See How I Transformed Basic IKEA Kitchen Cabinets into Luxe Living Room Furniture
I’m a serial home renovator, and if there’s one lesson I’ve learned, it’s that no matter the budget — big or small — it never seems big enough. This may sound like bad news, but trust me: it’s not. Running low on budget forces you to think creatively and come up with unique ideas for finishing your space your way.
For me, that’s often where IKEA hacks can come in and give me major bang for my buck, and that’s exactly what I did when I was renovating my living room and needed a living room console table that also offered storage.
Many are probably familiar with IKEA’s most affordable kitchen range called SEKTION (or METOD in Europe). But what not everyone knows is that these basic units can be upgraded for stylish storage in any room, not just the kitchen.
To create my luxurious living room console, I opted for four of the cabinets with the narrowest base, which I intended to use horizontally to make my cabinet.
Being floor kitchen cabinets, they don’t have tops. Since I was laying them on their sides, I had to make one side for each unit, which wasn’t too challenging. I used white particle board, and the sides aren’t visible in my final product, so they didn’t need to be perfect.
The cabinets were just a bit too deep for my space, so my husband, Richard, helped me trim about 7 inches off using a circular saw. The new shorter depth had an additional benefit, which is that it was also more practical for reaching the space inside.
Afterwards, we put the cabinets together from the instructions, and I screwed on my new particle board sides to each unit. For the spots where we had to drill new holes (since we’d cut off the pre-drilled ones), we made sure to countersink the screws so that they sat flush with the cabinet surface.
IKEA offers a range of cabinet doors in different colors and finishes for their SEKTION cabinets; I went for the flat-front white ones for a clean and simple style. I also chose hidden hinges and push openers for a really minimalist no-hardware look.
I didn’t want my piece to be completely plain, though! I knew the finished cabinet would need a little extra flair. My plan had been to top the entire piece with a sheet of marble, but that turned out to be eye-wateringly expensive. Instead, I got some MDF sheets cut at my hardware store and covered them in marble contact paper for the same upscale look at a fraction of the cost.
Now, I have a perfectly chic console that offers concealed living room storage — and best yet, when my husband and I are hosting, we can pop a few cushions on the top and have some extra bench seating, too.