IKEA Living Room Hacks

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When it comes to furnishing your living room, IKEA is a go-to destination for many. With its affordable prices and stylish designs, IKEA furniture is a popular choice for those looking to create a comfortable and functional living space.

But there's the risk of your living room looking like an IKEA showroom if you use mainly IKEA furniture. With a little creativity and a few DIY skills, you can take your IKEA furniture to the next level and perhaps even get a few people saying, "I can't believe it's IKEA!"

From easy IKEA hacks like adding new legs to your sofa to creating custom built-in storage solutions, there are so many fabulous ways to tweak your IKEA pieces into pieces that are uniquely you. 

In this page, you'll find some of the best IKEA living room hacks to inspire your own DIY projects and help you create a space that's both stylish and functional.

Most Popular Posts on Living Rooms

Take ordinary IKEA furniture and transform them into something extraordinary. From custom built-ins to clever hidden work spaces, these living rooms showcase the creativity and ingenuity of IKEA hackers.

Whether you're looking to add some personality to your space or simply want to make the most of your IKEA furniture, these living room hacks are sure to inspire. So why not take a closer look and see how you can create a space that's stylish and functional?

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Bookshelves Sideboards Room Dividers

Living Room Storage

The wonder of IKEA hacking! Take IKEA furniture and modify them to fit your specific needs and space requirements.

You not only create a storage system that's tailored to your living room and the items you need to store, but also seamlessly match your style and taste.
Hyllis all the way

Hyllis all the way

I wanted a Restoration Hardware/Pottery Barn-ish industrial looking shelves for…

BESTA Floating Credenza

BESTA Floating Credenza

Materials: BESTA shelf unit with high gloss, white doors two…

Expedit into Card Catalog

Expedit into Card Catalog

This is an was Expedit Shelf that was transformed into a card…

moppe apothecary cabinet

Moppe Apothecary

Materials: Moppe with 6 drawers and with large drawer Stacked…

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Coffee table and side table hacks

IKEA coffee table hacks are very popular on IKEA hackers. They are smaller DIY projects and a great starting point if you're beginning your DIY journey. But they are no less amazing. Here are some popular IKEA coffee table hacks.
Coffee table from old Nenne computer desk

Coffee table from old Nenne computer desk

Materials: 4 dowels, 2 x 6cm screws, 2 pieces of…

Lack Coffee Table with footrest

Lack Coffee Table with footrest

Materials: $29.99 Lack coffee table, 1×2 wood, foam, upholstery fabric,…

Mother and son Lack table

Mother and son Lack table

Materials: Lack table Description: 2 6mm mdf boards, side 18mm…

Double Lack Hack

Double Lack Hack

Materials: 2x Lack coffee table, Circular Saw, 4x angle iron…

From a Lack table to a sweet little stenciled one

From a Lack table to a sweet little stenciled one

Materials: Lack side table cedar wood strips, stencil, wood stain,…

Vittsjo Laptop Table to Upscale Side Table

Vittsjo Laptop Table to Upscale Side Table

Materials: Vittsjo Laptop Table Description: Inspired by the stylish “C”…

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IKEA Bookshelf Hacks

Other than the fact that IKEA bookshelves are made to store a lot of stuff, they are affordable and so hackable. Which makes them a popular choice for built-in bookshelf hacks and so much more. Here are our top IKEA Bookshelf Hacks.
Double Decker VITTSJÖ

Double Decker VITTSJÖ

Materials: VITTSJÖ Shelving Units We recently moved into a 250 square…

Bolly and Billy

Bolly and Billy

Materials: BILLY bookcase x 8 I bought 8 times the…

George ‘IKEA’ Nelson CSS shelving (single series)

George ‘IKEA’ Nelson CSS shelving (single series)

IKEA item used: Stolmen 2x sliding door cabinet, Grundtal 3x…

Combining 2 HEMNES console tables into 1

Combining 2 HEMNES console tables into 1

It all has started when me and my wife realized…

BILLY Bookcases transform into Queen Murphy Bed

BILLY Bookcases transform into Queen Murphy Bed

We live in Manhattan where space is a premium. We…

How To Make a Billy Bookcase Look Expensive

How To Make a Billy Bookcase Look Expensive

Materials: BILLY Bookcases I started by looking up “billy Ikea…

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All our IKEA Living Room Hacks

Klippan Corner Sofa Conversion and Longer Oak Fence Post Legs

Klippan Corner Sofa Conversion and Longer Oak Fence Post Legs

Materials: KLIPPAN sofa x 2 Firstly, I cut the arm off one of the sofa’s. This made a very comfy place for two to stretch there legs out across and still have enough space for one person at each of the ends. I then decided that the sofa was far…

BILLY Built-Ins for home office

BILLY Built-Ins for home office

Materials: BILLY We added 1×8′s around the bottoms and 1×2′s to the sides of the BILLY bookcases for decorative molding. We painted them white and mint on the backs. We then brought them into the room and attached them to the wall using L-brackets. The tops are finished with more…

New version of the coffee table with KNUFF magazine files

New version of the coffee table with KNUFF magazine files

Materials: KNUFF magazine holders, FROSTA stool, NASUM basket My project is a new version of this amazing and original project . I found the idea of it here, in IkeaHacker.com and had a great inspiration for a home deco DIY. I have adapted it to my style, adding some Ikea NASUM basket…

HEMNES lightens up

HEMNES lightens up

Materials: HEMNES dresser It was originally black to suit our bedroom as a dresser, I put three coats of primer and 3 coats of polycryllic on the dresser body, stained 1×6 a weathered grey, and poly-ed them. OH! and ripped out the particle board back and put up bead board,…

Frosta X: Take 2

Frosta X: Take 2

Splinternet revisits the fabulous Frosta X hack by Andreas Bhend. See how it is done in video. Link to video.

Backwards Billy TV Mount in Built-Ins (with Clock)

Backwards Billy TV Mount in Built-Ins (with Clock)

Materials:  Besta shelf unit (47.25″ x 15.75″ x 25.25″) with Besta Vara glass doors and push openers, Billy bookcases 11″ deep 79.5″ tall (3 wide 1 narrow), Billy height extension units (7 wide  8 narrow) Our NYC apartment has a living/dining room with a recessed wall (11.5″ deep, perfect for Billy shelves!). I…

The de-squaring and shelf-itizing of an Expedit unit

The de-squaring and shelf-itizing of an Expedit unit

Materials: One Lack shelving unit, one-4X4 Expedit and one-1X1 Expedit Confession, I have a love-hate relationship with the IKEA Expedit line. I purchased one in 2012 because it worked like a dream as a room divider, or more accurately as a “messy bed hiding area,” in my old studio apartment. However in…

The Angled-High Wall Unit

The Angled-High Wall Unit

Materials: LERBERG Shelves (60×148 cm) dark grey To create this modular full-height wall unit, comprises of the Bottom Half and the Top Half portion. The hack is basically the Top Half part. In the picture, we used eight units in total, with four units on the bottom, and four units on…

A touch of shabby chic for HEMNES console table

A touch of shabby chic for HEMNES console table

Materials: HEMNES console table I love everything with the vintage (shabby chic ) touch. The idea here is to create a small door with window type design, which I used pine wood for the material. The four small drawers box on the top were made with wine crate, as the…

Manstad Hack to fit Avion Travel Trailer

Manstad Hack to fit Avion Travel Trailer

Materials: MANSTAD For 3 years, we’ve wanted to add one of these to our travel trailer but it was about a foot too wide and our trailer is round in the corners and walls.  We managed to make it fit by removing the long arm, cutting the storage box to…

A built-in library with HEMNES and STORNAS

A built-in library with HEMNES and STORNAS

Materials: HEMNES bookcase, STORNAS buffet The HEMNES bookcases are shortened at the bottom and placed on top of the STORNÄS buffets. All cabinets are bolted to the wall for extra security. To finish, there is the full width MDF board placed at the top and bottom of the sideboard and…

From PELLO to perch

From PELLO to perch

Materials: PELLO chair The chair frame was dismantled and the metal frame and fabric seat set aside. The wooden frame was adapted by removing approximately 6″ (150mm) from the back edge of the armrest and base on each side. The cross members were shortened so that the overall width of…

I framed Jules

I framed Jules

Materials: JULES chair The wheels on the swivel part of this chair began to disengage from their housing but after a few temporary fixes they obviously weren’t going to last much longer. I dismantled the chair and took the metal parts to our local recycling centre but I kept the…

Malm bench into ottoman

Malm bench into ottoman

Materials: MALM bench I took a Malm bench put some legs and took the lid out. I trimmed high-density foam to cover the lid and upholstered it with fabric. I joined the upholstered top to the base with a continuous hinge. The basic idea came from here. ~ Alexandra

Catpedit, the Expedit hacked for cats and books alike

Catpedit, the Expedit hacked for cats and books alike

Materials: EXPEDIT This IKEA hack turns the 5×5 Expedit bookcase into a resting place for both cats and books with an integrated staircase. Our cats, Mojito and Tequila, love to climb and hide away in our furniture. The biggest piece of furniture in our living room is the 5×5 Expedit.…

From Marius to Ektorp Headrest

From Marius to Ektorp Headrest

Materials: krakris pillow, Marius white stool Ektorp is a comfortable sofa but it has too low cushions to let tall people rest their heads. I saw a headrest in a showroom and had my idea! A Marius can become an headrest! That’s all folks.

Better than Besta

Better than Besta

Materials used: 2 Ikea Besta bookshelves / 1 piece of Alder plywood (4′ x 8′)/ stain, screws, and glue We recently moved in to our new house in Phoenix area and the corner of our front room was super sad. We lasted about 5 months with this pathetic set up…

4-in-1 Ottoman

4-in-1 Ottoman

Materials: Kallax shelving unit, Rekarne coffee tabl Using the Kallax shelving unit and the Rekarne coffee table I built a 4-in-1 Ottoman. It can be used to store toys and games, the flat surface can be used to play games or can be drawn on with chalk, and it can…

Lack tables get new life

Lack tables get new life

Materials: LACK x 2 We had 2 Lack tables that we were not using and wanted a coffee table with inside storage… We decided to re-use the lack and see what we could do with this. We combined the 1 full Lack table and one top (that was to become…

An Ancient Besta

An Ancient Besta

Materials: BESTA I put on besta 3 wooden boards,belonged to an old library of my grandfather I screwed the wood with its original screws of 1870 and then I also put 2 old handles French

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