Home office make over , Kitchen island from bookcase and table top, Floating billies

Home office make over

Jennifer and Sean does a lovely makeover of their home office. Lots of storage, well balanced and great use of Ikea cabs. I wish I had so much space (and did I mention storage) for my home office.

They write, "We started off with a very boring and bland 8x10 room with an off-center window and rad to contend with. What we ended up with was a functional and stylish office space for two :)

Here's what we worked with:
- 2 Expedit bookcases
- 4 Expedit drawer inserts
- 4 Expedit door inserts
- 2 Mikael drawer units
- 1 Benno CD tower
- 8 Numerar 4 3/8" legs
- 1 Galant leg
- 2 Numerar countertops in aluminum/white (96" long and 73" long)
- Gunvor fabric

To maximize the desk space in the small room, we wanted to have an L-shaped configuration. Wall mounted bookshelves would provide the storage we needed while not using up the valuable floor space. After a bit of research, we found that using 2 Expedit bookcases (one mounted on the wall, one sitting on the countertop) would fit our needs. The Ikea sales guy wasn't entirely sure if the Expedit was suitable for wall mounting, but we figured by using extra wall brackets and strapping underneath, we would be okay.

before

First, we installed some wood strapping to provide support for both the countertop and the wall mounted bookcase. A little hack on the Expedit bookcase was next: we measured out the studs on the wall and installed 4 wall brackets underneath the top frame of the bookcase so they would hit the studs. Then we lifted the bookcase so it sat on the strapping and screwed the wall brackets into the studs.

Next, we assembled the two Mikael file cabinets and put them on Numerar legs instead of castors. One of the Numerar countertops was then installed, attaching it to the strapping and sitting it on the Mikael cabinets which formed the support leg at the other end. The second bookcase was then put in place sitting on the countertop, over the file cabinets.

This side of the room was a little heavy, so we cut down the Benno CD tower and used it as a support leg at the other end of the L-shape. The second Numerar countertop was then put on top and attached to the strapping. Ikea has a $2 aluminum transition strip which we used to cover the seam between the two countertops. At this joint, we installed a Galant leg under the countertop for extra support. Also, since the CD tower had a shallower depth than the countertop, we found an Expedit piece in the "As Is" section and butted it up to the tower to make it look deeper.

A few final touches - sewing curtains from Gunvor fabric, using some Ikea picture frames and magazine files, and throwing down an existing Ikea area rug - and the room was finished. It took a bit of work but now we love working in our new space."

Kitchen island from bookcase and table top

Jen puts Gorilla Glue to good use in this hack. That is, sticking the table top to the bookcase to create a kitchen island.

She says, "I really wanted a kitchen island, but wasn't willing to shell out the cash for it... so, i hacked one together out of Ikea parts!

It's an Expedit bookcase and a Vika Amon tabletop. Gorilla Glue together, keeping one side flush and the other side hang over, and voila! A kitchen island.

And funny enough, the Franklin folding chair fits perfectly with this hack."

Tired of your bare walls? Then you gotta check this out.

Aaah ... I love a hack that gets everyone in the family moving. Pinot, Dita and their two girls had a weekend of fun creating this wall art.

Pinot writes, "We decided to decorate the wall of our new apartement with a wall painting (mural). We choose mix media, poster paints and Ikea fabrics."

What they did brilliantly was cut and paste Ikea fabric and then outlined them with poster paints. It's not tough to do. The results are delightful and is a great way to brighten up a wall.

See more of Pinot and Dita's fabric wall art. Don't miss the video too.

Floating billies

I love this one. The Billy bookcases take on a new lightness when hung on the wall. Also, furniture off the floor is the way to go for me. Makes cleaning so much easier, eh.

Karine Schenkeveld and Erik Roscam Abbing from Rotterdam, The Netherlands turns a $59.99 bookcase into a fancy designer object. They tell me, "All we did was cut off the bottom part of the vertical elements underneath the bottom shelf, mount nine steel L brackets per bookcase to the wall (three per fixed Billy shelf) and mount the Billies on to them.

Pretty simple, but everyone thinks we had them handmade for us. Some people are worried that they'll come off the wall. But come on, there are 18 (!) 8cm (approx 3") screws per bookcase, and the load is almost completely vertical: no problem."