Where is one of the first places you go when you’re looking for inexpensive furniture that can look high end when you style it right? For us, it’s usually IKEA. We love how basic everything is – the pieces are like blank canvases that you can dress up however you like! If you’re going for a super minimal vibe, there are lots of pieces that look great as-is. Or if you’re going for something more eclectic or even upscale, there are so many amazing hacks you can use to transform the pieces. We wanted to create a blog post of all of our current favorite furniture pieces we have in our homes that are from IKEA! We hope it’s a helpful resource and provides some inspo for what these basic pieces can become!
First up is the 4 drawer MALM dresser. This is by far our favorite dresser for a few reasons. First, they are completely flat on the sides, making them easy to bump right up next to each other like we did here! We bought 3 and put them all side by side to create the look of one massive dresser. If you wanted to take it a step further, you could totally add a long tabletop to the top of the whole piece to make it completely seamless looking. The seams don’t bother us so we didn’t end up doing this, but it would make the piece that much more polished looking. We also love that there are so many different configurations and sizes in this dresser! You could add hardware as well to this piece (we opted for a more sleek minimal look since there are 3 dressers and we didn’t want the look to get busy with so many drawers, but if you were just doing one or two some long pulls would look great!).
Next is the ERSNÄS sideboard. Let me tell you: I think this is the most high quality piece I’ve ever bought from IKEA. The drawers are soft-close and it feels super sturdy. We have had pretty good experiences with all of our IKEA pieces, but this one doesn’t even seem like it would be from IKEA. It’s also a total dupe for an Anthropologie Sideboard I was eyeing for quite some time. When I opened up IKEA and saw this I hit “buy” immediately lol.
We get asked all the time where these nightstands are from! These are the BJÖRKSNÄS nightstands and they don’t look like they’re from IKEA either! We love the pale birch tone of these and how they warm up the room without being too much. They do come with leather pulls (which we think are so pretty) but we opted for these gold knobs we got off of Amazon for a more modern vibe.
This sofa has really stood the test of time! My husband and I purchased it when we moved into our first home together and it’s held up really well over the last 5 years. The cushions still feel nice and fluffy (not compressed at all) and the fabric cleans like a dream. I love that we can just take all the slipcovers off and throw everything in the wash! A little OxiClean is all it takes and they look brand new every time. Unfortunately they no longer sell the EKTORP in this configuration, but the UPPLAND 4 seat corner sectional is extremely similar in size, color, style, and configuration!
Last but not least is this little vanity! We love the BRIMNES dressing table because it’s so compact that you can fit it in literally any corner. My husband and I (Alexa here) live in a house built in the 70s and the master bathroom is tiny, so a vanity space was essential for us to not be splitting the already small bathroom/mirror space while we get ready in the mornings. We love how clean the lines are on this piece! We decided to add marble knobs to dress it up a bit, but you could definitely leave it as-is for a more minimal look.