IKEA and pallets: a winning combination to furnish your home in a customized and economical way

We might be considering getting a spacious desk made of warm wood with prominent grain, or maybe a bedside table with modern lines but with a rustic and natural flavor that only wood can give us. If we have these considerations, we might also know that finding a piece that corresponds to our desires often involves a long search and, not infrequently, a considerable expense.

But what if it were possible to get this type of furniture without ending in bankruptcy court? You can "disguise" slightly cheaper furniture with recycled wood coverings. A perfect solution that makes everyone happy: below you will find some ideas created by customizing IKEA furniture with pallet wood:

In the case of chests of drawers - but also on the outside of the doors of any piece of furniture - DIY projects can be used to covering those surfaces with rustic, wooden plank offcuts.

An inexpensive side table like Ikea's LACK model becomes a lot more interesting with a pallet wood top. Obviously, you have to choose the boards which are in excellent condition, sand them thoroughly, and treat them with varnishes or staining oils that give the desired color, polish and protection for the wood.

This is how you will get the blend of minimal and geometric lines of the most popular furniture models with the warmth of natural wood.

Adding a trim frame / cladding to an open bookcase which is laid on its side, and mounting castors converts it into a fantastic console table.

And this cladding idea also works well for larger furniture - the contrast between white and dark wood is very attractive.

Alternatively, you can also use the wood on the shelves only -  and if you want you could paint the underlaying structure in a different (matching) color.

Inserting the simple KALLAX product (from Ikea) inside these wooden "frames" creates a kind of kitchen island that also functions as a counter for eating at. And this idea could also be recreated using pallets.

Some IKEA furniture models include wooden shelves ... but you can also create them by recycling the wood of from old pallets.

Playing with paints, you can produce shades suitable for any piece of furniture.

A desk that looks much more expensive than one might think: it's made with Ikea's MALM chest of drawers model and pallet wood.

Here, a small chest of drawers was used as a side support table. By changing the handles, and using wood and a glass plate as a top, a beautiful desk was created.

Would you like to try DIY projects like this?