When it comes to luxe for less or decorating your home on a budget, it’s hard to beat the range of products at Kmart. And what’s even better than their range of furniture and homewares? When you hack it of course!
Here’s our round up of the top 20 Kmart hacks of 2017!
Related article: 20 of the coolest Kmart hacks EVER!
Related article: Top 20 Kmart hacks of 2018
1. Outdoor bench and planter box as internal bench and storage unit
Some people are so clever! Just check out how Belinda Leigh repurposed an outdoor Kmart bench seat and planter box into a stylish hallway bench and storage unit! The white paint gives it a real Hamptons vibe and she says she’s still looking for fabric to upholster the new foam cushion top.
2. Wall shelves as vertical succulent gardens
A clever hack by the people at Cobbitty Bake House, they added chicken wire backing to these Kmart shelves and used them as decorative succulent gardens.
3. Hex wall pockets as laundry shelves
Bel is a regular in our #stylecuratorchallenge and we nearly fell backwards when we saw how beautifully she styled her laundry using all sorts of Kmart products in clever ways! The standout was how she used the hexagon wall pockets as laundry shelves!
4. Glass vases as ambient table lamps
You’ve most likely seen fairy lights put in mason jars but have you even seen them put into decorative vases and look this darn pretty?!
These would look gorgeous in a bedroom or living room. Simply unthread the twinkle lights (she used rose gold) and place them in the vase.
5. Contact vinyl as laptop cover
Using $3 marble contact and $5 rose gold contact, Chase Woods created an on-trend geometric laptop cover. You can check out our tutorial (including a helpful video) on how to contact your laptop here.
6. Bright baby play gym as stylish Nordic play gym
Ok, so this one is more of a makeover than a hack (because the item isn’t being used for a different purpose than it was designed) but this mama did such a fabulous job we just had to include it in our round up!
Play gyms are a life saver in the early months but my goodness are most of them hideous, ha ha! That is unless you give it a makeover by painting the unsightly bright colours in muted tones and replace the cheap plastic toys with on-trend wooden beads.
7. Wire basket as bedside table
Talk about creating a luxe look for less! Nola cut the handles off a metallic wire basket and glued a white and pink check placemat on top to create this fab bedside table. One of the most affordable Kmart hacks on the list!
8. Bathroom trolley as pet foods station
We all know how unsightly and smelly pet bowls and open food packets can be in the home.
But just check out how clever this little Kmart hack is — turning a bathroom trolley into a pet food station complete with all the pet storage tins and food bowls too!
9. Contact vinyl as kitchen bench
When Beth Milburn was looking for an inexpensive way to update her kitchen until she could afford a total makeover, she used $3 Kmart marble contact to cover the gross yellow laminate!
Such a clever temporary solution to refresh your kitchen.
And then inspired by Beth’s makeover, Eden gave her kitchen a timber-look transformation using the wood grain contact.
Another inexpensive way to makeover laminate kitchen benchtops is to give them a concrete finish — it’s more long-lasting than contact — and we have the full tutorial on how to create a concrete kitchen benchtop here.
10. Pot plant stand as concrete top side table
Without wanting to toot our own horn, we love how this DIY concrete top side table turned out and for just $5 for a pot plant stand plus a couple of cups of concrete, it’s an incredibly affordable way of making your own stylish side table or pot plant table as we’re now using it!
11. Book shelf as open wardrobe
Rachel hacked this $15 book shelf and turned it into an open wardrobe for her son. By simply moving some of the shelving heights and adding a dowel rod for coat hangers, she was able to create an affordable and stylish storage solution!
12. Candle holders as geometric pendant lights
These geometric pendant lights cost just $7 each but you wouldn’t know it! Jessica’s clever husband spray painted the metallic candle holders black and drilled holes through them to make these stylish pendant lights.
13. Round shelf as on-trend moon shelf
This one is another makeover rather than a hack buuuut it’s so stylish it just had to go on the list too! Moon shapes and that ‘sleepy eye’ are trending in children’s interiors and we adore how this makeover turned out.
14. Kitchen canisters as succulent planters
Always looking for new ways to display indoor plants, these Kmart canisters look great as mini succulent gardens. Do as Amanda did and cluster several together, mixing patterns and sizes.
15. Storage solutions used as organisers
Our Organised Hive makes no secret of loving Kmart and not just for their home decor! She’s used a bunch of storage solutions to organise her cupboards at home.
Here’s what she did:
1. Wire shelves (used in her crockery cupboard, fridge, saucepan/fry pan cupboard and craft cupboard)
2. Magnetic whiteboard (used for meal planning on the inside pantry door)
3. Vertical storage holder (used for baking trays)
4. Small pull out containers (used in fridge and laundry cupboards)
5. Dish rack (used in tupperware drawer)
6. Large pull out storage containers (used in pantry and craft cupboard)
16. Belly belly baskets as laundry sorters
Such a fun hack idea, Studio DIY dip painted these belly belly baskets and used mod podge to adhere black letters to the face.
17. Veggie caddy as vertical herb garden
What a fab vertical garden idea for small spaces! Amanda Graham used this vegetable storage unit as a stylish and space-saving way to grow her herbs.
18. Hexagon planter box as beehive vertical garden
Anyone who’s looked into buying a large vertical garden would know they are ex-pen-sive! Like, into the thousands expensive!
That’s why we were so excited to come up with this idea of joining multiple hexagon planter boxes into a beehive configuration to create an inexpensive and easy DIY alternative. Find the full tutorial here!
19. Towel rack as toy organiser
Joelle hacked the Kmart bamboo towel rack by changing where the pieces go to create awesome puzzle and toy storage. She used shower curtain rings from Kmart and curtain clips from IKEA with large ziplock bags. Genius!
20. Wire storage baskets as vertical herb garden
Another fab herb garden idea! This time Melanie lined black wire baskets with planter liners and hooked these onto a slatted wall to create a vertical herb garden.
Have you spotted any other cool Kmart hacks? Share a link to them in the comments below so we can all check them out!
