5 BRANDS THAT WILL ADD A NEW LEASE OF LIFE TO YOUR IKEA FURNITURE

I have known about custom-fronted Ikea cabinets for a while, and perhaps I’ve been living under a rock but I have only really discovered the world of Ikea furniture customisation. Obviously, there are ‘Ikea Hacks’ you can do yourselves in the form of DIY – changing handles, painting/spraying and general upcycling (I love Hester’s Handmade Home hack on converting her Ikea cabinet to a mud table here) but I am also intrigued by the companies selling ‘add-ons’ for your furniture to keep them looking modern for longer. Here are just a few I have stumbled upon lately:

BEMZ

Bemz sells fabric slips for Ikea sofas and chairs (as well as footstools and headboards – if it has fabric, chances are they’ll cover it!) – machine washable and ultra chic, they are based in Stockholm but offer free shipping on orders over £150. The fabrics aren’t cheap cheap but it can really breathe longevity into your existing furniture (or update a secondhand find!) and is much more cost effective than a new sofa.

PRETTY PEGS

Pretty Pegs is a Swedish company (that ship worldwide!) specialising in legs and parts for your Ikea furniture, to give it the feeling of a more bespoke piece. Bed legs, sofa legs, knobs as well as fronts for cabinets – the selection is almost limitless and a simple knob will set you back as little as €6.

HUSK

I recently found that there is a whole world of brands selling custom-fronts for Ikea cabinets (see my kitchen post here featuring Reform CPH, Plykea, Custom Fronts and Holte) but by far my favourite was Husk. We almost went with Husk for our kitchen (they’re Bristol-based) but because we had no original carcasses to begin with, it actually didn’t work out very cost effective for us (as we also needed to buy all appliances etc). But if you already have an Ikea kitchen you are not keen on, or it needs an upgrade, then this is a really money-saving way of updating your kitchen whilst keeping a high-end look.

They also pride themselves on their low impact, using sustainably sourced birch plywood which is highly durable and FCS certified.

COMFORT WORKS

Specialising in slip covers, Comfort Works offers free worldwide shipping (they’re Melbourne based) and even offers covers for other brands, too, such as Muji. All the slip covers are machine washable and delivery takes 5-6 weeks.

SUPERFRONTS

If you are really looking to upgrade your piece or give your new purchase the ‘wow’ factor, then Superfronts is the brand. They work with almost any product and sell cabinet fronts, handles, wardrobe fronts and you can order a variety of tops in a range of colours and materials – now I’ve seen the cararra marble surfaces I might not be able to shake them from my memory. The finished articles often work out as a far more expensive product that the original Ikea cost, but still cheaper than it would be to get an item of this quality (and particularly more affordable than bespoke). It’s all about service here, and they even offer an architect service for £65.