I absolutely love Ikea, and have several items in my house that come from there. Here in Malta, we don’t have an actual Ikea store where you can go on a Saturday, have Swedish meatballs for lunch and pick up your Ikea stuff after.  Luckily we have several companies that will do the job for you.  Both are based in Malta, and you order your things and make full payment online.  One company will collect your order from Ikea Sicily (so you chose the items from the Italian site), the other one will ship it over from The Netherlands. Both have different delivery and collection options. So although we don’t have our own Ikea Malta shop, we can still find ways to have things brought over.

Ikea is a great source for affordable furniture, but unfortunately this also means you have to take it pretty much the way it is, and chances are, your friends or neighbours may have the same pendant lights, sheets or coffee cups at home.    That is, unless you are a little creative and a little handy. Then you can transform your basic Ikea Lack Table/Billy Book case/ Pax Wardrobe into something totally different!

These are some ideas to get you going:

The LACK side table is as IKEA as it gets. Minimal. Simple. The LACK is cheap, which makes it the perfect candidate for cutting, dismantling, sawing, painting, repurposing. Despite its clear IKEA look, hackers have found ways to disguise this side table all over their homes. Let’s take a look at these 16 smart use of the IKEA LACK side table.  Read more  (Source: Ikeahackers.net)

 

A Faux Card Catalogue, designed and built by Bee from Wingate Lane.com, just beautiful!

Three steps to an easy RAST makeover – A while ago Milli-Jane bought the cheapest chest of drawers she could find, to add extra storage space.  But when moving, she got an idea for a make over involving satinwood paint and golden pull handles.  Read more

 

 

MyDomaine listed 16 Chic-To-Death IKEA hacks you have to try – from faux marbled desks and textile pots, to Copper barn pendent lights (Love!) and a Billy built-in book case. Not sure which I’d like to try first!

HouseBeautiful listed 25 hacks they are dying to try out. You can read more here. A fintorp rail into a charging station, Lantern into terrarium, Things to do with a Tarva chest,  Mosslanda picture shelf turned bathroom storage, Ekby Alex shelf turned vanity (really like this!), a short billy book case turned kitchen island and more.

There are literally hundreds of ideas out there,  just a google search away.  Some others I found are an Ekeby Alex Shelf turned hallway table and the Mosslanda Picture rail as a floating night stand. Maybe instead of putting it over a radiator, you could fix it with extra crown moulding  against the wall as a faux Mantlepiece.

What’s your favourite hack?