5 Easy IKEA Hacks Using Cult-Favorite Pieces (Including the BILLY Bookcase)

Thanks to their quality and affordability, it's pretty easy to love IKEA furniture. Though the pieces often feature basic lines and simple structures, they make the perfect blank canvas to personalize, and from that came IKEA hacks.

There are countless ways to add some flair to your IKEA purchase that goes beyond giving it a fresh coat of paint or new knobs. With some creativity, you can even completely disguise it and make it look like a high-end find.

In this collection, you'll find IKEA hacks that take ordinary dressers, tables, lamps, and shelves and turn them into custom beauties.

DOCKSTA Table Hack

When Laura Gummerman, staff writer at A Beautiful Mess, was ready to upgrade her dining room table, she had her heart set on a tulip base that could seat six people. However, every option she came across was out of her budget.

So, she did what every resourceful DIYer does—she made her own. She used the DOCKSTA table base and cut the oval top from her current dining room table.

After mounting the tabletop to the IKEA base, she applied a few coats of eco-friendly, non-toxic lacquer to give a glossy and durable finish.

If you want to follow Gummerman's lead, check out the full tutorial.

BILLY Bookcase Hack

We've seen several BILLY Bookshelf hacks over the years, but none as transformative as this one by Drew Michael Scott of Lone Fox. He opted to use the version with a birch veneer for this project.

"The design was fully inspired by a material I came across called pole wrap," he says. "I really wanted to utilize it in a design and, at the time, was very inspired by curved furniture pieces."

Scott got to work by first cutting the curved pieces out of plywood and attaching them to the shelf using L brackets. Then, he covered the sides in pole wrap.

Lucky for us, he offers a detailed tutorial on his YouTube channel.

KALLAX Shelf Hack

Expert DIYer Alexandra Gater is known for her clever IKEA furniture hacks, and we absolutely love how this one serves a dual purpose. Gater chose to install an IKEA KALLAX shelf in this small studio apartment to act as a divider and storage shelf.

By closing the bed in, she created the illusion of a separate room. She gave it a few finishing touches to give it a custom look.

"Adding a base to take the unit to the ceiling and covering the edges with molding gives it a built-in effect," Gater says.

SINNERLIG Pendant Light Hack

Even the smallest details can personalize an IKEA piece and give it a total makeover. Take this SINNERLIG Pendant Light Hack by Stephanie Watkins of Casa Watkins Living, for example. She simply attached a few tassels to the SINNERLIG pendant using fishing wire.

You can even change out the decor on the lampshade seasonally. Watkins also made a version for spring out of faux flowers, and you could even hang a few lightweight ornaments for winter and fake leaves for fall on there—the possibilities are pretty much endless here.

RAST 3-Drawer Chest Hack

If you've spent any time pricing wardrobe systems, you know they're not cheap. Ursula Carmona of Home Made by Carmona hacked her way into her dream wardrobe using two IKEA RAST chests, and she pulled it all off for less than $200.

She stacked the units on top of one another and gave them a fresh coat of paint and sleek new handles. She also built two book-shelf-like units to attach to either side, where she installed rods to hang her favorite go-to shirts. Then, she finished the look off by adding trim.

If you want to recreate the DIY in your own home, you can follow her tutorial.

Read the original article on The Spruce.