How We Turned IKEA Billy Bookcases into Custom Built-Ins
Turning our formal living room into a more user-friendly space has been a dream for years. Although we prefer to hang out in the family room, I wanted a separate space when we entertained adults who brought over their kids. Due to my COVID-19 furlough, I went into full project mode that included painting and constructing custom built-ins with IKEA Billy Bookcases!
After a few weeks of work, that including painting the wall from red to white (we’ll talk about that later), we created a set of built-in cabinets that turned out better than I imagined. We talked for years about where we would finally place bookshelves for our many tomes, not to mention, how exactly we would create the shelving.
Let me tell you, my favorite places had options that were so out of budget, I cringe just thinking about them. As all DIYers do, I turned to Pinterest because, of course, someone would have hacked them. That is when I came across the world of hacking IKEA Billy Bookcases.
Yes, hacking IKEA furniture is legendary, but the number of these affordable bookcase hacks is astounding. The biggest selling point, the ease of each creation, no matter what the layout.
FYI, before you go any further, this is not a step by step guide…seriously, there are so many hacks out there, I pieced together what worked for us.
Your own needs, space, and budget will dictate your configuration; there are so many Billy options. For our space, we used two tall bookcases (79.5″ tall) and one short bookcase (41.5″ tall). To get the built-in look, spacing between each bookcase is crucial. I simply measured the length of the wall and divided by the width of the bookcases; they are all the same width, so it was easy.
Except my light switches are so far over to the right, they really shortened my usable space. Sure, there are hacks where their mad electrician skills just cut a hole into the wall, rewired, and moved them over. Yeah, no.
But anyway… first, the red wall had to go. Pretty much right after it was professionally painted, I no longer liked it. When we first bought the house, all the living room walls, up the stairs, down the hallway, even the ceilings were a color I can only describe as a terra cotta burnt orange. Not to mention it had at least 13 different paint styles, from sponging to cloth swiping. Sigh. So the orange had to go.
Yada, yada, yada, one wall ended up a cool red…we’ll call it my ‘accent wall phase’…and nowhere near what I wanted. I had yet to learn the whole ‘bring lots of paint chips home/paint sample section first/color changes in different light’ lessons. My hatred grew over the years; I’ve rearranged and changed the furniture and decor so many times in this room…the above incarnation was years ago.
So, back to painting. I learned the dreaded color peek through before when going from a dark color to a light color…let’s just say turning blue walls white was another ‘do your paint research lesson.’ This time, I came prepared.
Quality primer + quality paint = success. Under no circumstances, if you are going from dark to light, should you skip a primer. Not a paint with primer….although my paint of choice, Behr Marquee in Ultra Pure White, was a 2-in-1. I first tried it on its own…peek through. My many, many, many agonizing hours of research all pointed to the same thing, start with Zinsser Bulls Eye Primer and Sealer.
As you can see in my photo, I did a sample with a layer of primer, then paint. The primer alone was wonderous in covering most of the red. Also learned…white is not white. See that paint chip? It is one of many…I had every version of white paint chips I could get my hands on. Eventually, I settled on the Ultra Pure White. Depending on the light in your room, (which is due to one large window in ours), I wanted maximum light reflection to brighten.
Don’t flinch at the light covers…they were a project casualty. I installed new ones.
So far so good….
I won’t bore you with details like how to build the IKEA Billy bookcases and anchoring to the walls (straight forward) or measuring the spacing and trimming the wood to fit (gotta have a table saw). I will give a quick suggestion; when building the bookcases, mark the location of the middle shelf on the back of your bookcase before you insert the solid white panel. Since you are nailing it into place, mark the level of your shelf to ensure the nails go into the middle shelf. You don’t want them to nail through the top or bottom of the shelf.
The TV needed a shelf to sit on since the small bookcase top is narrow. We cut a piece of plywood to fit the top.
I will say the crazy side of me insisted on small details that I know drove the husband insane. But he indulged. Like the way the TV shelf stuck out; we don’t have the ‘cut it all in one piece’ skill. He cut the little pieces by hand with a small cutter to wrap the edges. I glued them on and caulked to blend in.
Or spending a large amount of time argu…figuring out how to make powering the TV/gaming console/lights. Our outlet is not behind the smaller bookshelf and I didn’t want any cords showing. Originally, the gaming console was going to be on the first shelf of the smaller bookshelf. But, to not have a jumble of cords, we would have to drill through the top of the bookshelf. We ended up using another piece of plywood and wood pieces to build a second shelf that the TV would sit on and the gaming console below.
And figuring out how to cut the hole to access said power. Books will cover this up, so I wasn’t too worried about the look.
I don’t know how Chip and Joanna do this all the time.
I used the same paint color as the walls for painting the add-ons. There is many a debate out there about color matching to the bookcase. I had no problems with the Ultra White.
Why yes, I did kick it old school with the miter box for the trim. Apparently, our table saw couldn’t handle it. Neither could I…so I ditched the plan to wrap all the sides with nicely mitered corners. Straight cuts, it is. I was a little disappointed it didn’t have the finished look I wanted. Let’s face it, I don’t even pretend to handle cutting power tools well, much less a giant hand saw and a plastic box.
I also learned the nail set and caulk are my best friends. The nail set drives the finishing nail below the surface of the wood and caulk fills the hole for a seamless transition. See? You can teach a mature dog new tricks.
Also from IKEA, Ranarp lights! They can clip to the bookcase or if your trim is too wide, it converts to a mounted version.
To finish customizing your bookcases, just about everyone suggested covering the shelf holes with spackling or putty. I’ve added that to my future to-do list.
I have to say, the lights are truly my favorite part! There is something about spotlighting that makes a room…for a better word, sexier?
We absolutely loved how it turned out, even though it was quite a bit of work. Learning new skills, and stepping out of my comfort zone makes me even more proud of this project. Finally, I have joined the ranks of turning IKEA Billy bookcases into their more expensive counterparts.
Now, styling and pulling it all together is another post for another day. Or two. Here’s a hint…they will be fall and Halloween inspired!