10 Clever Ways To Use The IKEA RUDSTA Around Your Home

IKEA is known for its affordable furniture and décor. Beyond that, its streamlined and low-profile looks nail the minimalist aesthetic and are perfect for urban living with limited usable space. A huge trend on TikTok and Instagram  is people demonstrating the many ways to hack basic IKEA boxed furniture into amazing customized pieces for your home. One such versatile item is the RUDSTA cabinet, a glass and metal cupboard with three interior shelves, back panel cable access, adjustable feet, and a lockable door. Its usefulness as a display case is obvious, but with a little ingenuity, there are many ways to utilize a RUDSTA cabinet in your home. We've listed 10 below.

Like most IKEA furniture, the RUDSTA comes in a few variations. There's a wide cabinet for $129.99 featuring two double doors that comes in black, and there's a slimmer single-door cabinet for $99.99 which has an additional open shelf underneath, making it over a foot taller. In addition to basic black, the single cabinet usually also comes in a seasonal trendy color such as turquoise or seafoam. Virtually every RUDSTA hack can be accommodated to either size, so don't feel constrained by your preferences or available space. You can almost always make it work.

IKEA furniture is stylish as is, but if you feel your basic RUDSTA looks a little, well, basic, it's easy to give it flair. One favorite method applies wood-grain wallpaper to the back panels of the cabinet. Not only is this gorgeous, it works with standard wallpaper as well as peel-and-stick varieties. Another option is to paint the back panel to blend in with your wall or paint the entire cabinet a striking accent color. For less transparency, use privacy film on the glass. Endless designs are available, so you'll wind up with a truly custom piece.

What better way to make your work-from-home space look a little more professional than with an elegant glass RUDSTA cabinet from IKEA? Rather than cluttering up your desk with supplies, reference manuals, or whatever else you need, keep them close at hand but out of the way in your RUDSTA. The magnetic back allows for pictures, notes, and your company's most recent org chart, while the shelves can accommodate books, binders, paper trays, or even a small filing system. If you work with proprietary information, you can even lock it up when you're done.

Whatever your individual passions, collections amassed as a result need a safe place to be displayed and enjoyed. Use clear acrylic risers for smaller items to double, triple, or quadruple your usable space and create the illusion that they're floating. A few LED spotlights or strip lighting positioned either above or in front of each primary shelf will showcase your items, and if your collection is particularly valuable, or if you're displaying items for sale, a small padlock can be hung through the handle on the cabinet door(s) to secure them in place.

If you have a penchant for high-end accessories like shoes or handbags, it can be a struggle finding the perfect place to keep them. The RUDSTA offers a stylish display option that can still be situated in your closet, bedroom, or dressing area. Line up your Air Jordans on the shelves with atmospheric strip lighting, or select a mini LED spotlight to show off your Birkin bag. Even if yours are less expensive, you can extend the life of special occasion accessories by storing them in a sleek cabinet away from dust and debris.

Nothing quite ups your entertaining game like having a dedicated bar space. The RUDSTA's sleek glass design highlights the facets of your stemware and mixology tools. This is where it makes sense to buy vintage-inspired finds, like a 1940s aesthetic decanter or retro copper ice bucket. Adding in your variety of liquor bottles will bring color and dimension as light plays through all the different types of glass on display. Vamp things up even more by sticking adhesive mirror sheets to the back panels of your cabinet to reflect and magnify the prismatic effect.

Taking a glass cabinet like the IKEA RUDSTA and using it for your nice china is basically what it was made for. However, when you stack the wide RUDSTA on top of an IKEA base cabinet, you create an entirely new piece reminiscent of a traditional China hutch. Build both items as directed, but remove the RUDSTA's legs and secure it to the base cabinet with brackets and adhesive. You can customize your look by building a SEKTION kitchen base, or selecting one of the many ready made designs on hand. Seasonal tableware below, show pieces on top.

Sometimes bathrooms can be woefully unplanned for storage. If you find yours is, a RUDSTA can be just the thing you need. The slimmer version is only 16-½ inches wide, so even two feet of usable space is more than enough to slide this into place. Put a basket of skincare items on one shelf and a tray of makeup on another, or use it to store hand towels and extra toilet paper. The glass door will help keep humidity and other nasties out, so items inside should stay fresher longer. Plus the glass is easy to clean.

Anyone who has cats knows they pretty much sleep wherever they want, and for whatever reason a raised shelf or platform of any kind is generally considered prime real estate. Therefore, if you have the slim RUDSTA with the open shelf at the bottom and nothing of particular importance to put in that spot, why not customize it for your furry friend? Something as simple as a folded towel or a fuzzy scarf makes for excellent bedding, or you can splurge on IKEA's small faux fur rugs or cushion cover for $14.99. Your cat will love it.

One of the most popular RUDSTA hacks is to turn it from a standard display cabinet into a stunning indoor greenhouse for tropical plants, completely transforming peoples' homes. The only true necessity for this project is a grow light affixed to the ceiling panel, and the pre-drilled cable access holes make plugging into a power source a breeze.

From there you can go as simple or as advanced as you're comfortable with. Seal the gaps. Monitor humidity. Leave the shelves as is or bring in additional magnetic shelves, hooks, and grids for more dimensional interest. Customize to taste.

Why stop at growing plants in pots when you can create an entire tropical habitat in your RUDSTA cabinet? TikTokkers have built terrariums for their tree frogs, snails, and crested geckos, among other creatures. If your critters need a more arid space, that's possible too. Simply fill the cracks of your cabinet with silicon, use one of the glass shelves as a vertical barrier, attach a sun lamp to the ceiling and build the basic frame with cardboard and foam before covering it in climate-appropriate groundcover. Use a humidity monitor to maintain the ideal environment.