expedit 2x(2×2) = 2×4

Materials: 2 expedit 2×2 , some piece of wood

Description: I ask myself how to create an original 2×4 Expedit shelving unit, less expensive that the original one. So i try to join 2 small Expedit. (In France, Expedit 2×2 is 20 €, Expedit 2×4 is 55€)

To do what you see in the photos, I have to

– Fix top parts with medium plank
– Fix bottom parts with long plank (be sure you will not see middle holes)
– Fix the central parts with medium plank
– Create 2 holes in each side to “encase” the central parts
– Paint the screw in white

This is really easy to do and you can change the position of the colors.

LackLed

Materials: Lack shelves, Dioder multicolor LED light strips, angle brackets, circular saw, drill, screwdriver, paint, caulk

Description: We wanted a shelf or table unit to fill a narrow vertical space adjacent to the bed. My wife conceived the fusion of two Lack shelves in an uneven cross, mounted off the wall to make the shelf appear to float. We used two Lack shelves, a 43″ and a 78″, made two hemi-lateral cuts in order to fit the pieces together, and mounted the horizontal shelf using the standard IKEA Lack bracket, though keeping it off the wall by 2″.

The vertical shelf wasn’t going to support any significant weight, so we ditched the standard bracket and used a simple angle bracket at either end to hold it in place. The shelf brackets were primed and painted to match the wall color to give the effect of the floating shelf. The seam where the two shelves meet was finished with painter’s caulk. Finally, two sets of Dioder LED lights were mounted on the back, giving the floating shelf a cool glow. A few lazy nights to pl

Hallway

Materials: Besta shelf units, Inreda drawers

Description: I wanted something in our front hallway where we could store shoes, umbrellas, gloves, etc; put the mail and house keys; and have somewhere to sit when putting on or removing shoes (we like to keep the house shoe-free as much as possible).

I bought three Besta shelf units — two singles, one double — and screwed them all together in an L shape. The open shelves at the bottom hold shoes, reusable shopping bags and umbrellas. I installed two Inreda glass drawers up top to hold smaller objects, such as gloves, scarves, sunglasses, bicycle lights, etc. Up top I have some baskets for mail and keys, and I found three square cushions at a futon store that perfectly fit the width of the bench.

~ Ali, Melbourne, Australia

pattern

Materials: MACKIS minichest

Description: For using the whole amount of storing space im my BILLY, I bought a MACKIS minichest. After a littly while, I thought it was too boring, even to live behind closed doors and so I used my soldering iron to apply patterns on it.

Step-by-step:

1. I sized the chests and planned the patterns on my PC. I used a collection of Photoshop Pencils and a nice artwork collection of a german comic artist to create the design for the chests.
2. I printed the template and copied it to the chest by using tracing paper and pencil.
3. I switched on my soldering iron and traced the pattern into the wood. (Because of the heavy work for your eyes, consider 2 to 3 evenings for finishing that work.)

DoorTable

Materials: Table (Grimle serie)

Description: An old rotten door becomes a table.

First I removed the rotten part en snored the door in a rectangle.
Then I filled the center of the door with old wood.
I removed the tabletop from the Ikea table and tightened the table legs at the door.

Take a look at my new table!!!

TV bench

Materials: Bonde TV Bench with hutch and 3 bookshelves with 2 doors, saw, drill, palm sander, stain, polyurethane, fabric from Jo-Ann, double-stick crafing tape, window film from Home Depot

Description: I recently upgraded from an old small television to a new huge one, and I needed a new entertainment center to put it in. I finally settled on a Bonde system on IKEA, in large part because it was inexpensive on clearance. The base system was the birch color, which I wasn’t thrilled with for my decor, and the hutch was wide enough but not quite tall enough for the new TV, so I thought I could hack it to make it taller. I bought the TV bench, hutch, and two side bookshelves with doors to store my DVD collection. On the way out I found another bookshelf without doors in the as-is section and nabbed it (at half off the clearance price!) to provide extra pieces for the hutch extension.

First, I dismantled the sacrificial as-is bookshelf. The top became a stain-test piece, the shelves were set aside to use in the final bookshelves, eight-inch pieces were cut off the sides to extend the height of the sides of the TV hutch, and an eight-inch strip of the backerboard was also cut off for the hutch. The holes in the hutch sides were moved up to accommodate the new mounting location of the shelves at the top of the hutch, and extra holes were drilled in the new extensions to match the hole spacing for the glass shelves in the hutch.

Next, I spread all the pieces out on cardboard on my garage floor. Cam pegs, dowel pegs, and random plasticware from my cupboard helped hold pieces off the ground as necessary for edge and double-side staining. A light sanding of all the surfaces with 220 grit helped prepare the very thin birch veneer for stain, but it was easy to oversand. After wiping down all the dust, I applied two coats of Minwax stain in Red Chestnut color, though getting the color smooth was finicky work due to that thin thin veneer. I followed that up with two coats of satin polyurethane to protect the stain. It turned out that the recommendation to sand between coats was a bad one for this project due to the thin layer of stain, but luckily most of the parts I discovered that on aren’t very visible. I left all the surfaces that would be inside closed spaces the original birch color to save work and make the inside surfaces brighter. The doors ended up taking the stain differently than the rest of the pieces, but I did my best to even them out.

After everything had dried really well, I assembled everything. The hutch side extensions were fastened to the top of the hutch sides with glue and dowel pegs. In retrospect, I should have done that before staining to ensure even colors, but live and learn. The fact that the extension joint lines up with the top of the bookshelves helps camouflage it. The backerboard extension was nailed onto the back of the hutch above the thick TV-mount backerboards and below the shelves, wehre it’s pretty well hidden by the TV.

Finally, I applied a translucent window film with a vine pattern (available at Home Depot and other vendors) to the bookshelf door windows, and on the backside of the doors I used double-stick crafting tape to attach pieces of midnight blue organza fabric with little gold nubbins scattered across it like stars in the night sky (found at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft around Christmas).

DVDs and the subwoofer are stored discreetly in the bookshelves; the TiVo, VCR, and DVD player are mounted in the TV hutch for easy remote control; the big drawer in the TV unit has videotapes on one side and video games and oversize DVD sets on the other; and the door area of the TV hutch hides video game consoles, a UPS, and video and network switching equipment.

~ Amy, Houston, Texas, US

Relax

Materials: 2 Stefan chairs

Description: The chair is made from two Stefans, one cut in half and a 85mm slice of the other inserted into the middle of the first one. This makes the chair wider and more suitable for a rocking chair with arms. The front legs and rails of the second chair are used as the arms; the back legs of the second chair are used as the rockers. The resulting chair is comfortable and rocks surprisingly well.

~ Laura Mays, Connemara, Ireland

Sink Vanity

Materials: Groland Butcher Block Island

Description:

When we moved into our condo, the one not so great feature was the tiny master bathroom – 45 sq. ft. total! In order to shoehorn in a 2 sink vanity (and not break the bank in doing it), we decided to make our own.
(1) After assembly of the butcher block island, we cut two sink holes in the top. This was no small feat since the top is a real butcher block about 2 inches thick!
(2) We stained the whole piece w/clear lacquer to protect it from bathroom moisture;
(3) Spray painted side of butcher block and lattice shelf (for a li’l pop);
(4) We hand-tiled the whole butcher block top with li’l iridescent glass tiles (which match the shower accent tile);
(5) Installed two drop-in stainless steel sinks and single lever/hole faucets.
(6) Had a plumber hook up a T-line junction from the one existing water line/sink drain and voila!

Workstation

Materials: Numerar Countertop Double Sided & Vika Moliden Legs

Description: I needed a really wide work station that would let me put up all my music production equipment but also look great while it was all put away.
I found a similar desk for 2800 dollars and decided that it was way too much and I could build something better.

Materials:

Ikea: VIKA AMON tabletop (150 x 75cm), EKBY BJÃRNUM bracket, EKBY JÃRPEN shelf (119 x 28cm), MALM nightstand (white), 2 x DIODER multicolor LED-strips.

Non-Ikea: HP Touchsmart600 (computer), Vogel’s Wallmount, 2 x Aluminium decorative strips (100cm), One ordinary shelf bracket, 2 hinges, Enermax Crystal aluminium keyboard

Description:

First I made a frame with 4 slats on the back of the tabletop to move it about an inch from the wall. Then I made a hole in the tabletop for the flatscreen-wallmount. (The tabletop isn’t strong enough to hold the screen, so I put the Vogel’s wallmount straight on the concrete wall.) After that I put the DIODER LED-strips on the frame behind the tabletop and hung the tabletop on the wall with wooden slats, a bit like this.

I took the EKBY JÃRPEN shelf and sawed a piece out of it to fit over the tabletop. Then I made a little cupboard for the cables from an old MALM nightstand and screwed it to the EKBY shelf. I made a door in the cupboard with 2 hinges and a little shelf inside.

Then I put the shelf on the wall with one EKBY BJARNUM bracket and one ordinary bracket inside the cupboard.

And as a finishing touch I put the aluminium decorative strips between the EKBY shelf and the tabletop.

I hope you’ll like the result!