16 Brilliant Ikea Hacks for Kids

Ikea furniture and home goods are known for being priced right, but sometimes the bland styling can leave a child's imagination wanting more color, pizazz, or pop. Take a look at how some inventive parents have breathed new life into kitchen accessories that also make sense in kids' rooms. It is amazing how some paint, wallpaper, or hardware turn furniture pieces into perfect storage solutions or reimagined toys.

Here are 16 awesome Ikea hacks for a child's bedroom or playroom.

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Duktig Play Kitchen

Babiekins

Ikea's Duktig play kitchen is a popular toy for families with young children. Kids love to copy their parents by pretending to cook their food. The regular Duktig kitchen is just plain white. You can add beautiful details such as a butcher block counter using contact paper, paint a gold faucet, or even fabricate some lovely white subway tiles using a black marker. To further your hack, you can add under counter lights and replace the handles to give your kitchen a modern look.

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Rocking Sheep

Sarah Sherman Samuel

Pottery Barn has some adorable kids toys such as the rocking lamb. You can create a rocking sheep for your child's room by hacking Ikea's Ekorre, a bright red rocking moose. Remove the horns of the moose, which slightly changes the shape of the face, and give the entire body a coat of white paint. You can enhance the body with soft white artificial fur to make a sweet sheep perfect for a neutral or minimalist nursery.

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Wall Bookcase

The Sweetest Digs

Help promote your child's love of reading by keeping a variety of books on display by using Ikea's Bekvam spice racks on your walls. They work perfectly, holding the children's books on the shelf without letting them fall off because of the raised edges. With just a few spice racks painted to match the room, you can easily make the perfect reading corner.

24 DIY Bookcase Makeovers to Transform Your Bookshelf

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Mini Lego Play Table

The Decorated Cookie

Craft a Lego play table on wheels so it can move from your child's room to the living room with ease. Cover the top of Ikea's Lack side table on casters with Lego base plates. Your son or daughter can build upon the low table and can easily reach the top. Underneath, there is room for a bin to store Lego pieces, keeping everything organized.

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Magnetic Toy Cars Wall Storage

Just A Girl And Her Blog

Instead of storing your child's toy cars in a box, keep them where your child can easily find them by hanging several of Ikea's Grundtal magnetic knife racks on the wall. Line up the cars on the magnetic strips. The cars work as wall decor while freeing up storage space in bins.

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Infant Play Gym

Kaley Ann

If you despise the bright primary colors typically found on children's toys, such as on Ikea's affordable play gym Leka, you can update it with some white and black paint to give it a more sophisticated modern look.

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Bakery Play Shop

Damask Love

Have endless hours of fun playing with your child as they pretend to run a bakery. Modify Ikea's Kallax bookcase to be the counter and shelves for cupcakes, cookies, and cakes made out of felt. On top of the bookcase, you can add PVC pipes and hang a vinyl awning.

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Balloon Stand

Studio DIY

Instead of a traditional lemonade stand this summer, set up a fun balloon stand. Transform Ikea's Skylta children's market stand into a balloon market. Use long strips of colored duct tape to add stripes and accessorize the stand with balloons on sticks and hand them out to children in the neighborhood.

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Floral Kitchen Play Set

Anchors And Honey

If you find a slightly damaged Ikea Duktig kitchen play kitchen at a garage sale, you can make it look brand new and give it an extra burst of personality. Anchors and Honey painted the playset salmon pink, white, and gold and added foam board covered in beautiful floral gift wrap to give the kitchen a beautiful pattern.

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Nursery Wardrobe Shelf

Fresh Mommy Blog

If your newborn does not have a nursery or a closet, you can easily add some storage space. Hang their tiny clothes using a floating Ikea Lack shelf on the wall. Attach a Bygel silver rail to the bottom of the shelf to hang clothing.

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Kids Table

The Sweetest Occasion

Ikea offers an affordable table and chair set perfect for your toddler to eat and play on. You can customize the table set to perfectly match your kid's room using furniture paint and wallpaper or wrapping paper.

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Activity Table

Mallory Fitzsimmons

Update Ikea's affordable Latt children's play table with chalkboard paint to make it the perfect spot for your kid to draw or work on crafts. On the side, use a wooden dowel to keep large rolls of craft paper at arm's reach and add metal buckets to store art essentials such as washable markers, chalk, and crayons.

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Matching Play Kitchen

The Shaker House

One way to keep your home from looking like it has been being taken over by brightly colored children's toys is to have the toys blend in with the room's decor. A great example is from The Shaker House, who hacked Ikea's toy play kitchen. The child liked to play "kitchen" near the adults. The toy kitchen was modified to match the real kitchen. By adding marble contact paper on the counters, stainless steel contact paper on the appliances, and peel and stick tiles for the backsplash, the toy kitchen blended in perfectly with the home decor.

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Toadstool Stools

Pink Stripey Socks

These mini toadstool chairs are super cute. Use red paint on the top of Ikea's white Mammut stools, making them look like mushrooms. This design is excellent for an enchanted forest or a Super Mario-themed bedroom.

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Chalkboard Easel

Shrimp Salad Circus

Add some color to Ikea's Mala easel by painting it with glossy paint in a tone that goes with your child's room. To decorate it further, add vinyl letter decals across the top and bottom to help your child practice the alphabet.

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Colorful Toy Storage Basket

Tell Love And Party

Ikea's storage baskets are perfect for storing small toys. Make the baskets look more appealing to children by painting them with acrylic paint in a variety of colors. You can attach pom-poms on the side using colored yarn. Once done, the colorful baskets can be stored on a low bookcase so the child can easily access their sorted small toys.