10 Genius IKEA Kids Room Hacks Every Parent Needs to Try!

Here are the best Ikea kids room hacks we’ve personally tried for our toddler’s bedroom!

Creating a functional, stylish, and clutter-free kids’ room can often feel like a never-ending challenge.

But Ikea’s affordable and versatile furniture can easily transform a cluttered space into a well-organized and aesthetic children’s room without breaking the bank!

Whether you’re struggling with toy storage, trying to make the most of a small space, or looking for easy kids’ room design ideas, these clever IKEA hacks will help you maximize every inch of your child’s room.

Ready to organize and refresh your little one’s space? Here are the easiest Ikea kids’ room ideas every parent needs to try!

We shared LINKS to all our room decor sources at the end of this blog post!

Why Should You Use IKEA Furniture for Kids’ Rooms?

Ikea Kids Room with Trofast and Kura Bed

Ikea is hands-down my FAVORITE place to buy furniture for kid bedrooms or playrooms!

I love Ikea’s offering of affordable yet functional toy storage solutions and space-saving lofted beds.

I used to think that Ikea sells cheap and poor-quality products, BUT after the past couple of years of trying out various Ikea furniture, I’m always pleasantly surprised that the quality is actually pretty good despite its low price point.

Their collections are often very customizable, and there are many ways to hack their furniture to create a custom look!

Plus, with growing kids changing so quickly, you don’t want to spend too much money on kid furniture.

It’s also important that the furniture pieces can easily grow with them, so you don’t need to replace everything and do a whole room makeover again in a year.

Continue reading for Ikea bedroom ideas that will make your child’s room more functional, fun, AND easy to maintain!

1. Hidden Storage Solutions with the Ikea TROFAST

First on the list is the popular Ikea TROFAST system!

Our toddler’s bedroom also doubles as a playroom and we desperately needed toy organization to contain his ever-growing Magna-tile, Lego Duplo, and Hot Wheels collection.

We originally used an open-shelf Montessori style system, which worked well when he was younger and had more simple aesthetic toys, but the room quickly grew messy with more toys that came as a set of smaller pieces.

Closed storage with bins to organize all these sets of toys worked so much better for us at this age!

The Trofast collection has all sorts of unit styles (horizontal, vertical, or wall-mounted), and you can easily create a custom storage system by mixing and matching its many configurations.

In addition, it’s really easy to swap the bins out for weekly toy rotations to keep your child engaged and interested with their toys.

This toy organization system is a must-have due to its low cost and customizable bin storage, resulting in a tidy and mess-free playroom!

2. DIY Ikea Trofast Hack for a Functional Kids Desk

Creating a DIY desk with two or more Ikea Trofast units is super easy to do!

One DIY option is to get a piece of wood from Home Depot, but we were too lazy to sand, stain, etc.

The EASIEST way to make a kids desk with the Trofast units is to use an Ikea countertop and cut the depth to size.

Here’s a close-up of how our DIY desk turned out:

This is exactly what we did in our Ikea Trofast Desk Hack tutorial and we shared all the steps to follow, along with links to where we bought everything from.

With the addition of a countertop, this IKEA Trofast hack allows you to create a compact, space-saving desk that also doubles as storage.

This project is quick, easy, and requires minimal tools, making it ideal for beginners!

Follow our step-by-step tutorial to achieve this easy Trofast Desk Hack.

3. Maximize Floor Space with the Ikea KURA Bed

The Ikea Kura Bed is a great choice for a toddler’s bedroom because it grows with your child.

During the toddler stage, you can start out having your Kura in the bed configuration.

When they are 6 years or older, you can use the lofted bed configuration and have your child sleep on the top bunk while maximizing the bottom area for added play space.

Creating a cozy reading nook is easy with the Nugget couch under the Kura bed!

The nugget couch can often take up a lot of floor space, and putting it under the Kura bed frees up a LOT of room along the walls of our playroom.

We also shared a cute Kura bed curtain set from Ikea later in this post that makes it even more fun!

4. Add LED Lighting to Make Small Spaces Feel Bigger

Adding LED light strips to Ikea furniture instantly elevates the entire room design and gives a fun and modern touch!

We added LED lights to the back of the countertop as the finishing touch to our Trofast desk hack and it made such a huge visual impact.

You can easily control how bright or dim you want the lighting. At night, we love the ambiance and coziness that the lights bring to the space!

Even if you didn’t do the Trofast desk hack, you can easily add the lighting to the back of the actual Trofast units.

If you have a small space, adding LED light strips can instantly make the room feel bigger and draw your eye to an unexpected focal point.

Highly recommend incorporating this simple touch – we seriously love it, and it made such a difference in our toddler’s room!

We shared LINKS to all our room decor sources at the end of this blog post!

5. Wall-Mounted Organization with Ikea SKADIS Pegboards

When planning this kid’s room makeover, I came across the Ikea SKADIS pegboard line and was blown away by the versatility of the collection!

These pegboards mount onto the wall and take advantage of your vertical wall space.

In our room, we lined up three of the 22″x22″ white Ikea SKADIS Pegboards centered on the Trofast desk.

There are a variety of pegboard accessories available depending on your specific needs – from shelves and baskets to hooks and clips – the possibilities are endless!

For our toddler, we love using the hooks to display his preschool artwork or wall art that we can easily change out.

It’s one of my new favorite Ikea collections that I’ll continue to use to improve organization in other areas of my home.

6. Turn Your Ikea KURA Bed into a Cute Marketplace

Ikea conveniently sells bed curtains or tents that attach directly to the Kura bed to create different scenes like market, underwater, or space themes.

Our toddler loves this Market Kura Bed Curtain that comes with cut-out windows to mimic a shop counter where he can sell food to us.

It’s an easy $30 addition to your Kura bed that also sparks kids’ imaginations and transforms the bed into a fun play area!

7. Ikea KALLAX Shelf for Toy Storage and Seating

The Ikea KALLAX shelf is a very cost-effective way to display your child’s toys in an easy-to-reach way.

There are many Kallax configurations to choose from, with the most popular options being this single-shelf unit or larger Kallax unit to display toys.

Ikea also sells many Kallax accessories like shelf inserts or drawer inserts to customize your unit for your specific organization needs.

For the single shelf, you can easily hack the Kallax by ordering this highly-rated custom cushion from Amazon to create a bench seating area above your toy storage!

8. Wall-Mounted TROFAST Units to Maximize Vertical Space

We always struggled with how to decorate our toddler’s wall and decided to blend form and function by choosing the wall-mounted Trofast units.

Mounting these toy storage units to the wall utilizes the vertical wall space for additional storage plus makes it easy to display decor on top.

This hack is especially great for small rooms, where every inch of space counts!

For installation, we decided to buy these heavy-duty shelf brackets instead of using the included Ikea mounts.

We wanted to make sure the Trofast units were securely mounted and could support the weight of the shelves and the content of the bins.

We are so happy with how our wall-mounted Trofast units turned out!

9. MOSSLANDA Picture Ledge for Books or Wall Decor

Incorporate the Ikea MOSSLANDA Picture Ledge into your child’s room for an ever-changing display of books, toys, or wall art!

These affordable picture ledges come in two length sizes of 21″ or 45″ and come in white, black, oak, or walnut color options.

We bought ours in the white 45″ version for just $18, and it looks great above our Kura bed!

You can also get 3 picture ledges to mount above each other for a low-priced book display.

10. Affordable Ikea BILLY Shelves for Extra Toy Storage

In our toddler’s room walk-in closet, we needed a spot to store unused toys for our weekly toy rotation.

We didn’t want to spend that much money since we might get a custom closet system installed in the future, so we picked the Ikea Billy Bookcase!

The Billy shelves are a classic staple for Ikea furniture and are super affordable!

These shelves are a solid pick to maximize your vertical wall space for extra toy storage.

Every Kid’s Room Needs These Adorable Chairs!

This is not Ikea-related, BUT I also wanted to mention my FAVORITE affordable Walmart find.

These are THE most adorable kids’ swivel chairs that I highly recommend for any playroom!

Their modern minimalist look is so pretty and they are actually super comfortable to sit on (even for adults – it’s grandma-approved too)!

We love these chairs because the size fits our toddler perfectly, the chairs come fully assembled, and it’s such an EASY way to elevate your room design.

These cute Walmart Kid Swivel Chairs are very affordable and are great quality – a definite must-have for any kid space!

Kids Room Decor Links

Here’s where we bought everything from:

Pine Trofast Unit – Ikea
Countertop – Ikea
Wall Trofast Unit – Ikea
Pegboard – Ikea
Faux Plant – Ikea
Toy Crane – Ikea
Sloth Wall Art – Etsy
Bible Verse Wall Art – Etsy
Kura Bed – Ikea
Nugget Couch – Nugget
Picture Ledge – Ikea
Toddler Chair – Amazon
6×9 Rug – Amazon
Curtains – Amazon
Curtain Rod – Amazon
Arch Decor Set – Amazon
Kids Swivel Chair – Walmart
Wall Vinyl Stickers – Amazon
SW Green Onyx – Paint Color

Conclusion: Ikea Kids Room Hacks

With these easy-to-achieve Ikea kids’ room hacks, you can create a space that’s both functional and fun for your child!

From space-saving storage ideas like wall-mounted Trofast units to creative DIY projects like the Trofast desk hack, there are endless ways to customize Ikea pieces to fit your needs.

These hacks make it easy to keep everything tidy while adding a playful touch.

Easily mix and match different Ikea kids’ bedroom solutions to design a custom space that grows with your child!