Clear A Cluttered Workspace With A Creative Use Of IKEA's Decorative Hand

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For the quirky at heart, the need to declutter an office space is an opportunity to show off some personality. There's no plain shelves and baskets here. Rather, the more eccentric among us find unique ways to hang their most used items. For instance, here's a way to creatively repurpose an IKEA decorative HANDSKALAD modeling hand into something more useful — namely, a hook to hang items on. Done right, this unconventional storage solution would be enough to get Wednesday Addams' attention, yet practical enough to give you a helping hand — literally — when the time comes to clean off your desk. 

The fingers on the IKEA modeling hand are movable, so they'll be easy enough to curl up into a hook shape. However, as is, the hand is not ready to hang on the wall. For that, you'll need some Command heady-duty 20-pound strips. These DIY tools are sturdy enough to hang large picture frames (within reason). You may not have picture-hanging in mind for this DIY. However, it's good to know that whatever you do hang on your hand hook, it'll stay on the wall provided that you are reasonable about what you want the hook to support. Command strips are also user-friendly and removable, so if you live in a rental house or apartment, you can pull your creation off the wall and take it to your next abode.

For decorative purposes, you'll also need a unique photo frame. It needs to be on the smaller side and should have a removable back. You may want to go with a vintage or antique picture frame to add visual interest to this IKEA decor essential.

When you use the IKEA HANDSKALAD as it was originally intended, it stands upright, with the bottom of the piece's forearm providing the base on which it stands. As such, it has no hook on it that allows it to hang on the wall. This is where the command strips come in. To make the IKEA piece into a hangable hook, fit the base with at least two command strips. Given how narrow the surface area of the piece's forearm is, you'll need the shortest length, which is about 2 inches. Make sure the base of the hand is clear of any debris. Once that's done, peel the backing off the command strips and attach the whole thing to the wall. Make sure you apply the strips a parallel position, as this will allow the hand to hang evenly.

You can leave this creative home decor piece on the wall as is, but it may look a bit unsettling to just have a hand jutting out of the wall. (We did say that Wednesday Addams would like this hack.) However, if you'd like to give it an air of respectability, hang a frame around it. Remove the cardboard backing from the frame and position it so that it frames the hand evenly, as if the IKEA piece is three-dimensional art, jutting out of the confines of the frame. Finally, curl the fingers up to create the hook and hang things like headsets on it. Or, if you need to organize items like mail or sticky notes, hang a small AJIODA metal basket with a handle on the hook for more storage options.