VERY DIFFERENT, INDEED

If the idea of stripping and repainting an old table or bench bores you to tears, dress up the eyesore and entertain your inner child at the same time by covering over the entire surface with LEGOs.

Take a cue from a Scandinavian design team who covered an entire kitchen island from IKEA in 20,000 LEGOs. It took a week—and, no doubt, a lot of patience—but the results are trippy and so very cool.

Schlepping to the store to clean the shelves of every last box of LEGOs would be an expensive undertaking, but if you scour local garage sales and thrift stores, you can probably find bags of them on the cheap. Then all you need is some strong glue and an old table, chair, or other piece of hardwood furniture that needs some TLC.