Easy DIY IKEA Desk Hack

I, like most other recent college grads, outfitted my first apartment entirely in furniture I was given by my parents and grandparents. Any pieces I couldn’t get from scavenging through family member’s basements I bought a IKEA. Five years later and the majority of my furniture is the original pieces that I purchased or was given.

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Over those five years, I’ve moved into a larger apartment, my boyfriend moved in, and my style has evolved. With all of those changes I could have run out and bought new furniture. Instead, I have worked to make easy and inexpensive changes to the furniture to adapt to my current situation.

I’m constantly making changes to my apartment and thankfully, my boyfriend, Pat is okay with the constant redoing of every room and sometimes even wants to help out. What a gem! Our most recent project has been the office.

I was so used to having a whole office to myself to craft, sew, and do the “business” side of things. The room also served as a second bedroom when people would stay over. With Pat moving in, we had to reimagine the space so that he could have his own office area as well.

Easy DIY IKEA desk hack with removable wallpaper

At first I was dragging my feet, thinking about all the space I was losing! But then, I switched my attitude and started to think about this as a design challenge – how do you make a space functional for two people, while still looking good?

We cut the room down the middle, with Pat getting one side, and me the other. To make my side more “homey,” I painted the wall in a light yellow color – HGTV HOME by Sherwin-Williams Lemon Mint Leaf – and started coming up with ideas to spruce up my area.

I knew I didn’t want to spend a ton of money, but also knew that I needed to do something with my desk. When I first moved into my apartment, I bought two IKEA LINNMON tables/desks and placed them in an “L,” allowing me to use one side for my computer monitor, laptop, and sewing machine, and the other side for writing, cutting, painting, or whatever I might need that free space for. I love these tables because they are super light, making it easy to move around, they don’t have a huge foot print, and all of the surface are is free to use. The only problem with these tables is over time the top of the desk has gotten lots of marks.

The solution to the issue? Removable wallpaper! I bought a roll of removable wallpaper on Amazon for $6.74 and was able to cover both tables. The wallpaper not only covered up all the marks, making the desk look brand new, but it also blended nicely with my new yellow wall!