10 unbelievably easy (and fast!) DIY ideas

Morgan Satterfield of The Brick House created this floating credenza out of Ikea cabinets, typically reserved for kitchens. Satterfield installed them about 15 inches from the floor, and added the wood wrap from a lumberyard that specializes in exotic woods. The upgraded ten-foot-long storage unit costs about $300 and is perfect for storing what might otherwise be living room clutter.

Kelly Boudreau at Hello Boudreau took the high price out of Empire-inspired furniture (an 18th-century French style) when she updated this dresser. Using a couple yards of linen, some Minwax Gloss Polycrylic Finish, an iron to keep the linen from wrinkling, and a paintbrush, she transformed the $35 store-bought furniture into a piece that looks like it was bought from a high-end designer or at an antique store. Drawer pulls and nail heads finish the look.

A standard-issue living room slipper chair (or even a headboard if you are so inclined) only needs a little help to separate it from the retail masses. Nail head trim, available at fabric stores and on Amazon for as little as $26 for a 10-yard strip, does the trick. With a tape measure as her guide, Janell Beals of House of Fifty hammered the trim along the lines of this chair to take it from so-so to striking.

As bold graphic patterns continue to be popular in home design, rugs are one of the easiest ways to try the trend. But getting the look doesn’t come cheap—rugs can cost upwards of $4,000. Blogger Suzannah Hamlin Stanley of Adventures in Dressmaking, made this 3x5 inch rug, using duck cloth (available at fabric stores), freezer paper as the graphic guide and some acrylic paint mixed with a fabric medium. A couple hours and $50 later, the new rug is a perfect bedside companion.

Beautiful drapery can make a room feel finished, but it can also be prohibitively expensive. When interior designer Amanda Carol of Amanda Carol at Home, discovered the designer horizontal-stripe-curtain trend, she wanted to replicate it for her own space. She purchased three West Elm shower curtains to get the look. (She hung two panels and used the third to add inches to the bottom of the other two.) The result? Custom curtains that look professionally tailored and only cost $90.

Unfortunately, lots of bathrooms already come equipped with oversize mirrors that are the same in every house on the street. The makers of MirrorMate offer pre-cut frames to enhance the look of your mirror without the need to take it down (which can be dangerous). Measure the width and height of your mirror and choose from over 60 styles to match your bathroom's decor. It's a quick bathroom upgrade in less than 20 minutes and prices start at just over $100.

Most big-box furniture comes with ho-hum feet. But these bland composite wood bases can easily be exchanged for something way more interesting. Originally designed to fit IKEA furniture, Pretty Pegs fit most furniture types and can be used on sofas, chairs and beds—think of it as a pedicure for your furniture.

Jen Jones of I Heart Organizing, a blog dedicated to all things orderly and contained, discovered that the $4 spice racks, available at Ikea, just so happen to be the perfect size for a couple of books for a nursery or child's room. This project got a major color upgrade when she painted the piece, elevating it from an ordinary brown kitchen rack to a sassy red reading shelf.

If you can iron, you can add smart embellishments to white, store-bought curtains. Thanks to super-handy fusible hem tape, Amanda Carol of Amanda Carol at Home was able to layer a Greek-inspired fabric onto these curtains for a decorator detail. It's a brilliant move considering home decorator trims, made specifically for this purpose, can run $30 a yard.