved couch:

This is a Nikkala couch and this is how I present it to friends... except with 'mood lighting'. The throw covers the arm rest which my cats have torn up beyond hope.

I bought this at Ikea in 2001. I had just moved into a lovely loft apartment with my boyfriend at the time. The apartment, unfortunately was built so that it was impossible to move our old furniture in, which was fine, as it was my parent's basement hand-me-down floral printed monstrosity of a couch. So, we went out to search for more compact furniture and Ikea was ideal. Ikea is half an hour away from where we live. We travelled up there, picked out this couch and arranged for delivery on the day that we moved in. We liked it because it was comfortable, it was high backed which was conducive to lounging, and it had a cool name. Say it with me... Nikkaaaaaaaaala... it sounds sexy.

The Nikkala was bigger than we thought. The movers had to use super strength and acrobatics to bring it up the steep fire escape of the house and through the fire escape exit and even then it was a close fit through the door. The couch was moved in safely and we enjoyed it and the loft for two years until we broke up (I'm pretty sure it happened on this couch).

In the break up, he got the car, and I got the furniture. As soon as I could, I took a big step and purchased my very first house by myself. So, we had to do the whole crazy move again with the couch, down those same steep fire escape stairs.

I've been slowly fixing up my house and decorating it to my tastes as time and money allow. I've been hesitant to replace the couch because I still think it's so comfortable. It's perfect for lounging on, watching television or squeezing all my friends on at parties. And it's also great for friends and family to crash on for when they visit from out of town. I've even crashed on it from time to time after spending late nights watching T.V. and as far as sofas go, this is pretty comfortable to sleep on.

However, through repeated washings, parties, my cats and other unfortunate accidents (my bathtub leaked, which soaked through the floors and onto the couch in the living room beneath it), it's really beginning to show it's age. There are water stains from the ceiling leak on it. The colour on the seats have faded from wear. My cats have had their way with it time and time again.

I have considered finding another slip cover for the couch but to my dismay I found out that Ikea had discontinued the Nikkala awhile ago and slip covers were not available for it anymore. I've been entertaining the notion of getting one custom made but I couldn't afford the money or the time to find a good upholstery shop who can do it for me. Then I found Bemz, which really made me happy because now there was a chance that I could keep this awesome couch and fix her up so she's good as new again.

This couch has been with me through some of the best and worst times in my life. This couch has seen danger, excitement, heartbreaks, first kisses, friendship, and fun. I would hate to have to let it go just because of a few tears and stains on the surface. However, it's time for the old ratty blue slip cover to go now, as it also represents a different time in my life and I need new colours to represent the present and possibly the future. So with that in mind, this is the Bemz slipcover I'd like for it:

I honestly could not decide on one colour or pattern. The "Symmetry - Light Olive Green" won out because it's a fun pattern and it would go well with my new style and colour scheme. I would not let the cats wreck it like they did the last one and I'd be so good to it like it would be good for me."



want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

diy a room divider from ivar units

shirley sent me her room divider hack using the ivar side unit.

she says: "i needed a portable screen to a) give visiting guests sleeping on the sofa bed some privacy and b) screen my somewhat messy work area from both my and my roommate's visiting clients. (i'm a graphic designer and the room-mate is a musician/composer/producer)

so far, this has taken about twelve hours to assemble.
2 hours - drilling and screwing on the six piano hinges.
10 hours - measuring, ripping , fitting and sewing the canvas. i had to redo some bits a few times as i made mistakes.

i estimate another 10 hours to pin fit and sew the canvas edges, then another afternoon to prime the canvas. then i have to design the graphic and paint it."

she used piano hinges to join ivar units in a fan-fold formation. then sewed a canvas cover for it, with velcro to hold the fabric taut. she has yet to finish the raw edges and complete the large scale graphic on the canvas.

view more of shirley's room divider in her flickr set. also in the set is a corridor carpet from 3 flokati rugs.

nancy to win matching slipcovers?

nancy from the netherlands has second hand sofas that desperately need new slipcovers. will she get a set that finally matches?

nancy says, "Last year we bought a second hand Goteborg sofa and the cover was very bleached due to the sun. It was an olive green one. The first (relatively cheap) cover we could find was a white one (also second hand).

That is not very practical with 4 Maine Coon cats and two little children (Noa aged 5 and Maik aged 2). And I have to wash it very often because you can see every little stain.

This year we bought (also second hand because we know the quality of Ikea is very good) two Karlanda chairs. On these chairs is a fabric which is very soft but also very sticky (and with cigarette burn marks from previous owners). You can imaging that cat hairs sticking to it and it is not very nice to look at.

Therefore we would really like some new covers, so I send pictures of two possibilities."





want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

unclutter with a norrebo unit

erik from sweden found the norrebo shelving unit perfect for hiding computer cables and wires.

erik writes: "i needed a way to manage a cluster of wires and cables from computer items and modified an ikea norrebo shelving unit to do the job. first, i drilled holes into the top of the unit for ventilation.

then, i drilled four large holes using a door lock drill bit to pass the wires in and out.

i added a power strip to the back using black tie wraps.

it neatens and still makes everything readily accessible."

update! ryan's version using the norrebo drawer unit.
"i saw the 'unclutter with a norrebo unit' post, and thought it was a great idea. then i saw ikea has another version of the cube with drawers instead of the front flap thing. so i did about the same thing as the original poster, minus the 'vents' in the top. it worked out perfectly. the bottom drawer now houses our wireless router and the cable modem, and the top drawer has magazines we used to keep in a basket beside our couch. as an added bonus, we now also have some place to put the remotes so they are not sitting on the coffee table all the time.


directions:
i used 1-3/4 inch door lock drill bit to drill the 3 cable holes, and then used a smaller bit for the zip ties. you have to make sure the cable holes are between the top of the rear end of the bottom drawer, and the bottom of the rear end of the top drawer. the third hole is really there just to give it a bit more air.

also, i had to make sure that the 'zipper' part of the zip ties were on the inside and rotated to the top to make it a little more refined and so that the top drawer would close completely.

and last, make sure you are using a corded drill or a fully charged cordless version. mine was running out of juice, and make a small mess of the 'white' side of the back piece; the 'paint' flaked off a bit around the holes."

lots of photos? here's an easy way to show them off

rose creates a gallery of photographs with the very cheap raket frames.

rose says, "my raket frame collage is made of 56 4"x6" raket frames - 3 for $1.50. all i did was mount four 9-foot-long strips of 1" thick wood to my dining room wall, and slide in the frames. i like that the color and precise dimensions of each frame varies, and that i can switch out my pictures at any time because the frames aren't mounted to anything, they just rest between the strips of wood."

[added 27 May 2008]

allie's photo collage
she gles a bunch of ikea nyttja frames using superglue and then strips of duct tape as reinforcement. some frames are arranged next to each other and some layered on top. just remember to leave enough room to access the back of the frames so you can change the photos.

see more on her blog.

Updated! February 25, 2009
Amy wanted to created a wall collage like the ones using the Ram frames.



Amy says, "I painted them and mapped out their arrangement first with graph paper, then with painter's tape on the wall. If I had to do it again, I'd probably use a big sheet of butcher paper on the floor, mark the places for the frames on the paper, and then hang the paper on the wall and nail the hangers/hooks through the paper.



Using painter's tape to mark the placement of the frames on the wall took time, but it was worth it! I spent about $35 on frames instead of ten times that by buying a system of frames.



Click to see more of Amy's Ram frames wall collage.

simone and bubo to win eggshell blue sofa slipcover?

another cat and owner needing a new slipcover! which is why i only keep fish.

simone says: "Well, I'm sure the first thing you notice about the slipcover in the picture is that... there is none.

I found a cat (he of the glowing eyes in the picture) in the garage of my apartment building. He was meowing pitifully, obviously starving, and filthy dirty. As I tried coaxing him into a cat carrier to take him home, someone from my building walked by. She recognized the cat as her neighbors' and went upstairs to tell them I'd found their cat. She came back minutes later to tell me that they knew it was out there; they'd let it out because they didn't want it any more.

I was determined to catch the cat and give him a good home. It took a week of sitting in the garage in the evenings, feeding him, and eventually petting him before I could get him in the cat carrier and bring him up to my apartment. When I got him home, I cleaned him up, fed him, and named him Bubo (short for Bubonic -- his fur color and his condition made him seem like the Black Death when I found him!). He was a good cat... until he had an accident or two on the couch.

I took the stained cover off my Ektorp sofa and washed it to get the stains and smell out. I risked tumble-drying it because there's no way for me to line dry the entire cover in my apartment with no balcony or yard. And unfortunately... it disintegrated. The lining of the cover for the body of the couch fell apart, causing the cover to pull away from the sofa and crumple onto the floor next to it. The smell wouldn't come out of the cushion covers, either. I ended up tossing the entire cover.

I took Bubo to the vet and got him fixed. Since then, he's been a model cat citizen. But his surgery cost so much that I couldn't afford to replace the couch cover. I put a blanket over it (as you can see). It's been working out all right so far, and the smell in the cushions has gone away.

This contest is the perfect opportunity to get my living room looking good again. I picked the Bolster Stripe Eggshell Blue pattern because the beige will lighten up the room, the blue will match the rug (also from IKEA!), and the black stripes will help disguise any kitty fur Bubo sheds while snuggling up with me."




want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.
click here to view all entries.

turn servers into planters

monkeyengine has a neat idea of turning serving bowls into hanging planters. since i've never met a plant hanger i liked this definitely opens up a lot of possibilities for me and my balcony.

monkeyengine writes: "so, if you're like me, you're fond of hanging things. bikes, tables, anything you can suspend from the ceiling rather than set on the floor is a big plus in my world. it follows that i'm rather partial to hanging plants. the problem is that most hanging pots/baskets/etc. are macramé monstrosities, coconut fiber sieves or otherwise fall short of my expectations for decor.

which is where ikea figures in. the blanda blank series of bowls seems to beg for repurposing. so i did. with a bit of hardware from my other endeavors, i made slings from stainless cables and with some epoxy, eye straps and shackles the bowls became the hanging plant containers i've always wanted."

a chocolate slipcover for liz and cthulhu?

we have entries!

liz andrade & her cat, cthulhu need help to salvage their klippan sofa. if you think liz and kitty deserve the prize, give them a vote.


need some more reasons? ...ok, let's see, i'm sure i could get this to an even dozen.

7. i'm so over the red.
8. cat hair will show up less on the baroque chocolate brown pattern.
9. the chocolate brown will match my hair, and how cute would that be?
10. i'm a web designer and programmer from seattle, i spend a lot of time on my laptop sitting on my couch.
11. i was very unpopular as a kid.
12. please.

the 2 bemz slipcovers (she can't decide!) she would love to win.




want to win $500 to spend at bemz? here's how to send in your entry.

a kandell pilaster shelf look-a-like for $39.99

richard from vancouver, canada, gets inspired by john kandell's pilaster shelf, a classic designed in 1989.

"i was recently thumbing through the april 2007 issue of metropolitan home when i came across a bathroom hi–low feature showing a book shelf by john kandell for a swedish company kallemo. it was being used to house towels in the high end example. i found the book shelf and it's application intriguing and thought it would be an excellent solution in my bathroom. the example was 920.00 to the trade and more for full retail. this was definitely not in my budget so off to ikea to see what i might hack.

john kandell's pilaster shelf (left) and
ikea's varde free standing kitchen shelf (right)

i found the varde wall shelf for $59.00 (US $39.99). it is pre-drilled with all the necessary hardware. cut down the shelves to equal the distance on both sides from the center mount (8 3/8" width in total ) and cut the shelf depth to 7½". use the two back spines cut to the length you need and dowel together to form one long spine while being mindful that the pre-drilled shelf mounting holes remain equally distanced from top to bottom after making the joint. paint with 2 coats of melamine paint or your preferred finish and mount to the wall using inserts and the pre-drilled mounting holes.

i was quite pleased with result and the price as i already had the black melamine paint left over from another project."

what to do when you no longer love orange

so kim got sick of neon orange, which was all the rage a couple of years back. thankfully, it's nothing a little mod podge can't fix. here's how she saved neon orange kaxas dvd shelf.

"i had 3 of these ugly neon orange kaxas (i believe that is their name, i don't think they sell them anymore) dvd shelves and i just wasn't feeling the neon anymore. so, with 2 rolls of martha stewart crafts wrapping paper in endive flourish and a small jar of mod podge i decoupaged them into these beauties!

i had to take them apart to get the doors off, but it was relatively easy and the doors still open and close just fine."

make a light tent for small object photography

when mike g sent me a link from a site called evil mad scientist, i was sufficiently intrigued. alas, no ikea-world-domination-scheme in sight but a clever hack.

lenore created a photography light tent out of an ikea lamp shade. shooting a small object inside the light tent minimizes reflections, shadows and backgrounds. brilliant!

all you need is a skimra lamp shade with a hole on its side for your camera lens to peep through. the lampshade is already a diffuser and the curved surface provides the seamless background. it gets pretty good shots too (see samples below).

see more of the evil mad scientist's lampshade light tent.

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ikeahacker on nyt!
much thanks to penelope for the wonderful feature on ikea hacking and this blog. i am absolutely thrilled to read their stories and 'see' some of the hackers! click here to read the article and view slideshow. yes, there's a bit about the real me too. :)

win a customized bemz slipcover

so you have an old ikea sofa or armchair looking like some thing the cat dragged in? you're in luck then! cause you're about to get to give your sofa/armchair a second chance.

i am very happy to announce a brand new contest from ikeahacker and bemz, the company that sells removable, washable slipcovers for sofas, armchairs and cushions, tailor made for the ikea range.

want to know what you can win?

$500 to spend at bemz!

now that i've got you excited, here are the easy steps to take part:

1. take a photo/video of your tatty old ikea sofa/armchair. ideally, your photo should highlight the condition of its current slipcover, with particular focus on rips, tears, stains or other signs of its eventful existence on planet earth.

example: if you have a klippan, take a photo of its current condition.

2. go to bemz.com and pick a new slipcover for your ikea sofa/armchair. save a photo of your selection by clicking on “zoom in” and then right-clicking (mac users should control-click) to save the image to your computer.

example: the gustavian flowers black for klippan

3. write or tell us your heartfelt reasons why you deserve a new bemz slipcover.

4. finally, email your photos, the image you downloaded from bemz.com, and your reasons why your sofa or armchair needs a new bemz slipcover to ikeahacker [at] gmail [dot] com. please write "second chance contest" on the subject line.

all submissions will be posted on ikeahacker. readers can vote for their favourites. votes do carry some weight but the final winner will be decided by our judges - bemz’ in-house designer, katarina wiklund, susan martin of ikeafans and of course, moi.

so, bowl us over with your reasons and we may just give your sofa/armchair a second chance. send your photos/videos in by 5pm PDT on friday, october 5, 2007. the winning entry will be announced on october 10, 2007.

click for more information about bemz.

contest terms
the prize, up to a value of USD500, is only redeemable for bemz products and shipping costs at www.bemz.com, and is not exchangeable for cash. should the prize winner’s total order invoice exceed USD500, any additional costs over USD500 will be borne by the winner. no cash will be awarded should the prize winner’s total order invoice be less than USD500. only one prize can be won.

$20 customizable laptop stand

i've featured a few laptop desk and stands before. haymon adds this neat idea to the list.

"i bought slinga brackets for $9 each, a wooden bar for $2 and screwed them together as a stand for my macbook.

the big advantage is that you can customize it exactly to the size of your laptop."

sofa table from salvaged ikea table legs

erika chapin, editor of cribcandy and popgloss sends me this gorgeous sofa table made from bamboo plywood and salvaged imfors legs. love love love the simple sleek lines.

"my husband and i found 2 imfors tables at a yard sale last month for $15.00 each. he took a 3/4 inch 4x10 sheet of amber bamboo plywood and cut it straight down the middle, lightly sanded and finished with a clear coat. he then used all six of the legs from the imfors table to create this perfect sofa table for our low leather sofa."

shelf and brackets make a cool coffee table

if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll may have noticed that i shiny stuff. so i'm loving the look of this stainless steel coffee table. adriano tells me that it's his first attempt at hacking ikea too. not bad at all.

"i made a coffee table out of a mossby stainless steel shelf and, since i couldn't find any table legs i liked that were the size i needed, i ended up getting bjarnum shelf brackets and screwing them to the bottom of the shelf to use as the legs."

see more of adriano's stainless steel coffee table on flickr.

james' minimalist desk - get the how to!

after the rave reviews on his minimalist work and music station, james created a how-to pdf for us diy hungry folks. thanks james! we are eternally grateful.

i've uploaded it to scribd and embedded the file below (scroll down to view entire pdf and move the slider to zoom in) or go to this link to view and download a copy.

enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!