NOT Expensive Glass Whiteboard

Jules Yap·
Wall DécorWork Station
··92 Comments
IMG 0790 772931
Home
IKEA HACKS
Accessories
Wall Décor
NOT Expensive Glass Whiteboard

Materials: TORSBY + RIBBA + 1/2″ Mirror Hardware

Description: I wanted to outfit my home office with a Glass Whiteboard. After shopping around I was astounded at the cost of these… easily starts off at $500-$700 and goes up from there. Amazing!

Then, walking around Ikea, looking at the TORSBY dining room table on display (it had a white glass top), I realized it was the perfect size. Next, I saw the table was actually priced as two separate items.

NOT Expensive Glass Whiteboard

1 x TORSBY 53″x33″ White Glass Top for $79
1 x RIBBA Picture Ledge for $10
1/2″ mirror hardware for $5
Laser Level, ruler, stud finder, and drill
1 hour later

It was the finishing touch to my home office!

~ D. Morris, Maryland

Jules Yap
Latest posts by Jules Yap (see all)

92 Responses

  3. If you are planning to use this in an office with track lighting, the board looks terrible. The lighting in your space absolutely needs to be diffused else you get multiple shadows behind everything you write. To me, a photographer, it all looks like a photo from a defective lens.

    Reply

  5. Clever, chic, practical, inexpensive, not complicated to install = Great hack. Impressed with the glass, but the picture shelf gives the project a substantial and finished look. Question: Especially after dark, are you bothered by the reflection of light sources in the room?

    Reply

  8. Any ideas on where I can buy the mounting hardware? I’ve called around the local stores and they don’t have anything to handle this width. No luck with HD or Lowe’s either….

    Reply

  10. Fantastic hack! I’m putting this up in my son’s study this weekend. Thanks for sharing your idea.

    Reply

  12. Because tempered glass will shatter into crumbs when it’s hit. Regular glass will shatter into incredibly dangerous shards that can cut or kill you if you’re falling against them. Putting up a sheet of non-tempered glass in a situation where it’s fairly easy to fall against it is a really bad idea.

    Reply

  14. Hey Guys, i just completed this hack. I had to modify this a bit so here are my learnings:
    – Mirror hangers / Mirror lips are not readily available for this hack everywhere. Home Depot in markham locations didn’t have the right size. I ended getting the Hillman Brand, Metal Mirror Clip for 5/16 inch mirror (1/2 inch).
    – need to account for the screws, sticking out and interfering with the glass once mounted. Make sure you get flat head dry wall screws.
    – Lastly the wall I mounted this to did not have wood studs but metal studs. Metal studs are crap. I used drywall screw / nylon toggles – Cobra brand (at rona). I didn’t use the screws that come with them because the heads are too fat…

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the tip! I bought the Tosby top and came back to this page looking for mirror lip specs. Home Depot and Lowe’s here didn’t have it either. I think you saved me some time with the flathead drywall screws too!

      Reply

  15. I loved this idea – just made a HUGE glass whiteboard using two 70″ Torsby tabletops horizontally mounted on top of each other. Almost 36 sq ft of glass whiteboard. Hung just fine with four 3/8″ mirror clips (2 bottom, 2 top), into studs with 2.5″ screws.

    THANKS!!! Totally Amazing!!!

    Reply

  16. Love this idea. Looking for a really big glassboard for my home office and professional ones are between $300-$600. Ran down to my local Maryland IKEA, picked up just the tabletop, and hung it with the picture hanger underneath. Works well. Little bit of “drop shadow” is no problem. Erases much easier than the whiteboard I have on the adjacent wall. All in all, great idea!

    Reply

    1. Hello. Did you end up buying the KLUDD, Noticeboard, glass. I need one in my bed room to take notes while studying. I am thinking between this glass one or go to a non glass white board. Your advice would be much appreciated

      Reply

  18. Great hack. Anyone have experience with applying magnetic paint on the back of the glass? Will it be strong enough through the thickness of glass? Any recommendations/thoughts?

    Reply

  19. I’m thinking of trying to get a similar effect by hacking this item:
    http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/00242527/
    Ikea Lyrestad Dining Table, with tempered glass top, £28 GB.

    Any comments / thoughts? Do you guys think it would work?

    Also, I definitely want to back-light this baby… thinking I would spray-paint the whole table-top white on the back, then mount it a rectangular wooden frame to the wall, 1/2 inch thick, and use the void to insert some LED strip lights. Do you guyss think that would work?

    Comments / feedback warmly welcomed.

    Reply

  21. UK Based: Worked for me. Malmo glass top – white. Plus mirror fixings – type B fom B&Q. Total cost – £14.95. Great idea – thanks!

    Reply

  22. Tileboard doesn’t work nearly as well for a wipe-off surface as glass. Nice work.

    I’ve upcycled some used sliding glass doors as wipe-off boards.

    Reply

  23. great idea; solution I needed. Like anything we hang on the wall needs to be well done. Plenty of hardware in the market for that. NICE

    Reply

  24. Also, would like to know how much does the tabletop (Torsby 53×33) weigh – to start planning the installation. Thanks again.

    Reply

  25. This looks very neat. I am worried about mounting such a thing on the drywall. If we used anchors, can this be done safely without mounting on the studs (I’ve had trouble finding the studs in the past).

    Reply

  27. In the event you visit the IKEA link for any table, click on the Product Info tab, scroll down to the actual Package measurement as well as weight section and click on the link that states, “Show size, weight load, as well as post numbers” you can obtain the number of each and every piece of a product. Take the correct quantity and put it in the Lookup standard. You might will have the price as well as stock connected with only the piece you want.

    Reply

  28. Appreciate that individuals have got totally skipped the purpose and are recommending white board color! The particular OP did not really want the lowest priced white board feasible, he desired an inexpensive GLASS white board which accompanied his design and elegance! Which is definitely an IKEA crack website, therefore white board artwork does not actually suit you perfectly. I believe it is a great concept. Stylish and a great cost.

    Reply

  29. In the event you visit the IKEA link for any table, click on the Product Info tab, scroll down to the actual Package measurement as well as weight section and click on the link that states, “Show size, weight load, as well as post numbers” you can obtain the number of each and every piece of a product. Take the correct quantity and put it in the Lookup standard. You might will have the price as well as stock connected with only the piece you want.

    Reply

  30. EVEN IF he paid full price, $199 in canada, for the whole damn table and only used the glass top, it looks AMAZING! if he can afford it why should anyone care? honestly, whiteboard paint is cheap and looks like it. give him a break. this isn’t the “how to get the cheapest possible home decor” site is it? why do people crawl out of the woodwork with nasty comments just because someone spends what they can afford to get the look they want? lighten up! good grief!

    Reply

  31. Love that people have completely missed the point and are suggesting whiteboard paint! The OP didn’t want the cheapest whiteboard possible, he wanted a cheap GLASS whiteboard that complemented his decor and style! And this is an IKEA hack site, so whiteboard painting doesn’t really fit the bill. I think this is a brilliant idea. Stylish and a good price.

    Reply

  32. If you go to the IKEA link for the table, click on the Product Information tab, scroll down to the Package measurement and weight section and then click on the link that says, “Show dimensions, weights, and article numbers” you can get the number of each and every piece of a product. Take the correct number and put it in the Search bar. You will now have the price and stock of only the piece you want.

    Reply

  34. I think this is beautiful! I really dislike my commercial whiteboard because of the ghost images and can’t afford a true glass one but I never considered this. Thanks for sharing – it looks really high end! You’ve made me think of how best to replace my awful one.

    Reply

  35. I had a hard time finding 1/2″ hardware as well. I finally just bought some 1/4″ hardware and it seemed to work. I really like the look of this as most whiteboards have a really cheap plastic border. We have whiteboard paint at our office, but it seems to discolor pretty quickly so I prefer this.

    Reply

  36. I have a question about using 1/2″ hardware. I just bought the table top and the thickness is actually .30 inches. As such, it doesn’t seem that it will sit in 1/2″ hardware very securely. It appears like there will be too much play and room for movement. How did you address this? Thanks!

    Reply

    2. Since so many people are having trouble finding the proper mounting hardware, I would like to suggest making your own from two strips of 5/4″ (actual 1″) T x 2″ W x (whatever the entire length of your whiteboard is) L, ripping a 1/2″ deep kerf down the entire length, then mounting that on the wall, into the studs, top and bottom. The glass will be solidly sandwiched in-between.

      Reply

  38. Instead of LEDs, you could paint the back w/ UV-sensitive paint (it is white paint but you can get different “reacting” colors) and then throw up a black light. My understanding is that with this process you would get a more even spread to the glow than with LEDs, and I think it might be cheaper. (This is assuming the glass stood away from the wall — but maybe you could edgelight this somehow?) I saw this done on Color Splash (HGTV) with frosted plexiglass for a bar. Great hack!

    Reply

    1. Could we see some pics? I am trying to decide which is the most effective, and less costly for my study room( LOL the kitchen)

      Reply

    1. No, it has the white coating on one side (the back, similar to the coating of a mirror). similar to frosted glass as well. the coating is normally applied to just one side, so that the other is just the normal glass.

      Reply

    2. dont you get shadows of what you write on the whiteboard because the clear glass has some decent thickness to it?

      Reply

      1. Exactly. I just bought one and put it up and … no. it’s no good. Shadows everywhere makes it hard to read. I have track lighting. The glass board looks terrible.

        Reply

  42. Awesome! You should have posted more pics and closeups!

    Could it work with LED lightning behind? Or would it light uneven? If I found some good looking stainless steel hardware can I drill on tempered glass???

    Reply

    1. If you used the stand-off mounting hardware, then you probably could put LED lighting behind it. Great idea. The stand-off hardware is pretty expensive though…

      Reply

    3. Also, if the white “frosting” on the backside lets too much light from the leds through, so they show up as discrete points, instead of an even band of illumination around the edge, all you’d have to do would be to spray paint the back black. Yep, right over the white. it’ll still look white from the front, but will not allow light through.

      ps; Drilling tempered glass is a really BAD idea. My understanding is you need to de-temper the glass first, then re-temper after drilling. probably ought to google it…

      Reply

    2. yes, you could… I’ve used the whiteboard paint from Lowe’s in other projects. works pretty good. however, it does stain over time and wear out, plus needs repainting over time, regardless of what their packaging says. And, the design is key in complementing the rest of the office.

      Reply

  46. We have seen small, expensive, glass white boards (brightly coloured back painted glass) and we thought, we should be able to do that and but I never thought of starting with something from IKEA. Thanks for the idea. Possibly BILLSTA Glass desk top $19.00 would work…

    Reply

  47. Thanks for all the comments. Yes that is Preach My Gospel on the table. I was wondering if anyone would notice.

    Here is another picture with some writing on it.
    http://flic.kr/ps/7JN4v

    I too had problems finding the tabletop as an individual item on their web site. So I just went to the store and was able to purchase there w/o any issues.

    The other thing I was originally looking to do was purchase some Stand Off mounting hardware which would hold the glass about an inch off the wall. But that hardware was turning out to be very expensive (~$200 for a set of 4). The alternative was the mirror mounting hardware from the local hardware store for $6.

    I wish I would have thought about putting something magnetic on the back. That would have been a great idea.

    ~D. Morris

    Reply

  49. Great idea! I have been wanting a few extra white boards (I have a magnetic one at the studio already). I think these come in black as well so with some special markers I could do the câfé board too.

    Reply

    2. no luck finding it as an individual item on their web site. I ended up having to go into the store. I was able to purchase it there without any issue. you’ll just want to check online to verify stock levels first.

      I’m sure that if you called Ikea customer service, you could purchase the table top as an individual item.

      Reply

    1. I think plexiglas would possibly stain over time? or start to discolor/fade with age. it would probably work for a couple years or so…

      Reply

  55. I love it. We are currently using our dining room table which I covered with plexiglass a couple of years ago. Now that my youngest is doing more math, it’s been a treasure.

    Reply

  57. There are way more things you’ll never find separately on the ikea website…

    But that’s a great idea, and at a good price. I’ve been looking for the same thing. Those things tend to be stupidly expensive indeed. To bad I already put 2 of those ikea Kludd glass boards on the wall 🙁

    Reply

  58. I love it. Does it work well? Any pictures with some writing on it? I couldn’t find just the table top online but maybe my Ikea store will sell me just the top???

    Reply

  60. I hope I didn’t come off as a hater, I was pointing out that IkeaHackers is a place for people who love Ikea to hack their things. I might or might not do (or appreciate) a particular hack myself, but to object because it’s cheaper to do it at the orange cube is completely beside the entire point!

    Reply

  63. Tileboard is ok for a cheap whiteboard, but it is slightly permeable and WILL discolor over time and start looking dingy no matter what you use to clean it.

    Glass is impermeable and will not discolor. As for buying glass at the hardware store – I don’t think you’ll have much luck buying that big a piece of tempered glass for under $80 and you’d be a fool to make a whiteboard out of non-tempered glass.

    Reply

    2. What is it EXACTLY about tempered glass that makes you write the above? I understand that all glass has pores. Tempered glass has less of them sure but, wont it also ghost after a while as well?

      Reply

      1. I think that the tempered glass is preferred because it is safer, not because it is better as a whiteboard.

        Reply

  67. if you don’t care about glass, you can buy a huge piece of tileboard at a home improvement store for less than $15

    Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© COPYRIGHT 2022 IKEAHACKERS.NET | IKEA® is a registered trademark of Inter-IKEA Systems B.V.
IKEAhackers.net is a fan-run website and is NOT related to IKEA®, IKEA.com or the IKEA Group.
Any and all links to IKEA.com are presented for reader convenience only and
do not imply IKEA's approval of this website and/or the modification of its products.
IKEA® and IKEAhackers.net are not liable for any product failure, injury or damage
resulting from the application of hacks featured on this site.