Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
50 Times People Came Up With Genius IKEA Hacks (New Pics)
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.
#1
I Finally Finished My "Library" With Floor To Ceiling Shelves (Still Need To Put In New Flooring)
RELATED:
#2
I Hacked An Kvistbro Table To Be A Cute Pet Crate For My Dog (And Cats)
#3
A Simple Hack Cutting A Keyhole Shape Into An End Table For A Handy Tree Table!
#4
My Solution To Keeping The Cat Off The Desk
#5
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
#6
Converted The Guest Room Closet Into A Craft Space
#7
Duktig Doll Bed And Handmade Covers For My Little Buddy
#9
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!
#10
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
#11
Simple Hack, I Mounted My Ekby Hall Wall Brackets Inverted So I Could Use The Brackets As Natural Bookends For The Shelf
#12
Using Toilet Paper Holder As Headphone Stand
#13
Ivar Hidden Desk
#15
Upgraded My Cat's Toilet With This Bestå Litterbox Hack
#16
I Painted A Kullen Into A Nintendo NES For My Son’s Room
#17
My Fjallbo Hacked Bar
#18
Billy Bookcase With Plywood Front For The Built-In Look
#19
100% Recycled Material, Some Hot Glue And Duct Tape, And A Fathers Imagination And A Happy Kid
#20
My 17oz DIY Ultralight IKEA Camping Backpack Made Out Of Frakta Bags
#21
I Built This Mirror Wall, Using Lots Of Mirror Tiles And Some Wood
#22
Who Says You Can’t Have A Shed In An Apartment? 42 Units Of Trofast Units Into A Single Pax Wardrobe
#23
Saw This Billy Hack All Over Pinterest. Finally Made My Own
#24
I Needed A Crafting Nook, So I Removed My Track Closet Drawers And Created This Space In My Guest Bedroom Closet!
#25
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
#26
This Was A Pain In The A** But Well Worth The Effort. Sektion + Grimslov, Saljan Top, Billy Bookcase Hack
#27
My IKEA Kitchen With Custom Fronts
#28
First Time Staining... I Love How This Turned Out! (Ivar With Foldable Table!)
#29
Finally Finished My Custom Home Office Using Eket And Alex Cabinets!
#30
Rudsta Greenhouse Cabinet
Rabbit Carrot 4 years ago
Beautiful. It reminds me of the greenhouse cabinets you can buy in Animal Crossing.
#31
Fintorp Used To Hang Plants On My Ceiling
#32
I Gave My Old Hemnes Dresser A Lick Of Paint
#33
IKEA Waste Buckets, Attached To Door With Pulley System For The Lids
#34
Turned The IKEA Ps Lamp Into A Disco Ball And I'm In Love With It!
#35
I Built A Sliding Bookcase Out Of 3 IKEA Besta Bookshelves With 6 Casters Screwed To A Large Bottom Plate
#36
Window Benches With Storage, Made With Sektion Over Fridge Cabinets, 2x4 Base With Baseboards, 2x6 Appearance Boards On Top, Painted
#37
Hemnes Bookshelf Hack From Cabinets And Shelves
#38
Havsta Units Turned Into A Built In
#39
My Use For The 3 Inch Gap Between Cabinets
#40
I Used The Fabrikor Cabinet To Build An Indoor Greenhouse!
#42
Customised Billy Bookcase TV Wall
#43
Like Many, I Used The Kura As A Starting Point For Something More Fun
#44
Wall Panel Made Out Of IKEA Cabinet Doors
Vanessa Richardson 4 years ago
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😅)
#45
Our Hemnes Dresser Was Falling Apart, So I Gave It A Slight Makeover
#46
Karlby Laundry Room Counter + Custom Shoe Rack/Cat Litter Drawer
#47
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
#48
Built In Pax Wardrobe
#49
Repurposed Kallax For Camping Gear
CaptainDinosaur 4 years ago
I need something like this to sort out the nest of chaos that is my archery c**p.
#50
Tired Dad Hacks Feat. Gamleby
#51
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
#52
Billy!! Girlfriend Is Happy With It. My First Thing To Build Ever
#53
Added Legs To The Alex Drawer Unit On Casters To Make It The Same Height As The Standard Alex Drawer
#54
Completed The Billy In Wall Bookcase Hack
#55
Kallax Inserts Dresser Transformation!
#56
I Made My Pax Look A Bit More Early 1900's
#57
I Turned A Boring Kallax Into Something More Pretty For My New Board Game Room
#58
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
#59
Upside Down Billsbro = Tiny Shelf For Holding Your Phone While Doing Paperwork
#60
Skådis Propagation Station
#61
I Regret Nothing
#63
I Made Zero-Space Bedside Lamps Out Of 2 Malm Glass Tops And 4 Crashed Trådfri Classic Brown Bulbs
#64
First Time Hacking Anything, What Do You All Think?
#65
Two 31" Godmorgon Sink Cabinets With Plywood Top As Bedroom Dresser Drawers
#66
Akurum Kitchen Section With Hacked 3-Into-1 Tall Corner Shelf And Adjacent Hacked Tall Shallow Cabinet
#68
IKEA Stall - Floating
#69
Got This Used Malm Nightstand For $10 And Transformed For Another $20. Not Perfect, But Was A Great First DIY Project
#70
I Made An Entryway Shoe Rack Out Of 2 Of Those $10 TV Stands
#71
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!
#72
45 Degree Built In Shelving From Two 5x5 Kallax’s
#73
Reupholstered Older IKEA Chair, Not Sure The Name Of The Chair
#75
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
#77
My Twinned Hemnes Shoe Cabinet
#78
Finished Building Our New Pantry. I Used Sektion Wall Cabinets Without Their Bases To See More Countertop
#79
Mega Built-In With Section Cabinets!
#80
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!
#81
Kitchen Island With Added Drawers And Wine Storage. Tornviken With Ekby Alex Is A Perfect Fit!
#82
My IKEA Cabinet Wasn't Going To Have Shelving Because Of My Plumbing So I Just Cut Around It And I Got Two Shelves!
Keali Lamb 4 years ago
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.
#83
I Built A Floating Besta Entertainment Wall
#86
Hacking An Ivar Into A Cat Litter Enclosure
#88
IKEA Lillangen Sink With Custom Base
#89
Simple Record Player Stand By Combining The Bestå 702.458.48 + Mid-Century Mod Legs Off Amazon
#91
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!
#92
IKEA Havsta For Cheap DIY Built Ins
#93
Skadis Is Great For Gamers
NicNor5560 4 years ago
My husband did something similar for my son's stuff - he's a gamer too.
#95
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)
NicNor5560 4 years ago
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.
#98
IKEA Kallax Hack
#99
IKEA Skådis And Some Spraypaint
#101
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!
#102
(Home)-Office Makeover | IKEA-(Mixed)-Hack
#104
Boyfriend Surprised Me With A New Wfh Setup. Special Shout Out To Gerton, Alex And Adils. Merry Christmas Everyone!
Firstname Lastname 4 years ago
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)
#106
IKEA Kallax Unit With Some Cheap Feet From B&q And Internal Lighting
#108
Hemnes TV Stand To Vinyl Storage
Víctor García 4 years ago
in all the photos with turntables is the album Fleetwood Mac rumors? 😉
#109
Just Moved Into A New Place And Needed A New Desk For My New Home Office. This Setup Was $185 Well Spent!
#110
Mollekular Benchtops With Built In Reading Bench. Getting Plenty Of Use During The Quarantine / Work From Home
Add New Image
What do you think ?
Craig Silberman 4 years ago
some good hacks, but a lot of non-hacks too (painting and staining are NOT hacks)
The Holy Penguin 4 years ago
Wow! Ill use some of these! When I finally find the exit that is. If there even is one...
DannX68 4 years ago
There isn't. All their employees are people who got lost in their maze.
Load More Replies...
Chancey 4 years ago
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.
Laura Ketteridge 4 years ago
Chancey, it totally depends on the product. But even particle boards can be cut and re-imagined.
Load More Replies... Craig Silberman 4 years ago
some good hacks, but a lot of non-hacks too (painting and staining are NOT hacks)
The Holy Penguin 4 years ago
Wow! Ill use some of these! When I finally find the exit that is. If there even is one...
DannX68 4 years ago
There isn't. All their employees are people who got lost in their maze.
Load More Replies... Chancey 4 years ago
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.
Laura Ketteridge 4 years ago
Chancey, it totally depends on the product. But even particle boards can be cut and re-imagined.
Load More Replies...
Related on Bored Panda
