IKEA + Contact Paper = DIY Magic

There are so many ways to customize your IKEA furniture, but here’s one that’s really, really easy: contact paper. And lest you were convinced that contact paper is weird and tacky and always looks terrible, these ten projects are here to prove you wrong.

Above: Blogger Jonathan Lo, of Happy Mundane, bought his IKEA desk in a birch finish, but wanted something a little darker that would match his vintage midcentury furniture. A little walnut woodgrain contact paper gives the piece the perfect sophisticated edge.

Marble contact paper adds class to an IKEA desk spotted on Livet Hemma.

This Vittsjo table from Syl and Sam got dressed up with a little marble contact paper.

Kristi Murphy used spray paint and contact paper to give this IKEA PS 2012 end table several different new looks. Although this particular table is no longer available, you could apply the same technique to one of the tables in IKEA’s current range.

From Style Me Pretty, here’s a similar project that takes things up a notch with copper leaf.

From Maiju Saw, a Billy bookcase dressed up with geometric patterns.

This glass top table from I Heart Organizing looks like a million bucks, thanks to a little marble contact paper. Blogger Jen provides helpful step-by-step instructions.

These faux copper-finish Lack shelves are from Livet Hemma.

This IKEA end table from The Vault Files got a new look thanks to new hardware and a marble contact paper top.

This piece from the Petite Apartment may look like a lucky midcentury find — but it’s actually two Besta units that got an entirely new look, thanks to new metal legs and inexpensive fiberboard doors covered with woodgrain contact paper.