Dec
7
2013

Lego/Ikea Hack - or How to Make a Happy Kid this Christmas

An article by Nancy Carter

Having a Very Thrifty, Home-Made Christmas

The thrifty bug has hit us all this year; More and more families are ditching the big spend and making their own.

My gorgeous friend Jo wanted to buy her five year old a Lego table but found they were much too expensive, and besides that, she thought it seemed a bit of a silly design. You have to take the lid offf to access the pieces, but the lid is the base too. It would make for a very frustrating build! Also, it has no drawers or storage; so she and her husband decided to make one of their very own.

Jo bought the actual table for £5 as it was on offer in ikea (but she also saw a pile of the same ones in the YMCA shop next to the tip), so keep your eyes peeled. An old coffee table would do, and our friends at Emmaus or Mish Mash (both in Portslade) could help you out too.

Already owning a couple of Lego bases, which are expensive to buy new (£10 a pop), Jo got the others with her double up Tesco vouchers (so technically free too).

The making

Adding these drawer runners (£2 each)to hold the tub (£3), and two of these hanging rails, at £2 each (one for each side) with six pots from at 60p each. A bit of a design flourish in this magnetic knife rack (£7) for sticking these handy pots (£5 for three) onto.

Holding the lego plates in the right position by using lego bricks to make sure the space was exact, Jo and her hubby simply glued them down firm. They used a couple of pieces of wood found in shed from previous diy project and used them to screw the drawers runners on.

Brilliant! A cheap practical lego table which their little boy, O is going to love. With loads of storage and cool adaptions! He can put the bits he needs in the side tub whilst building the models on the top.

Jo and her family are thrilled with this make, and coming in at Under £32 I think it is an absolute triumph!