IKEA is a budget friendly homewares store that is accessible for almost any home renovation project. With budget and higher end products it’s a great place to buy reasonably priced furniture to makeover to suit your own style.
What to think about before you begin?
Before starting your own DIY project its important to establish a budget, although IKEA is a budget friendly store their ingenious layout means that you have to pass through each of the departments to get to the register and there will be temptations along the way let me assure you. Their trademark blue bags are big enough to pick up everything that catches your eye, believe me it happens!
Once you have your budget set it’s also a good idea to search for some inspiration about the style you’re going for, whether you’re adding an accent piece of furniture, upcycling something old or re-modelling a whole room. You can use home inspiration magazines, Instagram, Pinterest, home renovation blogs etc to find ideas about different types of styles. You can also share your completed projects on Instagram when you buy human comments on iigers.com.
To give you some more inspiration you can also check out some of our ideas below.
The upcycling of this MARIUS stool which retails at $5.99 and comes in white or black is a very simple choice for beginners. All you will need some reclaimed wooden trunk and the stool itself. This side table is a perfect addition for the bedroom or the living room with its earthy and rustic feel. You can also re-create this with any old stool that you have to hand.
Another amazingly simple addition perfect for the office, craft room, bathroom or a walk in closet is the LÜROY slated bed base retailing at $9.99. This bed base is perfect for draping scarves or towels or you can add more storage by clicking on some containers or fabric pouches. You can leave the panels unfinished, use a wood stain, spray paint or even decoupage to get a different look.
These sleek black pouches are the STICKAT model and retail at $7.99, they fit perfectly around the slats of the bed base. Another option are these sleek white SUNNERSTA storage cups that retail at $0.79 a pop.
One of IKEA hackers’ favourite and most versatile pieces is the LACK table, retailing at just $4.99 ( if you’re part of the IKEA family club and $8.99 if not) . It comes in two colourways, black or white and has a shiny finish. Ways to upcycle this simple basic are endless with hundreds of ideas on the web. Here are some of the best hacks and how to go about them.
The cat LACK, is a very simple hack requiring some basic hardware and some heavy duty natural jute twine. You can find corner braces at affordable prices on Amazon from around $7 or at your local hardware store. To mount this cat jungle-gym with built in scratching posts you will need 3 x LACK tables, 8 x corner braces and screws, natural jute twine and some silicone adhesive.
The fancy marble effect LACK. This can be achieved with a marble effect or other textures such as wood, stone etc. This sticky back texture paper is wipe clean and easy to apply although we would recommend all decoration to be done before mounting the table. To achieve this look, begin by painting the legs with matte, lacquer or spray paint finish. Continue by measuring the table and purchasing a sticky backed paper that is bigger than the width of the table. We recommend trying to buy a sticky paper that is slightly on the bigger side that way you won’t need to play around with matching up the pattern.
An alternative kids version can be created with this tiny town play tape that can be easily removed to change the design or to continue using the table once your kids are older. The tape costs just $7.99 and comes complete with a tuner car and several road signs.
There really are LACK hacks to suit all needs, styles and ages.
Here’s another super simple and beautifully chic update to an unfinished dresser. To achieve this look the feet have been sanded to an angle and the whole dresser has been painted. Finally to finish choose some classy brass or rose gold hardware. This upcycle is another example of how something truly basic can become something so beautiful. As the wood is unfinished you can use almost any type of finish. These dressers are perfect for staining, painting, covering in fabric, stencilling, adding chalk paint. You can even add a glass or mirror counter to the top. The TARVA chest retails at $179.00 and their range also includes a nightstand a various combinations of chest dressers.
This beautifully crafted cupboard is courtesy of the blog septemberedit.com where budding interior designer Caroline tried to emulate the popular rattan style furniture. It’s made with a woven cane material sheet that is fixed with studs and glue to the doors of the IVAR cupboard, to find out more about how to make this hack and what you will need visit her site by clicking the link above.
With all IKEA unfinished wooden products it’s possible to stain the wood, although it may be a slightly more time staking project it’s definitely worth the effort as in the end the results create a great sense of luxury. You can choose the shade to suit you or to match with other more expensive wooden furniture that you might already have at home. A great tip for swatching colours is to use the underside of the base or the underside of the top wooden panel as these are two places that won’t be seen later on after the furniture is assembled. Below are two more examples of the IVAR cupboard but this time with a wood stain applied to it. The dark colour creates a real hardwood feel and we think it’s just marvellous.
So whether it’s your first project or you’re a die hard IKEA hacker try one of these beautiful hacks today or share some ideas below if you have done any hacking of your own, we know there’s a world of possibilities when it comes to customising and upcycling and the ingenious ideas come from online communities like this one.
