Founded in 1943, the Swedish giant Ikea has changed the way we shop design and furniture forever. In a rapidly evolving industry where new trends are born every day, while new products emerge to improve our lives, Ikea has remained relevant for almost 80 years with its solid fanbase.
And fans, they know what they are getting into – from Scandinavian minimalist design and ready-to-assemble furniture anyone can nail, to friendly prices, weird (or rather, charming!) product names, that iconic blue and yellow plastic shopping bag and simply unbeatable Swedish meatballs with cranberry sauce. How can you not love this?!
No wonder Ikea aficionados gather together in communities online to share their interest and love for all things Ikea. One such group is the Reddit community “Ikea Hacks” which presents itself as “a smart community focused on helping people build the perfect furniture for their living space using items sold by IKEA.”
With 109k members, the subreddit has become a destination for smart interior and furniture ideas to make out of Ikea products, and this is basically a treasure box for anyone in the mood for a home makeover or a full-on renovation.
Scroll down below through the smartest hacks! And when you're done with this post, be sure to check out more Ikea hacks right here.
This post may include affiliate links.
I Finally Finished My "Library" With Floor To Ceiling Shelves (Still Need To Put In New Flooring)
I Hacked An Kvistbro Table To Be A Cute Pet Crate For My Dog (And Cats)
A Simple Hack Cutting A Keyhole Shape Into An End Table For A Handy Tree Table!
Bored Panda reached out to the moderator of the Ikea Hacks subreddit who goes by the handle u/6745408 to find out more about this community that gathers Ikea aficionados from all around the world. The moderator told us that they actually adopted the sub. “I’m not sure who started it, but one night I was looking for a way to make the POÄNG chair more ergonomic or even less bouncy,” they recounted.
That’s when u/6745408 stumbled upon the Ikea Hacks subreddit. “I found /r/ikeahacks with a few hundred subscribers and a lot of spam and no moderators. I figured I’d request the sub, set up some simple automation to clean it up and find someone to mod it,” the moderator said. They gave up on the POÄNG chair, but never left the sub. “I love seeing all of the stuff people come up with,” the mod added.
My Solution To Keeping The Cat Off The Desk
An Unusual Ikeahack - This Regency Gown Is Made From An IKEA Duvet Cover! It’s A Perfect Print For Around 1800 And Is 100% Cotton! Even A Single Duvet Cover Contains Quite A Lot Of Fabric
Converted The Guest Room Closet Into A Craft Space
The moderator assured us that the audience of Ikea Hacks is “a really nice community, for the most part. The ideas people come up with are really great, too.” According to the moderator, everybody in the subreddit has an interest in modding flat-packed furniture, even if they don’t actually do it.
Duktig Doll Bed And Handmade Covers For My Little Buddy
Kind Of Silly, But I'm Proud Of My Ingenuity. The IKEA Lamp (Fado) Was Brighter In Home Than In Store And Hurt To Look At So I Cut A Hole In The Back Of The $5 IKEA Basket I Also Bought (No Product Name Online). Super Cool Mood Light!
When asked how, in their opinion, Ikea has managed to remain relevant in this competitive industry of interior and furniture design, the moderator said there are reasons for its enduring popularity, according to them. “Flat-packed furniture isn’t far off from LEGO. Even simple hacks like adding legs to a shelving unit can elevate a piece of furniture. A lot of IKEA furniture is nice enough on its own, but building in shelving units, for instance, can really make a place feel like a permanent space, which is important,” u/6745408 explained.
“When it comes down to it, if your space needs something, you can usually find the parts to create the perfect piece of furniture, even if it takes a little planning and elbow grease,” they added.
I Decoupaged Prints Of Starry Night To The Drawers, And Layered Metallic Paint And Medium Over Them For A Painterly Texture. Base Is Stained With Watered Down Paint And Sealed
Simple Hack, I Mounted My Ekby Hall Wall Brackets Inverted So I Could Use The Brackets As Natural Bookends For The Shelf
Using Toilet Paper Holder As Headphone Stand
When it comes to the content that gets shared on the Ikea Hacks community, the moderator said it’s a mix of show-and-tell and questions. “There are lots of simple mods like painting or using Mactac, plenty of offices/battlestations, elaborate shelving setups, bars, and even greenhouses using cabinets (see /r/IkeaGreenhouseClub).”
Ivar Hidden Desk
Upgraded My Cat's Toilet With This Bestå Litterbox Hack
With so many wonderful ideas and tips shared on the Ikea Hacks community, it may be overwhelming to pick out the best ones. So moderator u/6745408 shared a couple of their favorite ones that you may find just as interesting. Check out this unbelievable library, this mirror wall, this bar the moderator said they send to everybody, this smart greenhouse with the pegboard and, last but not least, this dress made from a duvet.
I Painted A Kullen Into A Nintendo NES For My Son’s Room
My Fjallbo Hacked Bar
Billy Bookcase With Plywood Front For The Built-In Look
100% Recycled Material, Some Hot Glue And Duct Tape, And A Fathers Imagination And A Happy Kid
My 17oz DIY Ultralight IKEA Camping Backpack Made Out Of Frakta Bags
I Built This Mirror Wall, Using Lots Of Mirror Tiles And Some Wood
Who Says You Can’t Have A Shed In An Apartment? 42 Units Of Trofast Units Into A Single Pax Wardrobe
Saw This Billy Hack All Over Pinterest. Finally Made My Own
I Needed A Crafting Nook, So I Removed My Track Closet Drawers And Created This Space In My Guest Bedroom Closet!
I Found An Hemnes Shelf In The As-Is Area And Upholstered Some Fabric To The Top To Help My Dogs Get On The Bed. They Could Never Use Pet Steps And This Is Shorter The Normal End Of Bed Furniture So They Are Able To Hop On It
This Was A Pain In The A** But Well Worth The Effort. Sektion + Grimslov, Saljan Top, Billy Bookcase Hack
My IKEA Kitchen With Custom Fronts
First Time Staining... I Love How This Turned Out! (Ivar With Foldable Table!)
Finally Finished My Custom Home Office Using Eket And Alex Cabinets!
Rudsta Greenhouse Cabinet
Beautiful. It reminds me of the greenhouse cabinets you can buy in Animal Crossing.
Fintorp Used To Hang Plants On My Ceiling
I Gave My Old Hemnes Dresser A Lick Of Paint
IKEA Waste Buckets, Attached To Door With Pulley System For The Lids
Turned The IKEA Ps Lamp Into A Disco Ball And I'm In Love With It!
I Built A Sliding Bookcase Out Of 3 IKEA Besta Bookshelves With 6 Casters Screwed To A Large Bottom Plate
Window Benches With Storage, Made With Sektion Over Fridge Cabinets, 2x4 Base With Baseboards, 2x6 Appearance Boards On Top, Painted
Hemnes Bookshelf Hack From Cabinets And Shelves
Havsta Units Turned Into A Built In
My Use For The 3 Inch Gap Between Cabinets
I Used The Fabrikor Cabinet To Build An Indoor Greenhouse!
Classic Hack
Customised Billy Bookcase TV Wall
Like Many, I Used The Kura As A Starting Point For Something More Fun
Wall Panel Made Out Of IKEA Cabinet Doors
For anyone else wondering, I looked it up. You can buy just the cabinet doors by themselves! (Apologies if I’m the only one who didn’t already know that😅)
Our Hemnes Dresser Was Falling Apart, So I Gave It A Slight Makeover
Karlby Laundry Room Counter + Custom Shoe Rack/Cat Litter Drawer
Was Told To Post This Here. I Built A 3D Printer Enclosure From 2 IKEA Lack Side Tables. All The Blue Pieces Are 3D Printed
Built In Pax Wardrobe
Repurposed Kallax For Camping Gear
I need something like this to sort out the nest of chaos that is my archery c**p.
Tired Dad Hacks Feat. Gamleby
Turned 180cm Knoxhult For 110$ Into 120cm Unit That Holds Built-In Fridge + Hot Plate + Washing Machine, This Is More Like Full DIY Not As Easy As It Looks But Can Be Done, Great For Tiny Apartments That Are On A Budget
Billy!! Girlfriend Is Happy With It. My First Thing To Build Ever
Added Legs To The Alex Drawer Unit On Casters To Make It The Same Height As The Standard Alex Drawer
Completed The Billy In Wall Bookcase Hack
Kallax Inserts Dresser Transformation!
I Made My Pax Look A Bit More Early 1900's
I Turned A Boring Kallax Into Something More Pretty For My New Board Game Room
Decided To Try My Hand At Customizing The Tarva Dressers. Gotta Say I'm Pretty Satisfied With My First "Hack" And First Time Staining Too
Upside Down Billsbro = Tiny Shelf For Holding Your Phone While Doing Paperwork
Skådis Propagation Station
I Regret Nothing
I Made Zero-Space Bedside Lamps Out Of 2 Malm Glass Tops And 4 Crashed Trådfri Classic Brown Bulbs
First Time Hacking Anything, What Do You All Think?
Two 31" Godmorgon Sink Cabinets With Plywood Top As Bedroom Dresser Drawers
Akurum Kitchen Section With Hacked 3-Into-1 Tall Corner Shelf And Adjacent Hacked Tall Shallow Cabinet
IKEA Stall - Floating
Got This Used Malm Nightstand For $10 And Transformed For Another $20. Not Perfect, But Was A Great First DIY Project
I Made An Entryway Shoe Rack Out Of 2 Of Those $10 TV Stands
Boring Hacks For Renters: In A Tiny New 1br And The Only Wall That My Malm Pair Would Fit On Was The Same Wall As The Only Power Outlet. Had To Leave A Gap To Access The Outlet, But Didn’t Want All My Stuff Falling Down The Gap. Enter Mosslanda Photo Shelves And A Large Packet Of 3m/Command Strips!
45 Degree Built In Shelving From Two 5x5 Kallax’s
Reupholstered Older IKEA Chair, Not Sure The Name Of The Chair
Added A ‘Wooden’ Back To My Kallax TV Stand, Using A Sheet Of Fibre Board And Sticky Backed Wood Effect Film, Makes A Nice Difference I Think
My Twinned Hemnes Shoe Cabinet
Finished Building Our New Pantry. I Used Sektion Wall Cabinets Without Their Bases To See More Countertop
Mega Built-In With Section Cabinets!
IKEA Elvarli Used As A Media Console - Not The Most Ingenuitive But I Hadn't Seen It Done Like This Before So Thought I'd Share!
Kitchen Island With Added Drawers And Wine Storage. Tornviken With Ekby Alex Is A Perfect Fit!
My IKEA Cabinet Wasn't Going To Have Shelving Because Of My Plumbing So I Just Cut Around It And I Got Two Shelves!
If that’s the regular “wood” ikea uses, I’m not sure this will work the best as it is pretty much just sawdust and cardboard shreds glued together and painted over- not very water friendly if there are any leaks.
I Built A Floating Besta Entertainment Wall
Hacking An Ivar Into A Cat Litter Enclosure
IKEA Lillangen Sink With Custom Base
Simple Record Player Stand By Combining The Bestå 702.458.48 + Mid-Century Mod Legs Off Amazon
Shoutout To My Husband For Building Us This Work/Play Area When I Pregnant Cried To Him About Losing Our Spare Room To The New Baby. Malm X2, Karlby, Kallax +4 Inserts & Lack X3!
IKEA Havsta For Cheap DIY Built Ins
Skadis Is Great For Gamers
Made A Skinny Laundry Sorter In Our Closet Using A Kallax Shelf As The ‘Island’. We Left The Divider Shelves Out Of 3 Sections And Put 11 Gallon Filur Bins (1 Each For Regular Laundry, Hand Wash, And Dry Cleaning). The End Section Stores Detergent And Clothing Care Items, As Well As Reusable Bags)
I have a bin for dry cleaning too. Then, one for whites, the other for darks. If I need to wash something by hand, I put them in a net, then in the white/dark bin.
IKEA Kallax Hack
IKEA Skådis And Some Spraypaint
Saw Another Redditor Post Something Similar. I Also Joined Two Shoe Cabinets (Bissa) And Attached A Stained Wood Board On Top. I Love The Way It Turned Out!
(Home)-Office Makeover | IKEA-(Mixed)-Hack
Boyfriend Surprised Me With A New Wfh Setup. Special Shout Out To Gerton, Alex And Adils. Merry Christmas Everyone!
Immediately went searching for that sheep footstool, only to find out it's 163.99. I think I'll just go back to admiring it from a distance. (https://www.amazon.com/Christopher-Knight-Home-299781-Ottoman/dp/B01MTUK0WY)
IKEA Kallax Unit With Some Cheap Feet From B&q And Internal Lighting
Hemnes TV Stand To Vinyl Storage
in all the photos with turntables is the album Fleetwood Mac rumors? 😉
Just Moved Into A New Place And Needed A New Desk For My New Home Office. This Setup Was $185 Well Spent!
Mollekular Benchtops With Built In Reading Bench. Getting Plenty Of Use During The Quarantine / Work From Home
some good hacks, but a lot of non-hacks too (painting and staining are NOT hacks)
Wow! Ill use some of these! When I finally find the exit that is. If there even is one...
There isn't. All their employees are people who got lost in their maze.
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Some of these are very impressive! I'm wondering how a lot are done though. I thought most IKEA furniture was made from particle board not real wood which would make it difficult to alter pieces.
Chancey, it totally depends on the product. But even particle boards can be cut and re-imagined.
Load More Replies... some good hacks, but a lot of non-hacks too (painting and staining are NOT hacks)
Wow! Ill use some of these! When I finally find the exit that is. If there even is one...
There isn't. All their employees are people who got lost in their maze.
Load More Replies... Some of these are very impressive! I'm wondering how a lot are done though. I thought most IKEA furniture was made from particle board not real wood which would make it difficult to alter pieces.
Chancey, it totally depends on the product. But even particle boards can be cut and re-imagined.
Load More Replies...