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If IKEA Made Geeky Furniture Part 20: LEGO Desks/Shelves
This puts a new spin on desk drawers or shelves: a small separate reservoir in the front of the drawer that would hold Lego. This adds a colorful decorative touch to your workspace, and provides that satisfying sound of Lego clattering as you open and close the drawer.
Ideal for desks, shelves, and storage organizers. You could use plastic tubs or any drawer that has a window opening in the front. A lid for the reservoir might be helpful too.
Lego would be the best use of these reservoirs, however you could put whatever you want in there: thumb tacs, color markers, gumballs, etc.
For the other IKEA designs click here.
Geeky Chair Mat: NHL ’94
Update: Not to get your hopes up, but I may have found a way to make this chair mat a reality. Please stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks. Original post as follows:
There are really no geeky chair mats available right now (I can’t find any), but if I had my way there would be one based on the star player icon from NHL ’94. This could also apply to other 16-bit sport series made by EA back in the day, like Madden or Bulls Vs. Lakers.
Also pictured: NHL ’94 figurine, another pipe dream from long ago.
UPDATE: A prototype was made, and it looks great! Still trying to sort out the logistics of offering these to people. Everyone would want a different number and position, so that level of customization warrants a lot of effort.
If IKEA Made Geeky Furniture Part 19: Gearhead Bedroom
Not exactly geeky (but could be given the Speed Racer or Megas XLR treatment), these designs are more for the gearheads. The bed frame is based on a car lift; the dresser is based on a tool drawer; and finally a light that is based on the one mechanics use to look underneath cars with (well, it could be the exact same light to be honest).
In my estimation this is probably ideal for bachelors only.
If IKEA Made Geeky Furniture Part 18: Jenga Dresser
Is it pretty or clever? Not really. This is just a personal victory for me, as the past few years I tried to think of a geeky dresser design to help round out the Geeky IKEA series. And voila! I found one.
This is a bedroom dresser based on the puzzle game Jenga. Apologies if the theme song from the commercial has infiltrated your brain (“You take a block from the bottom and you put it on top!”), this blog can be cruel at times.
You could have several shelves, but I chose this configuration so each shelf can have a proper handle, in the form of an extruded brick:
Viewed from above this dresser would be square-shaped, so it would be jutting out from the wall more than your typical dresser. However it could be made into a smaller bedside table to retain the square shape. This design could even be applied to filing cabinets, printer trolleys, mini fridges, or end tables for the couch.
Please check out the many other Geeky IKEA designs by clicking here.
IKEA RIBBA Papercraft Part 1: Super Mario Bros. 3
A few weeks ago I posted this idea about using picture box frames to display video game dioramas – specifically screenshots. I even described what a Mario one would entail. Shortly after I decided to make that idea a reality.
Making this possible is the RIBBA, a picture box frame from IKEA. These are approx 9.5 x 9.5″, with a mat frame of 4.75 x 4.75″. The box is about 1.25″ deep, and is a popular item for displaying LEGO minifigs and other physical objects. These are only $10.
I could have discarded the mat and used the entire box to display this screenshot, which was my original intention. But then it became difficult, as the 9 x 9″ interior wasn’t friendly to my printer, with a max 8.5″ width setting. I also had concerns about wasting too much paper again, and the weight of objects sitting in the box.
Then I read the mat could sit at the back or the front of the frame (against the glass), thanks to an internal divider. I then decided to make a small 4.5 x 4.5″ screenshot, with a depth of only .5 inches. I could have went even further back, but I wanted the question mark block to be close to the viewer.
Trust me this looks a lot nicer in person. Looks like a miniature model.
I am pleased to report this went quickly after I printed it out. The whole sky box is taped against the mat, which is great if I want to reuse the mat again. Much of it is taped, save for the characters being glued in.
Going forward, I’d like to do a version 2.0 of this design with an LED question mark block. There is plenty of room in the frame to store electrical guts and batteries. Might even illuminate the score board too, making it look like this old alarm clock design I made.
Here is the template. You’ll need a RIBBA frame (you can order them online, see above for the link). Do not re-size the images, print as-is to fit the frame. If there is a warning about cropping, ignore it. Everything you need is well within the safe printed area. Use Card Paper, not regular paper which is flimsy and won’t hold up.
Click To Enlarge
Click To Enlarge
I recommend you punch out all the yellow boxes on the background image first (a lot of tabs are to be inserted here), then cut out and fold. Tape to the back of the mat frame. The tape is so handy for this part, as you can reset and line-up to the frame easily. You just need scotch tape.
Then install the question mark block, the white block, the green/pink/green block combo, and lastly the the pipe — in that order (with tape). The pipe and white block have supports to keep them upright and away from the backdrop.
Lastly add all the characters with glue. It is impossible to cut these pixel-perfect, this being so small. Do the best you can! Lastly throw into frame and hang on the wall or sit on the desk. Enjoy.
It turned out really great being a smaller screenshot. Has the same kind of detail as a ship-in-a-bottle. Okay a slight exaggeration. It looks pretty darn cool on the wall. Very 3D, of course.
I hate my camera as much as my printer hates me. Darn stripes.
I removed the black drop shadow from the game graphics, as all the actual shadows look really nice. I managed to find this section in the first level of Super Mario 3, and it was perfect! The area was populated with 3 different enemies, a question block, a pipe, and a cloud. Vintage Mario.
I know it’s asking a lot to require an IKEA frame for this project, but if this is popular enough I will continue to output Papercraft models for the RIBBA. I already have Street Fighter II in mind.
UPDATE: I did a second version, which assembles much like the Question block from the first one. I also added clouds that are floating in space.
Click To Enlarge
Click To Enlarge
If IKEA Made Geeky Furniture Part 16: Battlestar Galactica Wardrobe
I believe there is a huge market for selling pro sports-style lockers for home use, either for jocks or the armchair quarterbacks. These would be wardrobes that look just like the locker stalls you’d find in the NHL, NBA, NFL, etc. The wardrobe would be painted in team colors and feature name plaques with logos. This could be placed in the bathroom, TV den, by the front door, etc. Wherever you get ready for the day. Or wherever you want to display your favorite team gear.
And this goes beyond team sports. You could make these in the style of Battlestar Galactica, Mass Effect, or Starship Troopers as they carry a military aesthetic. Men in Black is another fun approach. Maybe the employee lockers for the Krusty Krab or Ghostbusters.
The point being that you could have a fun wardrobe that exhibits your favorite team, TV show, film, or video game. This themed wardrobe would enable you to feel like a badass when you’re accessing it.
One major change is I don’t foresee these being made of heavy materials (such as steel) like the actual locker stalls. Probably wood construction complimented by plastic or rubber fixtures (for the grates).
Other possible accessories: A bench or a rug with the team logo.
