Mirrored vanity desk

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2008...anity-desk.html

Jule inherited an old piece of furniture which she deftly upgraded into a mirrored vanity. Guess mirrors and vanity do go well together.

Jule says, "I was given an old student desk which my parents bought at a garage sale before I was born. I never liked it, but it was really functional as a vanity in my bedroom. So, one day it occurred to me that it had the right shape to convert into a piece of mirrored furniture.

So, I went to Ikea for mirrors (Lots mirrors: 4 pack for $5) and new knobs (Antik: 2 pack for $5). A few cans of spray paint and some black grout from Home Depot (I was afraid to drill through the mirror, so I left a space for the knobs and filled it with grout.) All totaled it was about a $50 investment. Not including the chair, which I got the Borje chair from the “As Is” department at Ikea for $30 (the white upholstery was dirty, but nothing that a little cleaning didn't resolve.)

I am pleased with the results and even my husband who hates mirrored furniture likes it.

Instructions:
· Remove knobs
· Lightly sand surface (especially the top which was damaged)
· Spray paint with glossy black paint
· Measure and cut mirrors using a mirror cutter (it take a lot of practice – my price includes the 3 tiles I destroyed trying to figure out how to cut it. Then my husband figured it out on the 1st try, so I made him cut the rest.)
· Adhere the mirror with liquid nails made for mirrors
· Fill the seams with black grout
· Put on new hardware

Stark hall unit as a room divider

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2008...om-divider.html

Galloni Michele from Italy modifies a Stark hall unit to serve as a landing strip divider.


Galloni says, "I modified it by adding an aluminum frame (1.5 x 3 mm) around the unit. The two legs are connected to the bottom via bolts before mounting the legs in place. The frame is connected to the Stark by wood screws, except for the left side, for which I used silicone. The hacked Stark is mounted to the wall by drilling on the right beam three holes shaped like an inverted V and hanging it to three wall screw. For safety reasons I have added an additional support screwed to the wall on top."

Hack a window seat

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2008...indow-seat.html

Amy shares her window seat with us, made from Lack shelving units.

She writes, "We used two Lack shelves to create seating for our playroom. The Lack shelves are super-sturdy, so we turned them on their sides to create window seats. We cut foam padding to fit - definitely a two-person job. We used an electric knife, and I can't imagine anything else that would work. I used the book, Singer: Sewing for the Home, to help with the how-to of the upholstery project.

Ikea didn't carry canvas baskets for either of these shelves, and I thought canvas would be much more practical than Ikea's plastic, paper, or wicker options. So, I found canvas baskets at Wal-Mart. (It was really hard to find what I was looking for!) Wal-Mart seems to carry these sizes in different colors every year during January/February. We're enjoying our new setup!"

See more of Amy's window seat.

Umanonion's hacks

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2008...ions-hacks.html

Umanonion sends me 2 hacks. I really like the checkerboard look on the armchair (name forgotten).

Umanonion says, "The chair was covered in a plain silver/grey fabric which I removed and replaced with black nylon for the seat and then wove black and white 4" wide strips of elastic. The white strips are closed loops as they just slid over the frame. The black strips have velcro closings at the bottom.

The other is a set of the Miriam lights (link no longer available) that came with a basic plastic sheet with the image of a flower, leaf or similar motif (yawn). I had squares of 1/4" thick plexi cut, covered them with white rice paper, and then floated squares of tin centered on the plexi (I used glue sticks cut to about 1/3" long to float the tin. On top of that, again using a piece of glue stick I put test tubes, held by a piece of wire.

In the test tubes I would put either real roses or ones that I made from ribbon and floral wire and tape. I also wired the units so that they worked together in a checkerboard pattern and put them on 2 dimmer switches. (I had removed the individual power switches from the lights before hanging them as they got in the way.)"