10 Creative IKEA Hacks To Uniquely Transform Your Furniture (Ranked By Difficulty)
If you didn’t know already, Ikea is the biggest home furniture retailer in the world.
Its revenue in 2020 was $44 billion dollars, and it’s in 52 countries employing 217,000 people.
We all love Ikea for its affordable pieces, timeless designs and to a certain extent – the shopping experience.
In fact, it’s so popular that even in tiny Singapore, we have the privilege of 3 Ikea stores!
The problem now is, every Singapore household probably has a piece of Ikea in their home.
So if you want to keep things affordable, yet retain a little uniqueness about your home, you probably will have a hard time finding something suitable.
There is a solution though:
DIY Ikea hacks.
With all the travel and dining restrictions, we are all stuck at home with more time on our hands and there is really no better time to use a little elbow grease to start on a DIY project.
The internet is full of Ikea hacks, but we have scoured countless DIY blogs and Instagram accounts to bring you the most creative and do-able ones.
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1. Elevate A Shelving Unit by Adding Unique Legs
Not loving the bulkiness of a shelving unit or drawer from Ikea? By adding some simple mounting plates and wooden taper legs, you can modernise any basic shelving unit into a chic bedside table. Just take a look at this one by The Surznick Common Room!
Using warm-toned wooden taper legs, paired with a classic metal mounting plate, the IKEA Kallax Shelf Unit is turned into a mid-century modern storage unit for all your vintage trinket needs. We can’t believe how such a simple DIY can look so stylish and classy!
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The same can be done using mounted shelving units. We especially love this one done by IdealHome, which featured the IKEA Ekby Alex Drawers with sleek hairpin legs to create a one-of-a-kind and space efficient storage solution.
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For a glam look, swap out the black for some metallic gold hairpin legs paired with IKEA Malm Chest of Drawers just like this one by David Giles. Finish off with a coat of matching gold paint for a fancy and luxurious shelving unit.
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2. The Billy Bookcase Hack
It’s not an Ikea hack compilation without hacking the IKEA Billy Bookcase. Here are some of the top picks from the Internet.
Custom built-ins are pretty expensive here in Singapore, but it is not impossible to make one yourself. The Makerista came up with the genius idea to combine three of IKEA’s popular Billy bookcases together to create a ‘built-in’ shelving unit. Granted it does take a bit of carpentry skills to assemble, but it can save you a lot of that pricey carpentry budget.
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Something a little simpler but still as innovative— switching up the orientation of the Billy bookcase to make it more versatile. Check out this one by Joanna Henderson who added an ‘end’ by rotating the bookshelf outwards! This gave her a space to paint over with some chalkboard paint that serves as a memo board to jot down some reminders for the family.
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Billy bookcases are not just for books, as one internet user uploaded pictures of their shoe storage cabinet made up of Billy bookcases. Using adjustable panels to create individual slots, this Biilly bookcase ‘shoe storage’ is perfect for shoe and sneaker collectors.
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3. Greenhouse/Terrarium with Ikea Furniture
It’s every plant parents dream – a mini glass greenhouse right inside your house. Sounds expensive? It doesn’t have to be using this hack by Sumi Nguyen. Converting an IKEA Milsbo Glass Cabinet into a mini-indoor greenhouse by adding some racks, a mini fan and some LED lights, we are amazed to see the final product of this ingenious hack.
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On a smaller scale (as far as difficulty of Ikea hacks go), why not try this IKEA Borrby Lantern terrarium hack? Grab a Borrby Lantern for just $15, follow standard terrarium procedure and you have an Instagram-worthy décor piece to spice up your home.
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4. Turn Bookshelves into a Bench with Bonus Storage
Inspired by banquette style seating in restaurants, Krys from Melodrama turned an IKEA Kallax Bookshelf onto its side and covered the top with thick pieces of foam to create a small bench that has extra storage underneath. The same shelf can also be used as window and bench seating. Plus, it is not built in and you can move it anywhere!
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Another creative use of a Kallax Bookshelf is this mudroom idea from The Orange Home. The bookshelf is laid on its side and doubles as a shoe storage area as well as a bench. By installing a bench cover for extra stability as well as wooden planks and L corner brackets, you can hang bags, keys, and hats all in one place.
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5. Spice Up Drawers with Handles, Knobs and Brass Bars
Those little boutique dressers always cost a pretty penny. But what if we told you that you can get the same look for much cheaper if you are willing to get a little crafty. Check out this amazing transformation of a wooden IKEA Tarva dresser from plain to quaint using a fresh coat of paint and some brass bar handles. A perfect addition to a nursery or a bedroom.
The exact dresser is not in season right now, but some similar ones include the Hemnes Chest of Drawers, Koppang Drawers and the Tyssedal Drawers.
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A secret that is mind-blowingly easy that can make even IKEA pieces luxurious? Replace knobs or handles with leather tabs! These dark leather tabs added onto an IKEA Rast 3-Drawer Chest make it look much fancier and are not your typical run-of-the-mill IKEA makeover. Not to mention, it is simple to install and can be done on a number of other kinds of cabinets. This is one of our favourite Ikea hacks for sure.
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6. Project Mini Bar
Bored at home? Time to start a new side building project with this mini bar idea. Using the IKEA Vittsjo Laptop Table, which is only $40, some common boards, wine bottle racks and under cabinet Stemware racks, you can customise a simple laptop table into a beautiful mini bar. This is perfect to adorn any empty spaces in your living room or kitchen and will definitely impress your friends.
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7. Play with the Surface!
Contract paper is a god-sent for all DIY loving people. It allows you to seamlessly change the ‘material’ of the surface without any complex process.
Marble table tops are all the rage right now but it definitely comes with a big price tag. One clever DIY-er came up with a simple hack to give the IKEA Linnmon Table a luxe makeover by simply covering the top with marble contract paper. It fits perfectly into a clean and feminine aesthetics and it’s so simple to do!
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For the modern and artsy, check out this one by Ich Designers using acrylic glass sheets and an IKEA Lack Sidetable. We see this hack being raved about everywhere and we can definitely see why! It is so easy to build and requires no tools – anyone can hack their way into a high-end looking plexiglass designer table.
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8. Bespoke Lamp Shade
You can create a bespoke lampshade using this simple IKEA hack. Starting off with an IKEA Snidad Rattan basket, remove the handles and spray it in the colour of your choice. Drill a hole at the base and add a lightbulb and hanging cord, or even use it as a cover for any existing hanging lights and, tada! You have yourself a designer-looking hanging lamp shade with very minimal cost and effort. Check out this one by IdealHome.
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9. Mirror Hacks
Ikea’s tiny mirrors are begging to get DIY’ed into something spectacular and Stacy Solomon on Instagram did just that! Buying the IKEA Lonsas Mirror (21×30 cm) and the IKEA Yllevad Frames (21×30 cm), she hung them up using command strips over her dresser in a 4 by 3 manner and creating one large mirror with a grid pattern. This was all done in less than half the price of buying a similar nine-panelled mirror!
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10. Extra-Long Desk
As the pandemic brought a shift to home-based learning and working from home, we often have to fight for space in our own home. DIY-er Nidhi Katkar came up with an idea for an organised workspace where both she and her family can work/study comfortably. Using two IKEA Rast Chest of Three Drawers and a slab of wood, she created a custom 3-seater desk. A new coat of paint for the drawers, wood stain for the table top and topped off with leather handles made from a belt, we couldn’t believe that this beauty is actually made with IKEA furniture!
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With a little know-how and an eye for design, the possibilities for Ikea hacks furniture are endless.
We hope that you can find some inspiration from this post to come up with your own Ikea hacks and we would love for readers to share their own hacks with us over on our Instagram page.
Let us know over at our social media or leave a comment below! If you’d like to see more home inspiration, visit our YouTube channel for our home tours!
At Stacked, we like to look beyond the headlines and surface-level numbers, and focus on how things play out in the real world.
If you’d like to discuss how this applies to your own circumstances, you can reach out for a one-to-one consultation here.
And if you simply have a question or want to share a thought, feel free to write to us at stories@stackedhomes.com. We read every message.
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