Not to take away the intelligence of people but a hacker is someone who excels in situations as this - Limited time, limited resources/cheapness to spend money, Have objects X, Need functions Y.

That takes a hacker. Everything else is just a builder (be it building code, or cabinets, or robots). The core ideology of being a hacker is seeing beyond the normal functionality of the item like this roommate has seen. He looked at the wardrobe and saw a sliding table. That is hacking.