My 10 favorite Ikea decorating tips

I received some great feedback about my recent “How I decorate on a budget” post (click HERE if you missed it), which made me think about writing a post about how I decorate with Ikea items.

I love when people come to our house and then occasionally hearing a comment like “Wow that’s Ikea? I would have never guessed”. Including Ikea pieces in your home without it screaming “hello I purchased this at Ikea” isn’t all that hard to do.

This post will sound like a giant Ikea ad which in a way it might be but I have no affiliation with Ikea whatsoever (I wish they’d work with bloggers). I am a fan and I thought sharing my favorite Ikea decorating tips might be helpful to someone out there.

My 10 favorite Ikea decorating tips

I have Ikea pieces in almost every room but I wouldn’t want a room to be entirely Ikea.
I should probably retract that statement because I do have one room in our house that’s almost all furnished by Ikea, but it doesn’t look like it, at least I don’t think so. To me it doesn’t, I know there are probably other opinions out there and that’s ok too.

 

Can you guess which one? …. If you guessed my daughter’s room then you are right. The only thing that’s not Ikea in her room is her desk chair, lighting and her curtains.

So lets start with her room as tip one:

Use their curtains as fabric:

That is exactly what I did with my daughter’s bed. I used a set of velvety Salena curtains to upholster the headboard I made for her (click HERE). Why did I do that? Because if you look at the standard price of a velvet textured fabric at most fabric stores, then you’ll notice how expensive it would be to upholster a huge headboard and also make a bedskirt out of it. Two panels were enough for the entire bed and only came in at $49. Ikea has many more velvet textured curtains in different colors as well as other great patterned curtains.

The desk is the BESTÅ BURS desk from Ikea, the bedding is the Emmie Ruta duvet set, Skold fur is on the floor and I found the diamond pattern Euro shams at an Ikea in Germany. (find the clear chair HERE, sewing machine HERE, swinger arm lamp HERE, light fixture HERE, similar paint-by-numbers HERE and if Ikea doesn’t have the fur then you can find a similar one HERE | acrylic  shades are from Target and not available anymore  | chandelier HERE | greek key pillow HERE | sewing machine HERE | similar dotted throw HERE

 

You can download my daughter’s vintage paint-by-numbers by clicking HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Mix in Ikea throw pillows or paint them

That’s something I’ve done all over the house but I don’t just strictly have their pillows. They are just mixed in and I have a huge stash in my linen drawer so I can switch them out.
Or personalizing Ikea pillows with fabric paint (HERE).
My favorite Ikea pillow is the Ikea Gurli pillow because it is so cheap, white and incredibly easy to paint on. I’ve painted some before (click HERE) and there are many more great tutorials out there by my blog friends. One of my absolute favorite ones is by my friend Shannon Claire (click HERE). Her pillows look amazing.

The only non Ikea item in the above photo is the bunny and the swing arm lamp! If you don’t like to DIY, you can find a similar headboard HERE and you can find the swing arms HERE.

And I painted the below pillow as well from an old Ikea cover.
(click HERE)

 

 

Change out the Ikea hardware

I get so many questions about our nightstands in the master bedroom. Well they are Ikea HEMNES dressers and I changed out the hardware to gold ring pulls (similar to THESE) which changed the look entirely with such a small change.

Ikea HEMNES dressers, SKOLD fur and EIVOR throw (the chaise is vintage and not available and my bed isn’t available anymore either but you can find a similar one HERE and HERE)

 

 

And recently you guys gave me nudge to drill into my Ikea vanity to add more ring pulls (click HERE to see) which I did and it upgraded the look of the vanity tremendously.

find the faucet HERE and mirror is vintage from Goodwill

 

Use wall vinyl decals on Ikea furniture and fabric

With this tip I’m referring to my Ikea BESTA media cabinet in the living room. I made a custom Otomi inspired decal specifically for those doors (which I now sell in my Etsy shop HERE) but you don’t have to go that busy. You could just add subtle stripes that are easy to cut out of vinyl (I buy this vinyl HERE) or any other easy to cut shape like I did to my Ikea Merete curtains in the entire downstairs. It’s as simple as ironing on squares onto white Merete curtains (click HERE to see the curtains project or HERE to buy similar ones)

 

disco ball HERE | similar mirror HERE | similar star burst HERE | similar lamps HERE |
black lamp shade HERE | similar end tables HERE | fringe pillows HERE | leopard lumbar pillow HERE |
similar rug HERE (mine is vintage) | other rug HERE | similar pouf HERE or HERE | throw HERE | similar coffee tables HERE

chandelier HERE

 

Use Ikea Hardware in the kitchen

You are probably wondering why I told you above to switch out the hardware and now I’m telling you to use their hardware… let me explain.
In a kitchen you need a very large amount of knobs and I just didn’t have the budget for the standard price of stylish pulls. Ikea has a nice selection of kitchen pulls and knobs at an affordable price, so I added their gold knobs to our white cabinets.

faucet HERE

 

 

Paint their affordable flower pots

 

HERE 

Find the tutorial HERE.

I painted the metal Ikea flower pot with RubNBuff that I thinned with paint thinner.

 

Use Ikea frames for gallery walls

Mix them in with other frames and canvases for a more eclectic mix.

 

 

 

Mix in one Ikea rug or piece of Ikea upholstered furniture

 

find the side table HERE | similar pouf HERE or HERE

 

 

I have recently moved my favorite Ikea rug, the LAPPLJUNG RUTA rug to be specific, into my son’s room but haven’t had the time to photograph it yet.
And if you are wondering about the curtains, they are made from Ikea Merete curtains. You can find the tutorial HERE. And the how to video below:

Or you can buy a similar curtains HERE.

Use Ikea fabrics

I have used Ikea fabrics many times but my favorites are my upholstered parsons chair (click HERE for tutorial) for which I used the SOFIA fabric.

And my Ikea spotted window valances (click HERE for tutorial) I’ve had for a very very long time and for which I used the TRÅDKLÖVER fabric.

 

 

turn Ikea shelving into built-ins

There are many ways you can utilize their great storage solution and make them look very custom. The only thing you need is some added molding and possibly some hardware.

I have started to add closed shelving to the basement to be able to store all the toys, games and items from around the house. Click HERE to see more and read about the difficulties I’m facing.

similar table HERE and HERE, Ikea SKOGSTA stool HERE, faux fiddle leaf fig HERE, Ikea BESTA system HERE, similar globes HERE, HERE and HERE,

 

This was so interesting for me to put together myself since I never really noticed how much Ikea I actually use.

Find more items from my home by clicking HERE.

And I hope it helps someone out there get some ideas.

Tschüß,