I showed off these fabulous IKEA bookshelves my Dad recently built for us in this post HERE...If you missed it, this was just a blank wall in our living room. This post has the step by step tutorial of how to build these bookshelves using IKEA Billy Bookcases (or similar inexpensive bookcases). They look just like built-ins and provide great storage!
After they were built, I decorated and styled them and I showed them off in this post HERE.
A year or so later, I painted the room a darker color and now the shelves really pop. You can read about that update HERE.
Since I didn’t actually do most of the hands-on work, I suppose it is easy for me to say how simple this is, but this project is certainly simple compared to building a wall of shelves from scratch.
A quick recap if you missed the first post: I’d been dreaming about building these shelves since we moved in our new home. At one point last year, I showed my Dad a picture of some shelves that were similar and asked if he could help me with the harder parts of construction. He basically showed up one day with the lumber and did the entire project for me himself; I sure am one lucky girl!
Here is the space I started with. This picture is from our move-in day before we had the room painted pale gray. This is the home’s formal living room just inside the front door, we use it more as a quiet reading/library space since formal entertaining isn’t high on our list these days.
Sources are linked throughout and listed at the end of the post.
What is nice about the space, which is open to our foyer, is that the walls already created the perfect “niche” to put shelves in. I had two shelves already from my former home office so I picked up two more tall Billy bookshelves from IKEA.
How to Build Built-In Bookcases from IKEA Billy Bookshelves
To figure out how to best use the space, the picture below shows how we did the math. I measured the space in between the walls, in our case it was almost exactly 12 feet, or 144 inches, then I subtracted out the width of the bookcases which are 31″ each, or a total of 124 inches. That left me with 20 inches of open space to cover over with trim, so I knew we would need five 5″ boards on the ends and in between each shelf.
Once I had that calculated, I just had to figure out the top part of the shelves. I knew I wanted to go as close to the ceiling as I could, and as luck would have it I found out you can purchase Billy Shelf Extenders from IKEA to make the standard bookshelves taller. FYI–You can also get some IKEA items on Amazon to make life easier, Amazon also carries a generic bookcase here (just be sure to check and adjust the measurements).
This is the shelf we used (four of them) in case you aren’t familiar with them. If you don’t live near an IKEA, again these shelves could be a good online substitute, but check your measurements!
We added them to the top of each shelf which added another 14″ to the height of the shelves and made such a huge difference. You can see them below with the additional height, which got them much closer to the ceiling.
Here is how we {by we, I mean my Dad} built them.
I should add that to do this job, again these shelves and again these shelvesare helpful in addition to other basic tools and painting equipment.
He started by building essentially a rectangular box to set the shelves in to keep them steady and in place.
We also pulled the molding off the wall, then saved it to use again once we were done.
We did not cut a hole in the back of the bookshelves for the outlets, although you certainly could.
From there, he set the shelves in the base, spaced evenly, and then secured them to the wall.
Once they were secured, he cut and painted the boards to “build” them into the walls. All the boards came from the molding and trim section at Home Depot. Below shows how he secured the large top board to the ceiling and the bookcases. This front board was later covered with more molding so the gap above it didn’t show.
Just a quick note in here about why you don’t see lights along the top of these shelves as was my original intention. My father, who spent his career as a Fire Chief, was not going to let me drop extension cords behind the shelves to run power to the lighting along the top!
Before we started building, we hired an electrician to come out to place a new outlet at the ceiling on top of the shelves so we could plug the cords into it directly. However, our home was built during the early 2000’s building boom, and our builder used a construction technique rare in single-family homes known as “pre-cast” construction. Essentially our house doesn’t have traditional studs, but rather our exterior walls are solid concrete. It’s nice for our heating bills, but it makes it pretty much impossible to run a wire up the wall behind the drywall.
After about 100 holes in the wall and a hefty electrician bill, we gave up on the lighting idea. I think they look nice enough without it.
Here is a closer shot with the molding boards tacked on. He gave everything a coat of paint prior to nailing it up, then everything got another coat of paint at the very end. (Tip: you can take one of the shelves in to the store and have them tint your white paint to match exactly)
After all the construction was done, we caulked the gaps, then I spent an evening spackling all the little tiny holes in the sides of the bookshelves. The spackle will pop out if I want to arrange the shelves differently but it just made them look much more finished.
Here is a “finished” shot of them {minus some touch-up areas}. Aren’t they beautiful?
And again, here is my Dad who gets all the credit for this project. I bet he’ll run for the golf course or the baseball field for sure the next time I say “So Dad, I was thinking about doing this project– would you like to help?” 🙂 but in the meantime, I am so grateful that he did this for us. If you have questions, please leave them in the comments, and I’ll ask ‘the man.’
Update: More recently we painted and restyled the room, you can see how it currently looks in this post HERE.
See the other posts on this project : The How To Build Them and The Final “Styled” Reveal!
Here is an easy-to-pin image so you can remember this project for your next open weekend!
You can also see how I used Billy bookcases to build additional shelving under the counter in our kitchen HERE.
If you would like to see more of our home, here are some other posts:
2 Years of Projects {Recap} Updating a Builder Home
DIY Mudroom from a Coat Closet
{You can follow more of our DIY projects via the buttons under my photo!}
We also offer a FREE Printable Whole House Home Decor Planner to help you organize and simplify your home decorating process. Simply click HERE for more information or to receive your free printable planner.
XO,
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