DIY Makeup Vanity with IKEA Pieces | Peek & Ponder (2025)

January 25, 2014 By Ashley 12 Comments

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I originally wrote about this DIY makeup vanity back in 2014. Crazy right? This setup has gone viral ever since. At this point in time, in 2024, some items for this vanity are not available but other options have come around. We’re going to go over all of the options and some alternatives too.

Before we do that, let’s go over some backstory….

In 2014, I was living in a 2-bedroom apartment with my boyfriend (now ex). Our second bedroom was used as our office and we were sharing a desk for everything. It was used for computer tasks, housing office supplies, applying makeup, crafting, photography, etc. As you can imagine, this didn’t work out so well. One desk cannot effectively do everything. I needed my own space to store my products and be able to work on things.

I wanted lots of drawers for storage and a good-sized surface to lay stuff out. The problem was that I had limited space to work with, so I had to be smart about it.

After browsing vanities everywhere, I found many that appealed to me visually, but weren’t functional enough. Most of them had only a few small drawers – nowhere near enough storage for the growing makeup collection of a beauty blogger. I didn’t have room to get a separate set of drawers in addition to a vanity and I actually liked the idea of having one unit for everything anyway. I turned to IKEA to create my own DIY makeup vanity setup.

I decided on putting together a couple of Alex drawer units with a big, glossy table top.

My IKEA vanity set up:

• 2 Alex drawer units
• Linnmon table top in high gloss/white, 59″ x 29 1/2″

The 2 alex drawer units were a no-brainer. They gave the perfect amount of drawer space. The table top was a little harder of a decision because IKEA offered different sizes and finishes. Ultimately, I liked the glossy finish the most and I thought the 59″ length provided plenty of room for leg space. The table top width did not match the depth of the Alex drawer units so there was quite a bit of overhang in the back. It didn’t bother me though. The table top stayed in place thanks to some rubber stoppers that came with the units. Overall, the whole thing made for a very sturdy setup.

Alternative Options

If you’re not set on any of the options above, let’s look at some alternatives. All of these come from Amazon.

There are so many more options now than there ever were before. The whole reason I went with an IKEA setup in the first place was because there were so few vanities on the market that had enough storage for me. But now, you can find all kinds of vanities. The possibilities are endless. Just do your research and read reviews to make sure you’re getting good enough quality.

Hopefully I gave you some good ideas for your vanity, whether you’re going the DIY route or choosing a more finished piece with more bells and whistles.

Discuss with us

Do you have a vanity? If not, what is your favorite option from this post?

Last updated on July 3, 2024

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