IKEA Hacks That Make Your Living Room Look Expensive

You might never guess that these furniture and decor projects all began their humble little lives wedged tightly into a cardboard box and stacked on metal industrial shelves deep in the bowels of an IKEA store. Here are a handful of recent hacks that began as budget basics, and ended up looking like a million bucks.

Leaning ladders are such a great and practical addition to bedrooms and living rooms. Not only to they look beautiful and sculptural against walls, but the vertical storage is A+. Courtney of Always Rooney figured out how to use some IKEA cabinet pulls as the cross pieces, and the black metal looks simple and chic with the wood.

See how Sarah Dorsey added a leather cushion to an IKEA bench to give it a little luxury and added comfort. Judging from her photos, she uses it all over her house. (Also lead image above.)

Ariel of PMQ for Two is known for her bright and colorful DIY home decor, and this fabric-covered console table fits right in with the rest of her home. She used Spoonflower wallpaper, some casters, and new hardware to transform a MALM make-up table into a fun, glamorous bar cart.

The matte chalk paint finish used by We Are Scout on this IVAR cabinet hack gives it a sophisticated, polished look. The floral decoupage is a nice added touch.

To create these long “built-ins” in her home, Maiju used basic stock IKEA kitchen cabinets, trimmed out the doors, and painted them a soothing gray. What a stylish and timeless result, for an affordable price.

These DIY light fixtures popped up in one of our house tours, and I’ve been smitten ever since. Carla was inspired by some beautiful pendants, then hit up IKEA to figure out how to make something similar herself. Who knew a bunch of bowls could look so high end?

And finally, Bolig Magasinet featured this MALM sideboard table done over in tile by Cathrine de Lichtenberg. The grid pattern looks like the stuff of ’80s revivals everywhere in high-end design these days.