Is there anything more ubiquitous than the IKEA LACK series? I remember it being amongst my first purchases coming out of college, thanks to its neutral-modern design and affordable price. It's no surprise it remains popular to this day for the same reason. Here's an example of someone taking a me-too LACK and converting it into a me-only TV stand...


I searched and searched for a TV table I could live with, and finally came across this cool Jetson-esque one at Logue Studio.Two things I didn't like about it: the $1,498 base price and the [hairpin] legs.
Next stop: IKEA. Walked out with the $49.99 LACK TV unit table, in the birch-effect color. Went to Home Depot to get a board to fit into the LACK's front opening, walked out with a piece of 1" x 8" x 6' pine (nominal size) that cost around $18...

The whole project cost Erik a grand total of $158 (labor and creativity not included), a big savings from the $1,340 price tag, and best yet, he's allowed to proudly showcase his handiwork as a unique improvement to the popular IKEA unit.
More details about Erik's IKEA Lack Space Age TV Stand project at IKEAhackers.
(Images: Erik/IKEAhackers)

Ercol Bar Stool
While the fight rages on about the previous Before and After I'll weigh in first her to say that I think the after here is more appealing than the expensive piece that inspired it.
I'll second that -- I dig what they did better than the inspiration... I mean, I kinda like the legs and the base of the inspiration, just not together.
@rsr: completely agree, on both points.
Congrats for this ikea hack!!
I like this a lot and it would work great for our TV setup, but does the DVD player register with the remote ok with that front face?
Looks like something from outer space with lots of eyes, coming to take me away ha ha.
Like the front with the 'port holdes' but I would perfer the hair pin legs.
I was confused which was the inspiration and which was the hack because it said he didn't like the price and the hairpin legs, but Eric's hack has the hairpin legs and the weird outer space one is the inspiration piece. Not very clear in the text. I like Eric's hack far better than the space age one.
hey, queen: that bit about disliking the hairpin legs is a mistranslation from what appears on the original i wrote that's on ikeahackers. on ih, i said i dislike the price of the original and the legs, meaning the original's legs!
hairpins, i love em!
anyway, sorry the confusion got added in, but i'm glad that everybody here likes the piece!
Like both; kind of give the edge to the 'after' but I've got a set of tall hairpins in need of getting attatched to something. The Lack is at least moving closer to what I want.
I think I like it. But I think I would like it even more if there was a colorful paper or fabric the show through the holes. EIther way I like it.