Furniture on a Budget – Ikea BRANÄS and Hemnes Sofa Table Review

When we bought our bungalow, we knew that it was going to take a lot of work. What I enjoyed the most about the whole journey of buying a fixer upper was picking out our new furniture (and staying within our budget). With that in mind, I purchased this sofa table with baskets to match from Ikea.

See my dining room before and after renovation for ideas as well.

Not everyone can afford an $800 console table. The Hemnes sofa table is inexpensive, with a very simple but chic design. I ordered a “white stain” finish and it shows a tiny bit of wood grain through the paint.

It also comes in black-brown, light brown, and red-brown. I chose white because our  walls are more of a medium grey colour, and therefore I wanted the white to add brightness to our home. I also chose the BRANÄS baskets (similar ones here) in white because I wanted a clean look. 

The size of the white baskets are 12 1/2″ x 13 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ for reference.

Hemnes sofa table uses:

What’s great about this sofa table is that it is very versatile. It is about 61 3/4″ long, 15 3/4″ wide, and 29 1/8″ high. I used it as a console table to fill in an empty space in my living room. For extra lighting, I added two lamps (like these) at each end and a white floral decoration (like this) all bought from Winners. And of course, I put two lovely pictures of my girls when they were newborns. One frame is metal and the other is wood, just to add some character.

TV Stand

This table would work great as a TV stand as long as your Television is under 60 inches. The first four shelves on the top are only about 14″ wide and wouldn’t be able to fit a receiver or sound system which would then have to be placed on the top of the table. But the shelves are great for storing books, games, DVD’s etc.

Buffet Table

You could also use the Hemnes sofa table as a buffet table in your dining room. Without the baskets, you could store your finest dinnerware, and pretty much decorate it with whatever you’d like. Flowers, house plants, lamps, cooking books, glassware etc.

Toy Storage

Another great idea that a good friend of mine came up with was to use it for toy storage. She has it in her children’s play room and surprisingly, the large sized BRANÄS baskets hold a TON of toys. Children’s books can be stored on the top shelves, and picture frames and lamps can be placed on the top of the table. Let’s face it, toy organization is a must!

Caution: Be careful what you put in or on top of this table because once your kids get their hands on it, it’s done for. And believe me, they love to climb.

Shop Storage baskets:

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Shop Accent Pieces: