Sleek Stainless Steel Bird Feeder

Materials: Lansa Handle (21 7/8") $9.99, BLANDA BLANK Serving bowl(5"), Drill, Drill bits, screwdriver, pliers $2.99

Description: Start by drilling drainage holes in the bottom of the bowl.
Then drill a hole in the top just below the rim. In order to use the screws that come with the handle you will have to shorten it with the clipping blades on your pliers.

Thread the screw thru the hole below the rim of the bowl, then the extender piece then into the handle as far as it will go. Mark the screw at the excess point. Disassemble and cut the screw, you may have to make small nips to the tip of the screw to get a clean tip to thread into the handle's hole.

Reassemble if the tilt of the bowl bothers you you can insert a shim below the screw (small piece of wire, plastic etc.) however this will cause a small gap where the horizontal arm meets the bowl. I left my as is.

Insert into the ground, fill with bird seed and enjoy your new best friends as they come to visit!

~ Bambi

Steel Me - pendant luminaire

Materials: 2 BLANDA BLANK (36cm), 2 BASISK

Description: My friend Rebecca needed 2 pendant luminaires for her brand new supermodern kitchen. I decided to try to make my first Ikea hack! So I bought

2 big BLANDA BLANK steel salad bowls
2 BASISK simple pendant element

Utensils: a drill

1. I made many holes in the steel bowl, to have the "sea (gulls)" effect on the walls of the room

2. I made one bigger hole on top, for the junction of the socket and wire

3. I used a 60W incandescent with reflector bulb, to have the light first bouncing on the mirror inner surface of the steel bowl and then reflected down to the table. (The sea(gulls) are only visible using this bulb!)

BASISK comes already with a very nice silver/transparent electrical cable.

~ Nevena, Oslo

Stainless bowl hanging planter

Materials: Blanda 14" stainless bowl

Description:
1. Drill-guide jig is cut out (using radial saw) for lip of bowl and held in place with clamps. Underneath is a piece of cardboard marked with the locations of the 4 holes.
2. Tools: drill with self-pilot bit, hammer, center punch, wire cutters, another drill with countersink bit, and swaging tool.

3. Materials: 48" stainless cables with swaged ends (ebay), dual cable ferrules (ebay), stainless eyes and s-hooks (Home Depot), and these marvelous little disks I got out of a surplus box at Minton's hardware closing sale.

4. Center punch and drill drainage holes.

5. Place bowl in jig and drill through jig and bowl.
6. Rotate bowl 180 degrees, align with mark, and drill again through jig.
7. Rotate bowl 90 and 270 degrees, drilling remaining holes through jig.
8. Use countersink bit to remove sharp metal bits.
9. Thread cables through disk, making sure not to cross them.

10. Loop loose ends of cable and insert into ferrules.
11. Swage the aluminum ferrules, this takes 6 passes, 3 for an initial crimp and 3 more to really squish them. Very fun, but watch your fingers!
12. Insert an s-hook.
13. Hang and level.

It worked out perfectly that the cables I found were exactly the right length (48") and had one end with a swage fitting pre-attached. You can use regular stainless wire rope too (3/32") and cut it to length yourself - then you'll have to use the ferrules on both ends.

The discs are not absolutely essential but seem to help to add some cable tension that keeps the bowls at level.

~ Mark Papamarcos, Silicon Valley, CA

IKEA salad bowl sink

Materials: Blanda Blank

Description: When my husband and I remodeled our bathroom a few years ago, we wanted to make the most of a small space and stay within our tiny budget. He found an old drinking fountain assembly at a salvage shop, and thought we could retrofit it to accommodate a larger bowl of some sort. Voila, the 14" IKEA Blanda Blank serving bowl.

He drilled out the bottom of the bowl, mounted it to the drinking fountain wall bracket, added some necessary plumbing and we were in business. After four years it's still as good as new!

~ Pernille

***

Happy New Year and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for being a part of Ikea Hacker. It's been a great year filled with some wonderful hacks. My annual list of favourites will be out soon and you'll be able to vote for the Hack of the Year. But ... I am open to nominations, so, if you have a favourite which you want to see on the list, let me know in the comments below. ~ Jules