The Best Home Hacks

IKEA’s KURA bed is meant to be flexible — the structure is reversible and the mattress can either be put on the bottom or on top as a loft bed. But even IKEA couldn’t have anticipated the changes that Gisela made to it, in this really nice hack… Gisela built up the structure of the bed (which she calls “The Little Forest House) then wrapped it entirely in a sheath of wood veneered MDF, making it both sleek and sturdy.

There’s always room for LEGO, and over at Ikea Hackers, user Sooze made her BRAN lamp a lot more fun, just by popping the top off the lamp and filling it with flame-colored orange and yellow LEGO pieces. There’s always room for LEGO, and over at Ikea Hackers, user Sooze made her BRAN lamp a lot more fun, just by popping the top off the lamp and filling it with flame-colored orange and yellow LEGO pieces.

For anyone who sews, a good table for cutting fabric is the Holy Grail of craft supplies. But it often seems basically impossible to find something tall enough to stand at and cut fabric that is not wildly expensive and fits in an apartment or sewing room. Ikea’s Norden dining table is almost a perfect sewing table right out of the box. The table is 31.

Call them hacks, or makeovers, or just plain paint jobs, but these 25 DIY projects show you just what’s possible with IKEA’s TARVA dresser. It’s an unfinished wood blank slate, waiting for your personal stamp of style. Check out these ideas and finished projects, and try one yourself this weekend.

The options are endless.

What can you make from IKEA’s most utilitarian offering, you ask? Well what can’t you make? The SULTAN LADE bed slats are a $10 take home add-on that make IKEA’s platform beds feasible without a boxspring, but they’re also simply just a bunch of raw pieces of lumber stapled together to a polyester cord.

When it comes to taming my ever-growing collection of stuff, there’s really nothing simpler or more useful than a wire basket. To be honest, I have five (is that too many??) in my bedroom alone. And while I love how functional they are for stashing everything from notebooks to ribbons, they can start to feel a little utilitarian.

There should be a medical or scientific term for that visceral aversion to seeing cords and ugly electronic boxes (something on par with trypophobia for example). Getting rid of them is an endless quest as fraught with difficulty as getting tickets to see Hamilton with Lin-Manual Miranda in the lead role. Figure out how to cover up those unattractive bits— and improve the look of your home in the meantime —and you’ve truly mastered the art of organization and storage.

Certain tools and equipment are expensive. Like, really expensive. I think it’s safe to say that absolutely no one on the planet wants to actually buy an industrial carpet cleaner for thousands of dollars, for example, let alone find a place to store it when they’re done. Unless you use these types of things all the time, it doesn’t make any sense to own them outright, which is why we’re thankful for temporary rentals.

I spy with my little eye another IKEA hack done right. If you scored high on the Spot the IKEA Quiz, I have no doubt you’ll be able to spot this IKEA piece turned high-end Scandinavian home decor. This project, along with many like it, further proves how a simple change in perspective can dramatically alter the success of a space.

If you’ve ever had your eye on a super fancy 60″ stove from companies like Viking or Wolf, you know just how expensive they are. These kitchen ranges are fantastic features for serious cooks, but an extra large one can cost beaucoup de bucks — we are talking over $10,000 for that single appliance alone. So when I saw this genius workaround, which gives you most (if not all) of the features, without the higher price tag, I really wanted to share.

IKEA’s IVAR collection is a very versatile system, with different ways to configure storage, and made of unfinished wood that’s a virtual blank slate for paint. But, in a recent makeover project, the big question became: could it become the centerpiece of an inexpensive rental bathroom makeover? Erika’s bathroom suffered from a distinct lack of style, so I wanted to start with a great vanity in a fun color. One of my first thoughts, when on a strict budget, is usually IKEA.

IKEA’s instructions are in(famous), with their illustrated diagrams, lack of words, and the oddly bulbous “IKEA man.” For the most part, with some head scratching, you can figure them out. But, as we discovered in our recent bathroom makeover, when it comes to installing a sink, the Swedish retailer left out one major detail, which is essential to the job. Read this before you shut your water off and get to work.

These days, I prefer weekdays to weekends when it comes to my IKEA trips. Why, you ask? Well, as if it isn’t obvious, it means less crowds and more leisurely wandering the aisles, sans pressure. What am I looking for exactly? Maybe I have a simple list of items I need for a closet makeover, but then I spot a serving bowl that would make a perfect pendant light. Or I go in for some picture frames then can’t help but notice a kitchen cart that would be the perfect bar cart.

As much as we love schoolhouse-style lighting, it isn’t always the best idea to buy something truly vintage and hope it works. There are stores — such as Schoolhouse Electric or Barn Light Electric — who sell absolutely beautiful fixtures in this style, but they are often out of financial reach. To help you stay on budget, and get the look you want, we’ve rounded up some of the best lighting options out there, all well under $100.

This project is a great example of how a few dollars and a few minutes can make a dramatic change in your home—and your mood. As Anne described her situation, “Cooking and baking make me happy, but seeing my workspace sulking in the shadows was putting a damper on my spirit.” Let’s see her cheap, quick, renter-friendly, and reversible solution to the baking blues! So much better!

Flower arranging is lost on me. No matter how much time I spend trying to make bouquets look good, I usually wind up just plopping the flowers in a vase and calling it a day. So I love simple, quick ways to raise my flower game, even a little bit. Learn these five basic hacks and get the best arrangements of your life. Letting leaves rot in water is one of the best ways to bring your flowers down.

There’s a big difference between jamming a bunch of flowers in a vase, and creating a gorgeous arrangement that looks like it was done by a pro. Thankfully that difference isn’t necessarily measured in dollars, effort, or even skill. All it takes is something you probably have sitting in your kitchen drawer: clear cellophane tape. Here’s the secret. Use basic clear tape to create a grid over the top of your vase.

If you’ve ever done the January Cure, you know how much we at Apartment Therapy love flowers. Put simply, cut flowers are beautiful, add life, and help humidify the air. They are a small, healthy gift to give your home, and a great way to instantly refresh your space, for very little money. Here are a few tips for making them last. Flowers really only need a couple of things to stay happy, and clean water is one of the big ones.

The MELLTORP is one of IKEA’s ubiquitous and affordable tables. It’s minimal and modern, but it also makes a great blank canvas for a DIY. Here’s how Tiphaine of Kraft & Carat transformed it. This is extremely cool, and the way the table now matches the chairs is uncanny; choosing colors that close to each other often leads to awkward almost-matching, but this looks perfect.

Ah, the ever-reliable IKEA KALLAX: a timeless, affordable shelving unit that’s available in a variety of sizes and colors and is useful for holding books, records, storage bins, objets d’art, snakes, and so much more. Yes, of course, snakes… I have to say, the wood of the KALLAX looks pretty beautiful with all the organic matter, and the plants and rocks inside are all well chosen and arranged.

It’s that time of year, when days get shorter and shorter, and sunlight noticeably diminishes. Soon, many of us will be trudging to and from school and work in near darkness, and—I’ll venture a guess here—we will not be happy about it. Once we’re home, we’ll also have to turn our indoor lamps and overheads on sooner in the evening. These IKEA hacks help us do it in style, and on the cheap.

Laundry is the most avoided chore in our home. We don’t have a good spot to keep dirty clothes, which leads to chasing down little piles on laundry day, then scrambling to find a place to put the clean batches as each load comes out. Some very organized people have figured this out though. With their DIY sorting systems, household worths of laundry are neatly sorted before, during, and after each cycle.

Serena & Lily IKEA FJELLSE Bed (I only had space for a single, but go for the queen!) Molding of your choosing (I used two of these from Home Depot) Set of IKEA VÄSENTLIG Curtain Finials White Spray Paint Set of Table Legs (I used these from Lowe’s) 2 Tee Nuts (make sure the thread size matches your table legs) 24″ Open Cane Webbing Wood Glue Saw Hammer Clamps Staplegun 1. Spray paint all the pieces before you get started. 2.

IKEA’s MELODI pendant lamp is a really great blank slate — there are a million ways to tweak and hack one to make it yours. Weave the plastic shade with natural round reed get a contrasting mix of materials that’s both organic and modern. IKEA MELODI Pendant Lamp Natural Round Reed Scotch Tape Spray Paint (optional) Tools Drill & Bits X-Acto Knife Measuring Tape Pen 1. Wrap the tape measure around the diameter of the lamp and put an odd number of pen marks on the shade.

Bottles covered in macramé, or knotted rope, are an old school craft — the result reads either nautical or Bohemian. The netting’s an easy way to add texture and decorative pattern to a surface, and it works particularly well with glass bottles and tall vases. Learn how to do it here, and then start knotting! IKEA 365+ Glass Carafe Twine Scissors 1. Tie a circle of twine around the top of the glass bottle.

making a comeback 9″ x 11″ frame that has an interior depth of at least ¾” and spring-loaded backing clips on the back of the frame. I used this picture frame. 36″ x 12″ piece of black felt 1″ White plastic letters Pencil Scissors Ruler or T-Square Hot glue gun Mitre or circular saw Qty 18 – 3/16″ thick square balsa wood dowels, 24″ long 1.

I feel fairly confidant in my ability to spot an IKEA hack, but this project had me doing a double take. Christina’s project is not a casual, pick up and craft DIY, but it’s so perfectly executed that we had to share!

I’ve been on a lighting kick lately. Maybe it’s because I just re-read The Little Book of Hygge. To me, light — whether it’s natural or created — is king when it comes to your home. Not all of us have floor-to-ceiling windows or an expansive budget for beautiful light fixtures. And many DIY lighting projects require at least a little bit of electrical wiring. Not in the case of this Paper & Stitch IKEA globe light hack, though.

Painter’s tape is a modern miracle isn’t it? I mean, sure, the Great Pyramids are cooler, but when it comes right down to it, there isn’t much the blue tape can’t do. We’ve used it to spruce up furniture, for child safety, and to pull off quick and easy design projects. But there’s another genius use for the stuff, and we wish we’d known about it sooner. There are a few things in life that make me cringe.

A good majority of us have been there- that moment when you realize your phone is headed straight for a big puddle/tub/bowl of liquid. The moment that practically guarantees you have to buy a very expensive replacement. But if you’re quick enough, you may be able to throw one last Hail Mary and revive your digital device from the brink of death with this pantry staple. 2-4 cups instant rice Large zip top bag 1. As soon as possible (seconds count, act fast!

Some single-use gadgets and home tools just take up space versus regularly make our lives easier. It’s hard to purchase an entire device that just de-pills sweaters, for example, when you know it will wind up languishing in your cabinet or drawer. Which is why it’s great to discover multiple handy uses for ordinary objects and materials you already have lying around the house. Today’s unsung household hero: sandpaper.

At this point, most of us can spot a BILLY bookcase, KALLAX cubby, or LACK table a mile away. Basic and affordable, they’ve been some of the most popular items at IKEA for years, and our first apartments would’ve been bare without them.

Murphy beds are the ultimate space-savers. They neatly store themselves when not in use and can quickly turn your office or bonus room into a complete guest retreat. Finding an attractive Murphy bed within your budget just got easier, because we’ve rounded up our favorite DIY and pre-built options.

Thanks to a blush of color and a clever installation job, the ubiquitous blank-slate PAX wardrobe from IKEA gets a major upgrade in a graphic designer’s Copenhagen apartment. Four IKEA PAX wardrobes are now painted the same pink as the surrounding walls, giving them the appearance of a built-in closet. Michella Laura has turned pink into a sophisticated neutral that sets off the white bedding and trim to great effect and allows the stunning white-and-blue vintage Murano light to pop.

If you've ever struggled to put together their flat-pack furniture, this is one big reason why.

This entryway had a spot for coats, a large landing strip, a mirror for last looks, personality, and beauty, but it was lacking in storage for shoes and other odds-and-ends. A DIYer who enjoys “trying to figure out how to make things with no experience” solved the issue with a few ordinary IKEA drawers and some very special wood.

The last thing anyone wants to deal with after a long day of adulting is a clingy garbage can that staunchly refuses to release its grip on a full-to-bursting trash bag. No matter how many times you tug on the bag, it refuses to come out, even after you’ve removed some of the (smelly) contents. Instead of contemplating precisely what you did wrong in a former life to deserve this karmic kitchen payback, avoid future frustrations by drilling a hole in your trash can.

I am sitting on my sofa right now, writing this, wearing a wool sweater, swaddled in a blanket, and I’m still freezing. My fingers, toes, and nose feel particularly arctic, and I dread leaving the house later to walk my dog. Yep, I’m one of those people: always cold. Like a heat-seeking missile, I will shamelessly and relentlessly navigate towards warmth, wherever and whenever I can. Here’s a neat hack I use to get through winter.

IKEA hacks are always fun, but this one resulted in a piece that looks more like a high-end mid-century modern credenza that would cost at least 10 times more than it actually did. This BESTÅ is about to truly live its best life. First, a little bit about how Alex Mcclain, the mastermind behind this hack, was inspired by: I really liked a mid-century style credenza I saw from a company called Rove Concepts but couldn’t justify spending the $1,000+ dollars so I had to get creative.

You've got these.

What can you turn a headboard into? Here’s a hint: this decadent blush velvet, channel-seam headboard is leaving the boudoir for the cuisine… I love everything about this: the fantastic floor, the black-and-white base palette, the luscious green, mustard, and blush accents, the enviable bistro vibe, the elegant storage in the benches, and the visionary decision to use a headboard to create a comfy yet glam breakfast nook.

We’ve seen a few IKEA KALLAX hacks before— the room divider, the terrarium, the amazing craft credenza—and they’re all inspiring, and this one is no exception. The secret, magical ingredient? Plywood. Reddit user thehomestud scored some free IKEA KALLAX units with drawers and decided to make the most of this windfall.

This dining room is so graceful and elegant—that delicate molding and beautiful hardwood floor, but its new owner found it lackluster and hollow. IKEA’s BILLY bookcase to the rescue! Well, more like eight BILLYs to the rescue… Reader Oriane Szekelyhidi-Williams kindly shares a wealth of details about the inspiration behind this project and the challenges faced: We purchased our condo knowing we would be doing a BIG overhaul on the space.

Another way to personalize your kitchen.

This sad chair—IKEA’s ubiquitous POANG—was languishing on a curb, doomed to rot away, dreaming of those good old days when it was useful. Fortunately, someone with a vision (and 20 meters of rope) happened to walk by and oops-a-daisy! Britt Winter of Regroovinator on Etsy describes happening upon this chair, and the makeover time crunch: This sorry-looking IKEA POANG was a curbside find: bare bones and a ripped-up seat. However, those bones were good.

IKEA’s KALLAX is perfect for holding boxes, bins, baskets, and books, but one DIYer saw its potential as an understated entertainment unit—and the results are inspiring. This looks so great. Nicole Witney of Meraki came up with and completed this smart hack, which has so much going for it. Its central position means it is viewable from the kitchen—essential for tedious food prep/cleaning tasks—and yet it doesn’t dominate the space.

These look like they were born there.

Here we have a perfectly nice entryway console, adaptable to nearly any style with the right knobs. But its owner had something a bit more special and a lot more specific in mind… This is absolutely delightful and I wish it were available in a dress, or perhaps a dress/shoe combo. Pink and green go so well together, and they both pair wonderfully with gold, so the trio is totally fabulous.

You probably already own this.

They aren't just for closets.

There’s no shortage of places to purchase art prints that you love, but sometimes you’re on the hunt for something a little more unique—and maybe a little more affordable. If so, this may be the incredibly easy art hack for you. While this art hack is a great way to upgrade a wall in your home, it also solves another common problem: What to do with your favorite tea towels you don’t want to use because you don’t want them getting ruined with food stains.

Some IKEA hacks are small. A little paint here, some new hardware there—they get the job done. And then there are the IKEA hacks that are so big and so dramatic, they make the room. If you have a wall to fill, or a problem to solve, check out some of these genius solutions. This movable art display wall from Sinnen Rausch has so much going for it, starting with that dusty rose paint job.

Use Keurig K cups or Nespresso coffee pods? If yours live in one of those bulky carousels on your counter, or take up an entire drawer, they are using precious kitchen real estate. Here’s a great quick (and temporary) way to up your storage game with an affordable, DIY solution that frees up space, and lets you easily see and grab the flavor you want. Best of all, it only takes minutes and just a couple of bucks.

Ah, the classic, frameless, builder grade mirror. It’s one of your biggest bathroom features, and also one of the least special. Here’s the good news. If you have one of these very common mirrors, there are tons of ways you can upgrade them on a budget. The quintessential budget way is to frame what you already have, using either wooden boards or inexpensive molding, depending on the look you want.

When packing for a trip, you probably include a change of clothes and toiletries in your carry-on — in case your luggage gets lost — along with a travel pillow, moisturizer, good reading material, and a layer if it’s cold on the plane. But there’s one other item that doesn’t take up much space, and can get you to your destination feeling fresh and nimble. A long-haul flight spent cramped in an airplane seat is a recipe for sore muscles and stiff joints.

Is it nice enough where you live to open the windows yet? There’s nothing like warm, fresh spring air flowing through your previously closed-up house. Of course, then the bugs come. Because, no matter how much you enjoy those cross-breezes, insects will eventually, inevitably make their way through any teeny tiny holes in your screens, and there goes all your enjoyment out the window. Here’s some good news!

They will only look built in.

What a nice bedroom! What will it have that’s new? Fresh bedding and/or wall paint? Or perhaps something a bit more dramatic . . . and even dog-friendly? This is so fun! And incredibly practical: additional storage, a nest-like reading/sleeping spot, a large mirror for outfit-evaluating and space embiggening, and a lovely new home for Deacon the dog. This makeover was created by Erica Massey—be sure to check out her Instagram for lots of puppy pics.