Minimalistic floor-to-ceiling climbing post for cats

Materials: STOLMEN post + mounting fixtures, sisal rope, small shelf, HESSUM doormat

Description: Because cat furniture is the ugliest around and my friend needed every inch of her small apartment, I came up with this minimalistic climbing post.

The shelf was on the wall already. The parts I needed cost about 60 euros.

Steps:
1) I had to buy the 40 meters of rope in four 10 meter pieces. If you can get the rope in one piece, it will help you much. If not, then join the pieces to get a one long stretch of rope. I used a technique called splicing (splicing links here) and got pretty good results.

2) Remove any cats from the room where you are about to install the post.

3) Cover the shelf with HESSUM doormat so the critters can get a good grip. Cut the mat to size and attach it with small screws. Install the shelf to the wall.

4) Install the STOLMEN post next to the shelf.

5) Attach the rope to the bottom of the post using the STOLMEN mounting fixtures. Start coiling the rope around the post. Use gloves, keep the rope tight and give it a few hits from a hammer on every 5 rounds or so to make it tight.

6) When you reach the top, use another STOLMEN mounting fixture to attach the rope. You can use cable ties to attach the rope temporarily.

This hack can be easily extended by installing more shelves to the wall.

Longer version of the instructions and more pictures here.

~ Ilka, Helsinki, Finland

Bedroom Litter Box

Materials: Stolmen Chest with 2 drawers

Description: We share our bedroom with the cat's litter box, which is the only suitable space in our apartment. I came across this site a few months ago and was inspired to make a hack that would hide the box and allow us to use the space above it. There were a few obstacles:
- the size of our Littermaid Automatic litter box (25"x20") - larger than many others.
- I wanted a drawer so that I could clean it easily without having to pull out the litter tray.
- I wanted something inexpensive, enclosed and attractive for a bedroom.

The Stolmen 2 chest drawer is $100, very large and seemed perfect for our room. I wanted a nicely finished hole for the cat so I purchased a interior small pet door from the pet shop for $19.

The hack was simple. We cut a hole that matched the pet door in the top drawer, assembled the unit according to the directions except that we attached the 2 drawer fronts, sides, bottom and backs with metal brackets (hardware store)and only put in 1 drawer bottom.

It's been about a month and we are very happy. We ended up using a standard deep litter box as we were having trouble with the automatic one and this one seems to work better for our cat.

This site is amazing. Besides this hack I have made a coat rack from the Stolmen similar to the vertical pot rack posted here. And I've refinished a Rast dresser (stained and new knobs) to store our gloves and hats by the door. My 10 year old son is also a big fan. He has asked me to add a Lack shelf as stair to a cat bed above the Stolmen chest (seen still in the box in the pictures).

~ T. Anna, NYC

STOLMEN in the kitchen

Materials: STOLMEN, MUDDUS table

Description: This is not a real hack, just a new use to an IKEA item, but since I have not seen STOLMEN used in the kitchen, I thought I'd show it to you.

When a whole cupboard full of plates fell from the wall, we knew we had to find another kind of shelf, that is not fixed to the wall. Also we were looking for a small breakfast table for the kitchen.

So we went to IKEA and found STOLMEN. The poles are fixed to the ceiling and the whole structure is really solid. I had always wanted a cookbook stand, and the STOLMEN shoe rack is just perfect. The clothes rail makes a good pole for kitchen rolls, I just fixed it with two of the many allen keys you get from IKEA.

In the future I plan to buy 2 STOLMEN hooks and 2 small metal boards, screw everything together and lay the clothes pole into the hooks (too short now.)

That the MUDDUS table fits perfectly between the two poles is an added bonus that we didn't plan. (Those things never work, when you plan them).

See more of the Stolmen kitchen.

~ Susanne, Antequera, Spain

Stolmen Scratch post

Materials: Stolmen post and hooks

Description: Scratch post from stolmen post, small trees, carpet, a large plastic barrel and some other scraps. (Also featuring kitchen worktop, shelf brackets, copper water pipe and some old textile and a huge amount of sisal rope and glue.)

See more the Stolmen Scratch post. (Google translation here)

~ Selma, Norway

Stolmen Floating TV Stand, So Simple Anybody Can Do It!

Materials: x2 Ikea Stolmen Posts, x2 Ikea Clothes Rail 43 1/4", x4 Ikea End Fixtures, x1 generic universal 32- 60" LCD TV flush wall mount, x4 rope binding hooks, x6 1/4"x1" hexagon bolts with nuts, x6 flat washers, x6 locking washers, Screwdriver, Wrench, Pliers, Ruler, Level

Description: I started this project because I wanted to have a cool way to mount my newly purchased 55" LCD television. The problem was that I live in a small apartment and I needed to save as much space as I could without putting more holes in my wall. Seeing as how Ikea no longer sells their Stolmen TV mount, I went onto the internet for ideas, including this site, and I found pictures of other people's project but they either had vague descriptions or required an excessive amount of work or materials (like a drill). So that's how I came up with this idea where I would use a hooking system that required only basic materials from Ikea, any hardware store, and a basic tool kit (which was also purchased at Ikea- i.e. no drilling needed!)

I started by setting up the poles equidistant from the wall and using a level to make sure they stood up straight.

I then loosely attached the 2 clothes rails using the end fixtures (loosely so that I can adjust them a little later)

Using the two mounting brackets from my universal tv wall mount, I attached two of the hooks to the bracket- one at the top and one around the middle of the bracket. I attached the hooks to the bracket using a combination of the bolt, washer, locking washer, and nut (two for the top hook and one for the bottom hook)

The bracket-hook combination was then attached to my television using the screws included with the wall mount. Measuring the distance from the top hook to the bottom hook, I was now able to make final adjustments to the clothes rail to match the same distance so that each rail would carry the same weight of the TV. Once finally adjusted, the rails were screwed tight in place.

Once the rails, the poles, and brackets were all tightened into place, the TV was then carefully lifted and gently placed into position so that the top 2 hooks were latched onto the top rail and the bottom 2 hooks were latched onto the bottom rail. The TV was centered by simply sliding it either left or right on the rails.

~ Victor Pham, Chicago

Stolmen Entertainment Unit for a flat panel TV

Materials: Stolmen system modified with tv mounting bracket, bolts, screws.

Description: I modified a Stolmen system to accommodate a flat panel TV wall mounting system, one that would normally be used to mount a flat panel TV to a wall, using one of the larger (46") shelves as a panel on which to mount the TV. My goal was to create a stabile support for a flat panel TV while preserving the aesthetics of the Ikea Stolmen system. My theory of Ikea hacking is that the final product should not look overly "hacked" to the casual observer.


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