How a homeowner turned $15 Ikea tables into a cement nightstand that looks like it's worth hundreds of dollars

• Popular home-furnishing stores sell luxury cement side tables for hundreds of dollars.
• Kiva Brent loved the look but not the cost, so she built her own using Ikea's $15 Lack tables.
• Brent formed a cube with two Lack tables, applied cement, and sanded them down to make a nightstand.

When design YouTuber Kiva Brent started seeing cement side tables, coffee tables, and nightstands rise in popularity, she wanted to add the look to her home.

Places like Pottery Barn and West Elm sell cement tables for hundreds of dollars, but Brent didn't want to spend that much money.

Instead, she created her own trendy furniture item, hacking two affordable Ikea Lack tables and transforming them into an expensive-looking, cement nightstand for less than $65.

What you need for the hack

Although the most affordable Lack table retails for $9.99 on Ikea, Brent said she went with the more expensive, wood-like tables, which were $14.99 apiece, purchasing two for $30. These side tables were closer to the color of concrete and would help hide any blemishes or imperfections later on in the project.

For the rest of the materials, Brent used uncoupled membrane mortar ($15 at Lowe's), a notched trowel ($11 at Lowe's), a five-gallon bucket ($3 at Lowe's), and high-grit sandpaper ($5 at Lowe's).

Brent said she already had the majority of the materials, so the whole project cost her $30. But the total cost of the supplies came to $64.

How to do it yourself

Brent started by building one table following Ikea's instructions. Then, she nailed the second table's top to the bottom of the built table to create a cube shape.

Using some mortar, Brent covered the entire structure in a thin layer of cement. Then, she used a notched trowel to smooth out the coat of cement she had applied to the table's top, legs, and bottom.

After the structure dried, Brent sanded down the entire piece to give it a smooth finish.

Brent outlined the entire project in a video on Instagram, which you can watch below.

Brent said she loved the finished Ikea hack, and decided to build another cement nightstand so she would have a matching set for her bedroom.