I’ve owned my house for 4 years now and since day one I have been trying to figure out what to do with this weird area on the far side of my living room. The main room is to the right of the stairs but to the left there is this 11 foot wide, 7 foot deep space that is just awkward and unused.
Last year I got my first look at the Billy-to-built-in Ikea hack on Centsational Girl. As soon as I saw it I knew it was the answer I had been looking for. I did a lot of research on the best way to do it. There are so many great Ikea hack ideas out there. Once I had a plan made I recruited my dad to help me. It pays to have a handy dad! 🙂
First we had to remove the baseboards along the back and side walls. The base of the bookshelves is not flush with the frame so we added 1”x 2” boards to the base of each self so I would have an easier time attaching the baseboards at the end of the project. I’m a terrible shot with a nail gun so I need a big target!
We used shims to align and level the shelves just like you would do with kitchen cabinets. When we had each bookshelf level we screwed it to the bookshelf next to it and moved on to the next shelf. We used a countersink drill bit to recess the screw to help hide it. Once all of the bookshelves were together and everything was firmly attached to the walls it was time to add the trim.
This is the part that really makes everything look like a built-in bookcase. From the top of the bottom shelf to the floor was higher than my baseboards so we used a 4” wide piece of MDF as a toe kick. I used my nail gun to attach it across the entire length of the bookshelves, wall-to-wall. Next, I added my baseboard, attaching it to the MDF. The baseboards on the side walls also had to be trimmed to fit the new length and re installed.
We nailed a 2”x 4” board to the top of the bookshelves, wall-to-wall, to create a place to attach the crown moulding. Then we installed the crown moulding across the top. Just like the bottom of the Billy bookshelves the top is not flush with the frame so, to hide the gap I used a strip of 1” lattice trim across the front of the shelving. To cover the seam between bookshelves we used 1 1/2” lattice trim.
The most difficult part was covering the gaps at the end of bookcase. Since nothing in my house is square we ended up with a 2 ½” gap at one end and a 3” gap at the other. We found a 4’x 8’ sheet of thin wood (maybe 1/8” thick?) at Home Depot. We had them cut a 2 ½” strip and a 3”inch strip for use. It worked perfectly!
All of that took us 2 long Saturdays, probably about 15 hours total, 3 of those hours were supply runs to Home Depot, but we were so happy with the results!
Monday night after work I caulked all of the seams and used wood filler to fill the nail holes. A quick sanding and it was time to paint. I had read somewhere that Valspar’s Chef White was a good match for Billy bookshelves and that just so happens to be what all of the trim in my house is painted so I decided to give it a shot. Since I already had semi-gloss that is what I used. It worked great and after two coats I was done. I swear I spent an hour just looking at it!
I’m so happy I decided to do this project. The results are amazing and that side of my living room finally feels complete. Plus I have more storage now. I’ve started filling the shelves already but it is still a work in progress. Maybe some baskets for the bottom shelves? I see many more cute knick knacks in my future!!
This is seriously an awesome hack/upgrade. I love how they turned out! Pinned!!
Thanks so much! I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out 🙂
Very nice! I love the way these turned out! I’ve been wanting to add some built-ins to my home office space.
I was amazed at how easy it was once I finally got started! If you do it link back I would love to see how they turn out.
This looks amazing! We are so excited….this will be featured at our next party. Pinned. Thanks again! Lou Lou Girls
Thanks Kimberly! It was totally worth the effort. I love it!
These are awesome! Look at all that storage potential! I will be featuring this at What We Accomplished Wednesday this evening. Have a great week!
Blessings, Deborah
Thanks Deborah! Looking forward to the party this week 🙂
Wow Kat, you’d never know those were Billy Bookcases! Awesome tutorial too. I’m visiting from the Link It Or Lump It Party and now a new follower 🙂
Thanks Marie! I’m so glad I finally just did it :). Following you back!
This looks amazing! You would never know you didn’t build the whole thing from scratch. I love all the storage it added as well. Thanks for linking up to The Creative Exchange!
Thanks Laura! It’s nice finally having somewhere to put all of my knick knacks.
Genius! That turned out beautifully!
I love IKEA hacks! And this one turned out great. Just look at all that storage! Pinning to my “IKEA Love” board…
Thanks! I love Ikea hacks too…already thinking up my next one 😉
Score another one for Ikea and ingenuity! These turned out so well, and you will enjoy them for a long time to come. Now you need some books!
I know! I finally have somewhere to put all of my pretty cookbooks 🙂
Beautiful! Love the billy bookcases! We would love for you to come and link up with us at Your Designs This Time! http://elizabethjoandesigns.com/2014/06/designs-time-no-12/
We are featuring your awesome project today at Your Designs This Time! Thanks for sharing!
Emily & Erin
Thanks ladies!
I love this….You did such a fabulous job. I have been eying these for a while now too. pinning yours too because you give such great detailed how-to:) Have a great day!
Thank you! I read so many blog posts about it before I started and I tried to fill in the things I had questions about. Good luck you will love them!
This looks amazing…wow!
Thanks for joining the Link Up this week!
Wow! It looks amazing!! Featuring it on That’s Fresh Friday tonight.
Thanks Kathy! We’ll be there 🙂
Totally love this!! It really does look custom built. Great work. I am going to share this on my favorite things friday over at http://www.hawthorneandmain.com
Thanks Shonee! I absolutely love how they turned out. It has totally transformed the room.
I want something similar in my dining room with space for the window and a bench seat. Thanks for showing us! 🙂
Pinning it!!
Hi Kat – looks AMAZING!
Quick question – when you said you painted it – did you paint the bookcases too (did the paint stick well and did you do a lot of sanding off of the sheen on original bookcases?). I’ve been wanting to do this but wondering about the white of the bookcases matching other trim.
Thanks!
Thanks Matt, no I didnt paint the bookshelves I only painted the trim. I had read about someone else’s ikea hack and they recommended valspar’s chef white as a good match. That happened to be what I used for all of the trim in my house so I tried it and it it looks good. I have seen other people say they took a single shelf to the paint store and had it color matched.
Wow! This is just plain awesome! Pinning to share (and hopefully do in my own home one day too! Love it!
Looks great! We’ve got the bookshelves build & are just about to do something similar around a desk.
Two questions for you – how did you attach the bookshelves to the wall? Are there brackets screwed into studs somewhere? Or did you go thru the side of the bookcases on either end into the walls?
And then a similar question for the 2 1/2 & 3 inch pieces of 1/8 inch wood you ran down the sides of the bookcases – are they just nailed to the face of the bookshelf (flush with the lattice trim used elsewhere on the bookcase) & then caulked to the wall?
Thanks!
Since the bookshelves didn’t reach all the way to the side walls we attached 2x4s to the wall where there were studs and went through the side of the outer bookshelves into the 2x4s (since the sides weren’t perfectly spaced we did have to add some thinner pieces of wood to the 2x4s to fill from the wall to the outside of the shelves). To attach the filler pieces on the ends I screwed a few small blocks of wood into the wall (top, middle, bottom) flush with the edge of the bookshelves and nailed my filler pieces into those. Hope that makes sense let me know if you have any other questions and send a pic when you are done I want to see it!! 🙂
Oh I think you just answered the question I just posted asking exactly this! Haha. Thanks. 🙂
Hi! I am about to embark on pretty much this same project and was wondering about the filler you used at either end – our room is 170mm too wide so there will be about an 80mm gap at either end.
When you used the sheets of wood at each end for the filler, how did you secure it on either side – to the wall and to the book case? Was it flush with the edge of the book case or overlapping on top of the edge? This is a hard question to articulate without diagrams, hahaha. Basically did you stick it to the front of the bookcase and then run it to the wall or wedge it in the gap between the two and secure it some other way…?
Hope this makes sense and you can help me out. 🙂
I stuck it to the front edge of the bookcase and I added a piece of 2×4 (screwed into the outside of the bookcase) to give a bigger area to attach the wood to.
Hi Kat, my husband and I just started the billy-to-built in project. I have a question for you. At the very bottom of each bookshelf, there appears to be a vertical piece of wood/MDF inserted. Did you add those in order to avoid gapping when attaching the 4″ MDF toetick that you installed? Right now, in our project, we have the baseboard nailed across the length of all 4 bookcases, but there are gaps, which would be FIXED with those vertical pieces you added at the bottom of each shelf! Please advise what that material is and how you installed it in there.
Thanks so much in advance. Your shelves look awesome!!!
Hi Julie,
So at the bottom of the shelves I attached 4″ MDF board all the way across (this is what I was referring to as the toekick). This was tall enough to go from the floor to the edge of the bottom shelf. Then I nailed my baseboard to the MDF. Hope that makes sense? Let me know if you have any other questions. I still love my bookcases! 🙂