Skip To Content
  • Viral badge
  • win badge
  • Helpful badge

37 Cheap And Easy Ways To Make Your Ikea Stuff Look Expensive

Get Pottery Barn pieces at Ikea prices.

1. With a little wood stain and a miter saw, you can make the Lack shelf ($19.99) look like floating reclaimed wood.

2. Swap out the legs of any Ikea sofa.

3. Attach crown molding to the top of your Billy bookcases ($79.99).

4. Spraypaint your Ekby shelf brackets ($22.99) a metallic gold or copper.

5. Add legs to an Expedit shelving unit ($19).

6. These brass corners ($5 for a set of eight from Amazon) will jazz up a Lack table ($10).

7. Cover the Klubbo coffee table ($49.99) with marble contact paper.

8. A genius idea for those of you who own Ikea kitchen cabinets: Fill the holes for a more seamless, custom look.

Ikea makes these little hole fillers that are $0.99 for a pack of 100. Get the full directions here.

9. Replace cheap plastic casters with nice brass ones.

10. Paint a Norden sideboard ($79.99) to look dip-dyed.

11. Floating kitchen cabinets are low-profile enough to be used as a hallway or dining room console.

12. Turn cheap Norrlida frames ($12.99) into cork boards.

13. With a little gold spray paint and faux marble finishing, a Vittsjö nesting coffee table ($59.99) looks like you paid $800 for it.

14. Paint and add a decorative drawer pull to the Rast nightstand ($14.99).

15. Gold spray paint comes to the rescue again if you own the Bygel utility cart ($29.99).

16. Sew two Rens sheepskin rugs together to create one giant one.

17. Lay an Ikea kitchen cabinet frame on its side and add a wooden plank for a low bench/media console.

18. Turn a Hemnes dresser into a campaign dresser.

19. Nail some leather pulls to a boring Malm dresser ($79.99).

Or to a set of Bestas.

20. Use a vintage belt to hang the Bondis wall clock ($19.99).

21. Create a built-in bookshelf wall in your living room by mixing together Billy and Besta.

22. Turn the Nornäs side table into an elegant bar cart.

Instructions in Hungarian.

23. Add tufting to your sofa cushions.

24. Wrap the cord of the Foto pendant ($29.99) with three-ply jute twine.

25. Silver-leaf the inside of an oversize shade ($29.99).

26. Turn a Hemnes shoe cabinet ($129.99) into a faux library catalog.

27. Make a Bekväm foot stool ($14.99) less generic by staining it walnut and dip-painting the top.

28. Turn a sideways Expedit (now the Kallax, $59.99) into a mid-century console.

29. Or cover it with paint sticks (FREE!).

30. Make a Förhöja cart look like a custom piece for your kitchen.

31. Remove the wrinkles from your IKEA slipcovers.

32. Transform a Tarva dresser ($149) into a kitchen sideboard.

33. Turn the Antonius laundry hamper frame ($9.99) into a nightstand.

34. These storage boxes look like you paid 10 times as much for them at Kate Spade.

35. Cover a Malm dresser ($79.99) with O'verlays.

36. Turn a Grundtal mirror ($34.99) into a Restoration Hardware-worthy piece.

37. This laptop table ($39.99) actually makes the prettiest bar cart.

Want awesome DIY tips in your inbox four times a week? Sign up for the BuzzFeed DIY newsletter!