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We asked a handful of interior designers to share which IKEA pieces they have (and love) in their own homes, and how they style them for a personal touch.
1. HEMNES Glass Door Cabinet
“The versatility of this cabinet is incredibly practical,” says Brittny Button, founder and principal designer of Button Atelier, a Los Angeles-based interior design firm. “The pull drawers hide clutter. It’s very functional and helps contain day-to-day mess. There’s a timelessness to this piece, and the glass cabinets add an elevated feeling. It makes me think of tall French antique cabinets used throughout Europe — a nod to the past.”
Button has put the Hemnes cabinet to work in entryways, placed three side by side in a kitchen, and used multiple units to line a library wall. To refine the look, she recommends using an antiquing paint technique to age the finish and swapping the standard hardware for brass knobs. Adding interior lighting turns your treasures into art too. “It showcases the contents in a kind of gallery-like way,” she says.
2. SKOGSBO Chair
“Affordable” and “dining chairs” rarely make it into the same sentence — unless you’re shopping at IKEA. On her TikTok, interior architect Alyssa Anselmo praised the SKOGSBO chair, which nods to classic 19th-century bentwood design yet still feels fresh. “It’s solid wood, sculptural, and just a really simple piece that’s going to elevate your space,” Anselmo said in a video.
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3. FADO Table Lamp
Simple, spherical, and endlessly versatile, the FADO table lamp punches well above its price point. Ryan Boscoe, a designer at Interior Marketing Group (IMG), a luxury real estate staging and property marketing firm, keeps one on his nightstand. “Its soft light creates the perfect ambiance for the bedroom,” he says.
He recommends pairing it with a warm bulb and a small vase of asymmetrical flowers to play up the contrast between the lamp’s perfect round form and something organic. Beyond the bedroom, it works beautifully on a bookshelf or desk — or try clustering a few of them together. “We have even placed multiple sizes of this [style] of lamp next to one another, which gives an almost cloudlike touch to a bedside,” Boscoe says.
4. HYLLIS Shelf Unit
Don’t judge an IKEA product by its online listing. The HYLLIS reads utilitarian, but on her Instagram, architectural designer Brittany Been of Designed by Been noted that three placed side by side look like a high-end silver bookshelf. “Style it correctly with the FADO lamp, a couple [of] books, plants … it looks like a really elevated, mid-century modern, chrome piece of furniture,” she said in a recent video.
5. BESTÅ Storage Unit
“The BESTÅ cabinet is a gem that can be elevated with thoughtful customization,” Boscoe says. His go-to move for a one-of-a-kind look: topping it with a slab of marble or burl wood. “Once you add that over the sleek, modern BESTÅ base, it instantly transforms into a luxurious, bespoke piece,” he says. Swap in your own hardware, and it’s completely your own.
6. HOLMERUD Side Table
Want the look of a West Elm statement piece without the $1,600 price tag? Been recommends the architectural HOLMERUD side table, which works especially well in pairs — and at just $50 a table, the look is entirely doable. Try placing two behind a sofa, or wrapping a set around a wall for a built-in feel.
7. KUDDLAVA Table Lamp
Why spend hundreds of dollars on a sculptural table lamp when you can nab one from IKEA for $18? The price of this lamp is truly unbeatable, and it adds much-needed soft, ambient light to any space. Anselmo is a fan. “The pleated shade adds texture, and I love that it’s actually made from recycled materials,” she said in a video on her page.
