This Bedroom Redo’s Brilliant BESTA Hack Solves the “Clothes Chair” Problem
There are plenty of IKEA hacks for bedrooms, from PAX closets to MALM headboard hacks to VIKHAMMER nightstand hacks. Leekim Stewart’s (@thehouseofwillow) IKEA BESTA hack offered the perfect solution for one wall of her bedroom, which she described as “a plain white room with no character or color” prior to its makeover.
The bedroom “felt boring, cold and harsh as the windows were black gloss paint and blinds were grey,” she adds. Leekim and her husband created a blank space to work with when they moved into their home in 2023 by painting the walls white and installing carpeting to add some coziness.
But in 2025, Leekim knew it was time to add some personality. “It was a white room so the perfect canvas to do anything my heart desired!” she says.
The ultimate solution to the “clothes chair?” An IKEA BESTA hack.
One of the most important things the bedroom needed was more functional storage space.“I noticed that my husband is a fiend for throwing clothes on a chair, and I noticed lots of clutter such as change, lighters, receipts, etc. were emptied onto our dressers, leaving a heap of junk everyday,” Leekim says. “My solution to this was to build a piece of furniture that could hide all of these unsightly things as well as create an aesthetically pleasing place to relax.”
Leekim hacked IKEA BESTAs to build out a window seat and shelving unit. “I built a strong base, popped the unit on top, and then painted the entire thing,” Leekim explains. “This housed our clothes, junk, and the things we wanted on display.”
The windows themselves look better, too: Leekim stripped the black gloss paint off the windowframe and added wood stain and a wax seal. “I also changed the blinds to Roman blinds with light fabric to soften the room and give a glow when the sun shines through,” she says.
The room was color drenched in peachy pink.
The next step was to inject the space with personality by choosing a livelier paint color. Leekim picked a coraly pink paint, Graham & Brown’s Moira, and covered all the surfaces from the walls to the ceiling to the window seat.
Leekim says she likes “a room to have color, a bit of character, or an interesting feature whilst feeling cozy.” She was going for “cozy, quirky, [and] soft but bold,” and she did lots of moodboarding on Pinterest. Her main design inspo was the Margate House Hotel in Kent for the color scheme — and her wavy headboard.
A wavy pole wrap headboard tops everything off.
Leekim says she’s a huge fan of wavy shapes in interiors, and knew she wanted to incorporate it into the bedroom in some fashion. It ended up coming in the form of a custom headboard that she made herself using a hardware store staple: pole wrap. “This really gave the room a bit of interest and also helped to bring that natural, warm and cozy vibe to the space,” Leekim says.
Although this project was perhaps the most daunting one in the entire space, Leekim was surprised at just how easy using a jigsaw to create the wave pattern was.
“I was petrified I was going to make curves that didn’t look uniform, so I made sure I took my time and practiced on a piece of scrap wood before I went in on the real pieces of wood,” she says. “I am pretty proud of the headboard, though, as it definitely gives the room a bit of a wow factor. The space now feels so relaxing and pretty!”
Now, the space looks and feels exactly how Leekim had envisioned. For more real homes inspired by expertly designed hotels, check out these five rooms.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.