Life

9 Crafty IKEA Hacks So Your Apartment Won’t Look Like a Swedish Furniture Store

Remember the home you’ve always dreamed of? It’s the one filled with light and flowers and furniture that’s so you — the one that looks nothing like the boring apartment you actually own.

So you ended up with some lifeless IKEA buys, and between the Fjell and the Tarva, your furniture is starting to sound like the lineup at a heavy metal concert. But never fear: we’ve combed the depths of Pinterest and brought back the craftiest IKEA hacks to give your space a little DIY lovin’. Swedish minimalism never looked so good.

Image: Kristi Murphy

by Lisa Siva

Farmhouse Chic

Give your home some rustic flair with this DIY kitchen table. After a few wooden boards and a coat of paint, East Coast Creative transforms an Ingo table into an elegant, farmhouse-inspired piece.

Image: East Coast Creative

Filed Away

Channel your inner librarian with these adorable card file drawers from The Painted Hive. Who knew the Moppe cabinet could look this stylish?

Image: The Painted Hive

Coffee House

Kristi Murphy gives the Lack side table some dimension with just a little painter’s tape and spray paint.

Image: Kristi Murphy

Midas Touch

Gold leaf turns this drab Vika Gruvan desk into a gilded thing of beauty. Jacquelyn Clark over at Style Me Pretty shows us how.

Image: Ruth Eileen Photography

Shine Bright

While we’re getting a little giddy with gold, Brenda Bird shows us how to transform an ordinary Stig stool with spray paint.

Image: Brenda Bird Designs

Marble Slab

With marble contact paper, your standard-issue Docksta table only looks expensive. Don’t worry — we won’t tell. Thanks, Poppytalk!

Image: Poppytalk

Lighten Up

This pendant lamp is an IKEA hack extraordinaire. A Beautiful Mess shows us how to craft an Angenam dish into a working light fixture.

Image: A Beautiful Mess

The Whole Spectrum

Brighten up your Tarva dresser with this easy hack from Decor8. Use a paint card in your favorite color to select the shades you’ll need.

Image: Patric Johansson

Concrete Details

When it comes to DIY, concrete is the new mason jar. Scandinavian Deko gives this Klubbo table a modernist update with a surprisingly elegant cement slab.

Image: Scandianvian Deko

19