12 Ikea Nursery Hacks That Will Melt Your Heart

If you’re in the process of preparing your baby’s nursery room for their arrival, congratulations! We’ve been there and loved every minute of the design, shopping, DIY and finishing touches.

So we know how expensive it can get! Fortunately, there are some ways you can save a bit of money by using some good Ikea nursery hacks.

We’ve brought together our favourite Ikea nursery hacks to help inspire you in creating the perfect space for your new arrival!


Ikea Hemnes Baby Changing Table and Dresser

Source: Petite Voyou

Let’s start with a simply gorgeous baby changing table from Petite Voyou. They have taken the Ikea Hemnes dresser and built a larger top surface with uprights to create the perfect baby changing space.

They have great details on their site for how to make this, just let Google translate it to English if you need to!

What I love most is the space you have to change your baby. It’s surprising how much of a difference this makes… coming from someone who started off with a much smaller baby changing table!

Handy Baby Changing Wall Storage

Source: Busy Creating Memories

Having all your baby changing supplies to hand is vital as you wrangle with your baby squirming about!

This fantastic, gorgeous solution from Busy Creating Memories is ideal. Sometimes these Ikea nursery hacks just need to be insanely practical!

Nappies, wipes and creams aren’t the most visually appealing things but with this wall storage, they are at least given a lovely home.

Ikea Kallax Montessori Wardrobe Hack

I love the simplicity of this Ikea Kallax kids wardrobe hack. They have simply built this Kallax unit without one of the dividers, creating a hanging space. In that space, they have used a small extendable tension rod as the hanging rail.

I haven’t been able to find these exact wooden Kallax inserts, but there are always some on Etsy! There is also the Ikea Bullig box which is a lovely bamboo parquet-effect box.

It’s such a cute idea, especially when you imagine them growing up with this as their wardrobe, learning to keep their clothes neat and tidy (I know… but you can dream!).

Have a look at our other Ikea Kallax hacks!

Small Closet Pax Hack

Source: Hello Jessen

The great strength of the Ikea Pax system is its simplicity. It’s just a series of mix-and-match compartments for a wardrobe. You can then customise it as you like.

Here, they have fitted the Pax into a small closet space and then added their own touches such as the wooden hanging rails and herringbone wallpaper backdrop.

The paint-dipped stool is super-cute!

Cane Shelving Hack

Source: White Picket Farmhouse

There are a few key things that every nursery should have: Changing table, cot/crib, clothes storage, feeding chair and… bedtime story storage!

These awesome cane shelves, made from Ikea Bekvam spice racks, are really easy and cheap to create as well as really pretty!

They are perfect for storing a selection of your child’s favourite bedtime stories.

Ikea Tarva Nursery Dresser Hack

Source: Get Kamfortable

If you’re short on space, but need lots of storage then a dresser/changing table combo is the way to go.

This beautiful Ikea Tarva dresser hack from Get Kamfortable is ideal because you can customise the colour (Tarva dressers come in bare wood) and the Tarva dresser is quite narrow, while still being wide enough for a changing mat.

What they have done here to get this stunning look is paint the Tarva dresser in a gorgeous grey-green, added some homemade wooden legs and support and finished it off with some stylish, slim black handles.

Check out our other Ikea Tarva hacks!

Tiny House Crib/Cot

Source: Vintage Revivals

On to the main show! The cot (or crib for our American friends!).

We love this simple update to the Ikea Gulliver cot. Ikea has such a great range of inexpensive cots, all they need is a little customisation!

Here, Vintage Revivals have brilliantly added a house shape around the cot to give it a more interesting look. It also inadvertently provides the perfect hanging rail for a mobile or soft toys (like the cute monkey in the picture!).

All the details for creating this are in the post on Vintage Revivals.

Colourful Rainbow Nursery Shelving Idea

Source: Studio DIY

If you’re tired of all the white/beige nursery ideas out there and just NEED some colour, it’s not hard to inject it into your scheme!

This awesome blast of rainbow colour from Studio DIY is achieved by painting several Ikea Mosslanda picture shelves in rainbow colours and then accentuating those colours with similarly-coloured books!

Great idea! Great look!

Just to emphasise the rainbow theme, they’ve added a little plasticine rainbow too!

Hot Air Balloon Light Hack

Source: Maria Soxbo

I’m going to turn the cute-o-meter up a notch with this gorgeous hot air balloon inspired lighting hack from Maria Soxbo.

She has used the ever-present Ikea Regolit paper lamp shades the base for this inspired creation.

Not only does it give a stunning focal point for the room but it also serves as soft toy storage! Multi-purposing at its best.

Check out the post for the how-to. You might want to let Google translate it into English if you need to.

Ikea Nursery Bench Seating Hack

Source: Ish and Chi

If you have the space, this amazing idea from Ish and Chi gives you a stunning combo of seating and storage.

I have to say, this wouldn’t be ideal for feeding, but certainly comes into it’s own as you child grows and wants to sit with you for bedtime stories!

They have used Alex drawer units and Besta cabinets to create the base and then got an upholsterer to create the cushions. Of course, you can have a go at the cushion creation yourself. All you will need is some upholstery foam, fabric of choice and some sewing skills!

Ikea Bullig Bamboo Book Box Hack

Source: Hunker

Can you tell we love storytime!? This fantastic book box hack from Hunker uses the Ikea Bullig box combined with some short hairpin legs to create a gorgeous storybook container.

A really simple hack that takes you from just having a box on the floor to having a dedicated book box table!

It’s the little things, like having the books accessible at sitting height so you don’t have to reach down that can really make a difference.

Ikea Wall Wardrobe Idea

Baby clothes are tiny, so you can make the most of this fact by having tiny storage.

This great idea involves simply attaching Ikea Bekvam spice racks to the wall, either the right way up or upside down and using them for shelving as well as hanging space.

I can imagine several of these on a wall giving much-needed storage and display space for so many things. Clothes, books, changing supplies, artwork, soft toys… you name it!

All you need for the hanging of clothes are some S hooks which Ikea also has in abundance!

Good old Ikea!


There’s something quite therapeutic about designing a nursery space. It’s so energising and exciting to go through this process, even for an old parent like me looking back and reminiscing!

It’s a great time to get creative and really flex your artistic and DIY muscles to go all out and create the best space you can for your child.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration from these Ikea nursery hacks to go forth and design your perfect nursery.


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