Top 15 Geekiest IKEA Hacks

All IKEA hacks are geeky — but some IKEA hacks are more geeky than others. Here are 15 of the nerdiest/coolest DIY projects to ever grace IKEA Hacker’s archive: from a miniature bedroom Bat-signal to your very own remote-controlled robot.

Make Your Own IKEA Batlamp

Ideal for entertaining kids, or summoning the dark knight to the scene of a crime. This is a very simple hack, which takes a Skimra lamp and adds an engraved plastic circle to create the Batlight effect.

Click here for instructions.

Spice Up An IKEA Lack Table With Comics

The Lack coffee table is a perennial Lifehacker IKEA favourite (especially with the basic colours now $7.99). If monochrome’s not your thing, spice up the design with old comics.

Click here for instructions.

How To Make Your Own Remote-Controlled Robot

Building your own robot is the sort of DIY project that kids endlessly fantasise about. But it rarely gets beyond the crayon-drawn blueprint stage. A guy in Spain has decided to fulfill his childhood dream by hacking a $10 plastic box into his own remote-controlled robot.

Click here for instructions.

DIY Pac-Man Furniture From A $15 IKEA Stool

Need more Pac-Man in your life? (Actually, everyone needs that.) Take a $14.99 IKEA Frosta stool, perform some simple handywork, and you’re done.

Click here for instructions.

Hack An IKEA Cabinet Into A High-Performance Render Farm

Attention tech heads looking for a new DIY computer project: it doesn’t get much cooler (or geekier) than this. A group of hardcore computing enthusiasts in Germany have used an Ikea Helmer cabinet to build a computer cluster for high-end rendering tasks running on Windows 7.

Click here for instructions.

Make Your Own DIY IKEA Camera Slider

Camera sliders help keep the action steady when you move your camera. Commercial sliders can be pricey, but you can build this one with IKEA parts for about $30.

Click here for instructions.

DIY Tetris Wall Lights

Looking for some home decor that’s geeky but not excessive? This Tetris-themed wall lamp might be just the trick.

Click here for instructions.

Build A Secret Magnetic Safe Inside An IKEA Floating Shelf

We’ve shown you some clever ways to hide your valuables, but this secret compartment, built into the back of an IKEA Lack floating shelf, takes the cake. Not only is the safe hidden, but the compartment itself can’t be opened unless you have a magnet to act as a key.

Click here for instructions.

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See also: What I Learned From A Week Of Eating Nothing But IKEA Food

DIY IKEA Xbox Steering Wheel

For dedicated driving game fanatics, a permanently mounted steering wheel is very appealing. You can spend a fortune on a custom-designed mount, or you can throw your own together with some basic IKEA furniture for $60.

Click here for instructions.

Turn A $30 IKEA Coffee Table Into A LEGO Play Centre

If you’re anything like us, you probably store your kids’ LEGO in a big tub that’s stashed clumsily in a corner of the room. Each play session results in frenzied chaos, with countless pieces strewn across the floor. If you’d like to introduce some order to their bricklaying, this affordable DIY play desk will help to stifle their creation; Lord Business style. It can seat up to four people and comes with inbuilt brick storage and integrated building mats.

Click here for instructions.

Enhance An IKEA Lack Table With LEGO

It’s no secret we love the IKEA Lack Table. The one thing that could make us love it more? Completely covering it with LEGO.

Click here for instructions.

Build A See-Through Arcade Machine With A Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is ideal for building game machines. This is another impressive take on the concept, giving you an arcade cabinet in a cool see-through case.

Click here for instructions.

Make A Solar-Powered Bike Light Out Of A $20 IKEA Lamp

Here’s a cool project for anyone who bikes after sundown: Turn an IKEA lamp into a solar-powered bike light, complete with extra-bright LEDs and light animations.

Click here for instructions.

DIY Vinyl Record Clock

IKEA Hackers has the details of how to turn a $2.49 RUSCH wall clock into a simple LP clock using essentially only a a glue gun and a marker pen.

Click here for instructions.

Hack A $30 Coffee Table Into A Sit-Down Arcade Cabinet

Manny Flores at IKEA Hackers built his retro arcade system out of a Raspberry Pi computer, a Happ arcade joystick and buttons, a Dell LCD monitor, a Logitech MK260 keyboard and mouse, some cheap speakers and i-Pac keyboard encode by Ultimarc.

Click here for instructions.