Trofast frames to play table

Materials: Trofast x's 2, mdf, connecting hardware, glue, nails

Description: We used 2 Trofast frames and put them together according to manufacturers instructions. We connect them together using connecting hardware. We then cut mdf top to fit over both units with some hang over on each side then we cut strips to nail/glue underneath top to keep top from sliding off.

See more of the Trofast play table.

~ Ed and Chris, Indiana

Trofast play-table

Materials: Trofast wall storage, MDF board,

Description: Since I have kids, age 3 and 6. I have developed a special walking technique when it's dark at home. (All people whit smaller kids in the house will know what I'm talking about)

It is simple but effective; you drag your feet along the floor. The aim is to avoid something sharp getting in-between your feet and the floor! Like a toy.
If this happens you will end up with a sharp pain in your foot or you break you kids favorite toy or both.

To avoid having to re-finish the floor every month I had an idea about a play-table. OK the idea is obviously not mine. You can buy these things but they are rather expensive and not so practical.

So what to do? Well you build it yourself!

I started of by measuring the room to decide how large the table top could be after this I looked at the Trofast series. I wanted something that wasn't too high so I decided to go for the wall mounted one, or rather two of them. I cut a MDF board (12 mm) into table top and some edges and also a base for the Trofast frames to stand on.

It took some time to fix the edges (glue and screws) and to sand them down so they where a bit rounded.

After this I mounted the Trofast frames and removed the plastic edges so that the frames could be fixed tightly to the base and table top. Then I mounted the legs.

To dampen the sound I glued a fabric on the table top and then I just painted the edges.

The remarkable thing is that most of the toys stay on the table or in the storage boxes! Our vacuum cleaner bag will last double the time since it's not full of dust and lego and small wooden train parts.

~ BR Richan, The land of IKEA, SWE

Crummy Cube with a View Storage Closet

Materials: Trofast frame pine, Trofast storage boxes, wooden closet rod, 4) 4x4x1 wood blocks, 4) 2" rigid casters, Lansa handle, stainless coat hooks, coat hangers, misc screws, oil based paint, and an electric drill for pilot holes

Description: My daughter recently moved into a new office cube with a window. Having a window was definitely an upgrade but the building support beam, not so much. She lost valuable desk and drawer space to store all of her required work gear. The little cubby hole on the other side of the beam was too narrow and deep for any cabinet we could find. Searching my Ikea catalog, I came across the Trofast frame. If we turned it sideways it would just fit into that little spot.

I bought the Trofast frame in pine so it was not as heavy for her and easier to paint than the white one. I put it together per the instructions then added a piece of wooden closet rod at the top. I drilled a pilot hole through the frame and into the rod then screwed it in place with 2 1/2" screws.

At the bottom I attached a 4x4x1 inch block of wood flat in each corner under the frame with screws. The 2" casters were screwed on to the wooden blocks raising it just off the floor. In another situation, I would have preferred larger wheels but I wanted to keep it as low profile as possible.

I lightly sanded and painted the whole thing with dark brown oil based paint for a more durable finish. After it dried for a few days, I added a 7" Lansa handle to the outside front (in this case). The frame was not quite as deep as the cubby hole so I added two coat hooks to the outside back for a little extra storage. And I added a couple of Trofast storage boxes.

Now she has a rolling closet to store all of her jackets, boots and other gear. It works great. She pulls it out when she needs something, then pushes it back and it's out of the way. And she loves the view too!

~ Karen Snow, South Houston, Texas

Trofast with wheels under the staircase

Materials: Trofast, wheels from the DIY store

Description: The triangle-shaped space under a staircase is hard to use. Trofast is often used under stairs with the flat side against the wall, but I have never seen it as used here. I fastened four rolling wheels on the underside, and a sturdy handle to roll it in and out of the closet for easy acess from the side. It now offers lots of space for spare bulk products like wine, potatoes, toiletpaper and pasta.

~ Maastricht, NL

Lego table from IKEA kitchen cabinet door

Materials: Ikea kitchen cabinet door, VIKA legs, Trofast bin, LEGO base boards

Description:

Last month IKEA in Florida were discontinuing a lot of kitchen cabinet doors for $3 a piece. I bought a bunch of them to my Playstation 3 Racing cockpits (for this see p.83 post #1650). Some where left over and since I needed a Lego table I made this one in less than 90 minutes.

With a jigsaw I simply made a hole in the middle.
I glued the Lego base boards for durability.
I attached 4x VIKA legs ($3.50 each)
I attached a Trofast bin by screwing it on the underside.
Thats it!

P.S. You can also easily modify this. If you dont want to make a hole you can instead use a Trofast bin as a drawer. You will need the rails from the WHITE Trofast cabinet (the pine colored does not come with
rails). If in stock IKEA customer counter or AS-IS will usually give them for free.

~ Erik

Temporary bar from IKEA Trofast boxes

Materials: Trofast

Description: How cool is that? A bar made of Trofast boxes? That’s the brainchild of designers Diogo Aguiar and Teresa Otto of Portugal who designed and built a temporary bar out of 420 Ikea storage boxes. At night the boxes were lit with LED and pulsated according to the music played. The bar was built for a competition organised by the architecture faculty at the Universidade do Porto in Portugal.





See more of the Temporary IKEA bar.

~ Rebecca Pasternack

Trofast Under The Table Drawer

Materials: Trofast storage box

Description: We needed storage for our Ikea Vika Amon desk and Svanbo coffee table (to hide the many controllers we have!).

We already had the Trofast storage unit so we went out and brought 2 more little white storage boxes.

The hack is pretty simple and quick. We took out the white rails from the storage unit and put some 3M double sided tape on the TOP side of the rail.

We flipped the coffee table over. Then with the box and rails "assembled" (do this so you don't even need to do any measuring for a perfect fit), we positioned it in place and voila!...an easy pull-out drawer to keep your surfaces clutter free.

**Note that the pine storage unit has grooves instead of the detachable rails
**Also, you could use rails from the pax storage systems (which I think you can buy separately)

~ Kim and Billy, Vancouver, Canada

Trofast Children's Craft Table

Materials: TROFAST Frame, VIKA AMON table top (L: 40 1/8"), 2 GRUNDTAL rails, 2 MALA paper rolls

Description: I wanted a craft/drawing table for my two kids, which would also store all of their materials.

I have two kids, so I needed a table that can be accessed from both sides. I didn't want a big table that would use up a lot of space in the living room either.

I wanted to use the smaller VIKA AMON, but 22" high TROFAST frames came in only single or triple sections. So I had to cut one section of it.

1. Partially (only two sections) assemble TROFAST.

2. Cut the extending wood, beyond the second section, preferably, with an electric saw.

3. Add the bottom panels and cut them as well.

4. Put the outer side panel on the top of the inside panel, so that the height on both sides will be even.

5. Install the GRUNDTAL rails on VIKA AMON. In order to fit them and still be able to unscrew the pipe to put on a roll, you have to cut the pipes about 1.5" both. Before cutting the pipes hammer the part where you put the screw in inside the pipe, a little bit more than 1.5" back.

6. Fasten TROFAST onto VIKA AMON with screws. We used 10 wood screws.

7. Put the MALA paper rolls on.

8. Put the drawer rails in and insert the drawers.

We actually screwed the tabletop on before installing the GRUNDTAL rails. Later we had to move the tabletop a little bit to the side so that the rail holders would fit on the other side.

The table is very stable. It is a little bit higher that an average children's craft table since total height is 22"+1 5/8".

Final Steps:
1. Introduce the new craft table to the kids
2. Make sure they learn to put away their papers, materials and scraps into the drawer bins.

Optional 1: You can make a bigger table with larger VIKA AMON table top (L: 48 3/8') on top of a complete TROFAST frame.

Optional 2: You can put LEGO base plates on the table and use it as a LEGO workstation as well. I am thinking about adding this feature on by gluing baseplates on a thin plywood I got from IKEA as-is dept and fixing it to the table top with hinges, but I think it will be too much. Maybe I'll just make it and keep it separate/portable.

See more of the children's craft table.

~ Pratik Anne, Chicago, IL, USA