Victoria Harrison, Houzz Editor
Tired of your existing furniture but don’t have the money for an upgrade? Looking for a DIY project for the weekend? Check out these smart Ikea hacks and see what you can create with a small budget and a big helping of creativity. From elevated units to customized bedroom storage, these furniture upgrades will have you asking, “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Photo by Planning Pretty - Discover eclectic bedroom design inspiration.
1. Refresh with a pastel twist. The owner of this stylish home in San Francisco has transformed a simple pine Rast chest of drawers into a pretty, vintage-inspired piece, thanks to a couple of coats of paint and some fancy new handles.
Painting each drawer a different color and mixing up glass, ceramic and brass handles created something unique, while the rose pink and peachy-coral shades ensure the piece is right on trend.
Related: How to Use This Coral Color of the Year
Photo by Holly Marder - Search Scandinavian home design pictures.
2. Give a cabinet a custom top. A low, horizontal
TV cabinet adds a refined air to this Dutch home, thanks to the light-colored wood top, which is actually a scaffold board cut to size. Designed by the homeowners in collaboration with local company Steigerhout & Zo, it’s an elegant hack that transformed this plain white Bestå storage unit into something special.
It would be simple to re-create this hack at home — just ask your local home improvement store or lumberyard to cut a piece of wood to the correct size for you, then lightly oil or varnish it before fixing it securely to the base unit.
Photo by Prettypegs - Look for midcentury home design inspiration
3. Elevate a humble chest of drawers. This also started life as a pine Rast unit, and it’s been upcycled beyond recognition by design blogger Kristin of Bliss at Home. She painted the chest crisp white and the drawer fronts bright yellow, and added a white cutout overlay to the front of each drawer, along with a smart brass handle.
The stroke of genius is the elevation of the chest with the addition of wood and brass legs. It was originally designed to sit on the floor, so Kristin strengthened the base before adding the four legs, transforming it from a basic unit into an elegant piece of furniture.
Photo by Chris Snook - More Scandinavian kitchen ideas.
4. Upgrade your kitchen. Yes, these are Ikea cabinets, albeit ones that have had quite a design makeover. Homeowner Beth Dadswell, an interior designer, and her partner hacked the Metod cabinets in their London home by painting them sage gray and adding new handles, then topping them with honed marble. The result is a beautifully custom-looking kitchen without the custom price tag.
Dadswell also painted the wall paneling in the adjoining dining room the same color as the kitchen cabinets for a cohesive look.
Photo by Prettypegs - Discover Scandinavian living room design inspiration.
5. Treat the feet. How much thought have you given to the legs on your sofa? Consider taking a second glance, as an upgrade could transform the look of your living room. This Söderhamn sofa has gone from off-the-shelf to customized in a flash, with black and gold legs replacing the standard slim metal ones.
Photo by Holly Marder - Discover Scandinavian living room design ideas.
6. Fake a built-in cabinet. A custom-looking unit behind the sofa gives this Dutch living room a smart, pulled-together look. But rather than shell out for a custom-built piece of furniture, the owners pushed three white Billy bookcases together and customized them with partial-height doors across the top. Simple, but very effective.
Photo by Planning Pretty - Discover eclectic bedroom design inspiration.
7. Add color and character. If you only have a couple of hours to upgrade a piece of furniture, you can paint the front of a
dresser — it’s a great way to give it personality.
This Tarva dresser was upcycled by the same homeowner who created the pastel pink chest in the first photo, and it is similar in style. But while the pink unit has a mismatched charm, this has a crisp, nautical feel, with bands of navy, white and sky blue teamed with crisp brass drawer pulls and smart ceramic knobs.
Photo by Holly Marder - Browse Scandinavian bedroom ideas.
8. Create a storage wall. The homeowners created this wall of bedroom storage by filling the space between two existing cabinets on either side of the bed with a row of Bestå cabinets. Adding a slim picture ledge and two lights mounted on the cabinets created an ideal storage solution for a small bedroom.
Photo by Holly Marder - Look for Scandinavian kitchen design inspiration.
9. Swap cabinet door handles. Looking for a quick furniture hack to refresh your kitchen? It doesn’t get easier than upgrading your door handles. One of the owners of this home swapped the standard knobs on the Hemnes cabinet with leather handles she designed for an instant style upgrade.
Photo by Design Manifest - Browse eclectic living room ideas.
10. Bring in some bling. Can you guess what this looked like before it was transformed into this smart glossy black and gold TV unit? Believe it or not, it used to be two pine Rast chests.
Homeowner Naomi Stein of Design Manifest took them up a level by adding three coats of a high-gloss black paint and detailed gold drawer pulls. (See the how-to here.) She then pushed the chests together, and a carpenter designed a low box for the top to house the cable box, wires and remote controls.
