The amazing IVAR balcony shed / garden storage

This is an IKEA hack of a 3-in-1 balcony shed functioning as a privacy screen, planting station and garden storage.

List of items for our balcony shed :

• 1 IVAR cabinet (we used the 20″ deep)
• 2 IVAR side units (the same depth as the cabinet, the height depends on your balcony height)
• 1 OBSERVATOR cross brace
• nylon thread
• planters, soil and climbing plants

Last spring we moved in an apartment that has a glass balcony. Nice for light and views but not so much for privacy.

To isolate the view from the neighbours we needed a screen; at the same time I wanted a storage space to hide away the clutter that would otherwise been visible from the street. IVAR to the rescue!

The idea is to use an IVAR cabinet as storage space, while the the posts of the side units are used to thread a mesh for climbing plants.

Instructions:

1. Assemble the IVAR, cabinet at the bottom. Leave the upper part without any shelves. Use a cross behind the cabinet for stability. (in the picture below the growing plants are still small)

2. Use a sturdy nylon thread to create a mesh at the upper rear side of the unit. I fixed the thread at one side with a simple knot, then I zig-zagged going up and down the upper part of the posts. Fix the end with another solid knot.

Use some force while tightening the thread as it also serves to bring the two posts together to keep them parallel (these tend to splay as there are no upper shelves) .

3. Select your planters and fill them with soil. I have set a big one on the floor beside the cabinet with enough soil to have the climbing plants grow tall.

4. Plant fast-growing climbing plants according to climate and sunshine. In my case I used jasmine and hop in the big planter. On the cabinet I set a small planter with already grown Rocktrumpets. You will have to “help” the climbing plants at the beginning by fixing them at the bottom of the thread mesh.

5. Customize the interior of the cabinet according to your needs. I used two shelves for storage and added hooks for the gardening tools.

I also added some hooks on the side of the posts to keep scissors out of reach of the kids.

And voilà!

We had the shed for a few months now and I am very happy with it. We did not paint it nor waterproof it as we liked the idea of raw wood. If you want a more durable option you can easily treat the cabinet with oil, sealant or paint before step 1. I imagine this hack would be perfect with the new metallic cabinet as well.

I use the top of the cabinet as working space to pot the plants. The shed has also become the favourite observation deck for our cat She spends hours hidden in the leaves spying birds.

Here is how our garden storage will look with the nylon threads. (Photo is a proposed path of the nylon threads)

~ by Francesca, Lausanne, Switzerland

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#75: It’s The Most Clutterful Time Of The Year

As much as we love the holidays, all the “stuff” that goes along with it (gifts, decor, things piling up on every surface) can get overwhelming. So we’re sharing how we’re approaching things differently in an effort to maintain the joy of the season. And one of the most common questions we get is “help me pinpoint my style – I’m all over the place!” so we’re spelling out exactly how we do that when we’re feeling pulled in more than one decorating direction, which actually happens more than you might think. Plus, Sherry revisits a controversial opinion that she passionately shared last week and John declares war on screen time.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and TuneIn Radio – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player. 

What’s New

• We’ve got more photos of our holiday decorations coming at you in a big ol’ blog post tomorrow, but above is a good example of how we’ve aimed to simplify things this year. That’s Sherry’s faux magnolia garland that she scored earlier in the year, some stockings she got last year at Target, and an elephant chain from World Market that she purchased a few years ago and cut into little stocking tassels (now they have this bird one which would work too).
• And here’s the Moment app that I’ve been using to keep my phone-usage time in check. You can see some screenshots of my recent tracking below (the gray timeline dots on the far right represent short “pickups”)
• The “Bored & Brilliant” course I followed via the app also has a book and podcast series, if you’d rather check it out that way.

Updates

• You can hear our original conversation about “lamping” in Episode #71, including its technical definition, along with the Urban Dictionary and Online Slang ones.
• Episode #64 is the one all about paying off our mortgage that we referenced in today’s episode for anyone who wants to go back and listen.
• And it was just last week’s Episode #74 where Sherry made her passionate plea to save the old houses (apparently not so clearly – ha!) and attempted to de-villainize foundation issues when you’re on the real estate hunt.

Finding Your Style

Sources, clockwise from top left: 1 / 2 / 3

• Above are some of the beach house inspiration photos we assembled for a post last year about our style direction. It’s really interesting to see how similar our actual beach house rooms are to those initial images! Here’s how the beach house’s back bedroom is looking these days, which isn’t an exact replica of any of the inspiration photos above, but certainly carries the same vibe.

striped duvet / blue pillow / night stand / gold frame / headboard / art over bed / sconce / similar basket

• And here are some of the bathrooms we had pinned. Colorful tub? Check. Wood vanity? Check. Hex patterned floor? Check. All of those things came to fruition at the beach house.

• And as promised, here are some of the shots that Sherry originally pinned, but that didn’t make it into her ever-elusive “top three.” They’re generally more colorful and eclectic than the rooms we ended up favoring (although there is gray trim in that large picture, which did come to be in all of the downstairs rooms!).

Sources: stairs / living room / reading nook

We’re Digging

• You can see our new Amazon Echo in the photo above. I bought this one on Black Friday with my birthday gift cards from the fam, and scored this $40 smart plug as a $5 add-on with my order. We used the plug on our Christmas tree, so you can see it in action in this Instagram video.  
• I forgot to mention in the episode that we chose the Echo over the Google Home because music was one of the main things we thought we’d use it for (we were right!) and the Echo is reported to have a better speaker. It has also been around longer than the Google Home so it apparently has more “skills” than Google has so far.
• If you want to score some throwback books for your kids, here’s a bunch of Goosebumps sets that are really cheap. They’ve also got similar sets for like Boxcar Children and The Babysitter’s Club if you’re looking for something less spooky.

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to The Annie Selke Companies for sponsoring this episode. Don’t forget to use the code YHL15 to get 15% off any order at AnnieSelke.com/YHL, including bedding, furniture, rugs, and more!

Thanks for listening, guys!

*This post contains affiliate links*

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Wardrobe light for PAX

Wardrobe light with Trådfri GU10 lamps compatible with Philips Hue. I made it to light up my PAX wardrobe externally. Lamps can be dimmed to a minimum.

Nymåne spot lights art. nr. 703.377.01

Trådfri GU10 art. nr. 803.652.70
Compatible with Philips Hue.

Photo: IKEA.com

8 mm plywood 67 mm x 267 mm with a 35 mm hole in 1 end rounded after spots diameter.
12 mm plywood 60 mm x 67 mm for distance over sliding doors.

Shrinkable tubing

Electric cable 2 x 0.75

De-mount the spots

Mount the big plastic plate on the plywood.

Mount the spot and lock the spot to the plywood by screwing the small plate to the spot.

Place the small plywood on the big one. For distance to the sliding doors.

Connect the wires by soldering them, and use shrinkable tubing to isolate the wires from each other. Use 10mm x 8mm (I’m not sure) cable tray to hold the cables.

Lastly mount the plywood holder to the top of the PAX wardrobe and voilà! Spot lighting for the wardrobe.

~ by Ervin Olsen

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A kid’s bookshelf with customized front

I wanted to use a “MOSSLANDA” picture ledge from IKEA as a book shelf for our little peanut. But I wanted to give it a custom front for a unique look. You can use any kind of shape to customize yours, maybe waves, balloons, leaves or a skateboard. I used the shape of a cloud. We painted the wall in a light blue. The pink cloud would fit perfectly into the “cloud corner”.

Materials and Tools:

• Pencil
• Scissors
• Cardboard
• Plywood
• Tape
• Hammer
• Grinding machine or paper (a machine would be better)
• Mask and gloves
• Jigsaw
• Saw
• Drill
• Wood dowel
• Dowel marker
• Wood glue
• Brush
• Pink paint
• Screw clamps

Optional:

• Router for finishing the edges
• Cutting heads

Steps:

1.  Make a template of the shelf front design from cardboard. I marked the edge of the shelf with a pencil and used pot lids in different sizes to draw the shape of the clouds. Cut out the template.

2. Place the template on a piece of plywood and draw the shape onto the plywood. To get a clean cut with a jigsaw, use tape to cover the outlines.

3. Sand down the edges. I used a router with a 45 degree cutting head to smoothen the rough edges, so our little girl won’t cut herself on the edges.

4. Mark and drill the holes for the dowels. The dowels will be used later to mount the plywood to the shelf. Be careful not to drill right through the plywood. Then mark and drill corresponding holes on the shelf.

5. The plywood and shelf are not very thick. Shorten the dowels to fit.

6. Sanded down the surfaces and paint the cloud. I applied 2 coats.

7. After the paint dries, apply wood glue onto the holes and the surfaces which touch each other. Insert the wood dowels and put both parts together. Apply some pressure and use clamps to keep both parts snug till the glue cures.

8. The shelf is done! The last thing to do is to mount it on the wall, according to the instructions by IKEA.

See the full step-by-step instructable.

~ by Alex aka Stish

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Hackers Help: Long Adjustable Legs for KALLAX Desk?

IKEA Items Used:

• KALLAX 6 x 6 shelf unit
• LINNMON table top
• LINNMON attaching hardware
• and two legs TBD

I would like to attach a table to the KALLAX shelving, but I want to attach it to the third shelf, not the second as is done on the KALLAX workstations, to make it a standing height workstation. I am trying to figure out which legs to use since none of them seem to be long enough. Do IKEA make a leg that is approximately 43” (110 mm) high with some adjustability, since I’m not sure of the exact height needed?

Apologies for the perspective issues; they photographed the two products at different angles, but I hope the idea comes across.

~ Holly D

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Hi Holly

You can try the GERTON adjustable leg. It goes up to a maximum height of 107 cm. You can sandwich a 3 cm thick piece of wood between the table top and the leg brackets to increase the height to 110 cm. ~ Jules

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Kitchenette with IKEA Kallax

We were a bit short on storage and countertop space in the kitchen. So I started thinking about adding inexpensive storage and also to carve out a space for the microwave.

After various considerations, I decided to create a suitable solution based on the IKEA KALLAX shelving unit.

This is how the finished solution looks like.

Below is a brief description of the tricks and adjustments needed to implement the solution using simple IKEA parts.

Kitchenette Base unit

The base unit consists of a 2×2 IKEA KALLAX shelf in white, an IKEA ELVARLI (80x51cm) bamboo shelf and four furniture feet (furniture foot set Alpha 80 – 150 mm).

First, I assembled the IKEA Kallax unit, installing only the horizontal shelf and divider beneath it. As a result, I have a large upper section for the microwave.

Then I screwed on furniture feet. Here I simply used the screws from the IKEA KALLAX. In order for these to fit through the holes in the furniture feet, the holes had to be drilled out a bit.

Finally, the worktop consisting of an IKEA ELVARLI (80x51cm) bamboo shelf. I placed it on top of the KALLAX unit and fastened it from below through the KALLAX top with four screws. Absolutely sufficient.

The doors for two compartments were mounted according to the IKEA instructions and without any adjustments.

The finished result looks like this:

Kitchenette Wall unit

An IKEA Kallax 3×1 shelving unit in white was chosen for the upper cabinet. In order to hang the shelf securely against the wall, I decided to install so-called bed fittings in all four outer corners of the shelf. The bed fittings were attached by screws to the places intended for the IKEA anti-tipper. For this purpose, the bed fittings had to be drilled in the appropriate places. In addition, additional screws were used. Here, however, it has been found that drilling into spots other than those intended for anti-tipping do not really last. Therefore, the bed fittings used here in retrospect are a bit oversized. Somewhat smaller bed fittings or simple angles would probably be sufficient.

After the bed fittings were installed, the shelf could be mounted on the wall. Get a few friends to help you hold it up against the wall, and mark the drill holes. Use a leveller to get it straight. Set down the shelf and drill holes in the wall. We used 8x80mm hexagon screws to fix the fittings. Washers would be recommended.

So the shelf looked like after assembly:

The installation of the doors for the two outer compartments was a bit more complex, since the bed fittings are a bit in the way. In order for the inserts to fit, corresponding recesses had to be filed and recesses made for the wall screws.

Mounted insert with recesses:

After installing the doors, the whole thing looks like this:

The structure of the cabinet was very simple and went quickly by the hand. The wall unit with the bed fittings as a secure mounting took a bit more effort and time (~ 2 hours).

As for tools, a drill with appropriate drill bits and various wood files were used. A ratchet was used to tighten the hexagon screws.

~ by Christoph

See original post (in German).

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HEMNES console table restyled to TV unit

IKEA item used:
HEMNES console table

We have awkwardly placed plugs in the lounge in our new build house, they’re a little higher than normal and so are on show, which isn’t very pretty.

I decided the HEMNES console table would suit what we needed in terms of storage and height and with a little tweaking would have the right look for our home.

I bought the HEMNES console table in light brown (wood effect) and when putting together I purposefully left out 2 of the top shelves so I had space for the Sky box and Xbox. It was a little tricky to do this as you assemble upside down so you need 2 people.

I filled in the dowel holes with wood filler and sanded smooth. I painted the unit with Valspar paint (a £3 b&q sample pot!) the shade is Hazy Earth. I left the top of the unit plain to give it that farmhouse look. I then sealed the whole unit with a finishing wax.

I bought some mdf sheets, painted them in the same colour as I had painted the unit and then nailed to the back. This ensured that the many plug sockets and cables were completely hidden. We drilled a hole either side of the top shelving to enable the cables to come through to the back.

I used the KNIPSA boxes and have attached a black felt inside so the hole doesn’t show what mess there is inside them!

We carefully sawed the legs on the unit so only an inch was left, that way the extension cable (which you can see in one of the pictures after painting) wasn’t visible and it made it look less like a console table.

And that’s it, the unit has the storage space IKEA always gives us and has the height we needed whilst tying in with our “modern farmhouse” theme in our new home, without the high price tag we would have had to otherwise to pay!

~ by Lauren Blake

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