From Billys To Built-Ins
November 1, 2011
Hey all, hope you had a fun Halloween yesterday! My mister and I spent the weekend tackling a storage solution we’ve been meaning to get to for some time. Up in our little guest studio above the garage (affectionately nicknamed the ‘Garage Mahal’) we finally built ourselves a wall of bookcases to store books and other collectibles.
Years ago, we set up a makeshift media center in the space with some small wood bookcases and a coffee table to hold our dinosaur TV. We finally decided to donate that TV and change the wall to serve a different purpose. I’ve been thinking about IKEA’s Billy bookcases for years, but I was always disappointed with their 11” depth. In October, IKEA release a 15” deep Billy bookcase which finally sold me on the wall to wall bookcase project I’ve been thinking about for years. At last, it’s finally finished!
So long old media center . . .
. . . hellooooo built in bookcases!
I am in love! I’ve wanted a wall of built in bookcases for years, people, years! We finally made it happen for under $400 and in about 7 hours.
We started with four of these 15 inch deep Billy bookcases from IKEA:
We knew we wanted to reuse the existing baseboard along the front of the bookcase wall, so I carefully cut the existing caulking with a Dremel MultiMax and pried it off.
Next, we measured and then mitered the baseboard where the old baseboard piece would fit when set in front of the new cabinets.
The only problem in using the existing baseboard was it was taller than the height of the bottom Billy shelf. In order for the existing baseboard to sit at the same height, we had to elevate the bookcases by 3/4 inch. How so? We simply cut a plywood base with a Skil Saw for the Billys to rest on, perfect!
Once the bookcases were elevated, the baseboard trim fit perfectly in front.
I had to crack up at the IKEA assembly instructions and the little men they use to guide you through the process. Yes, thank you IKEA, two are better than one at assembling these Billys! Once you get the hang of it you can assemble each in about 20 minutes. I confess I was very surprised at the quality of the bookcases too, each cabinet weighs about 100 pounds and the shelves are all adjustable.
The spacing between the four cabinets and the walls turned out to be exactly 2 ¼ inches, which the same exact width of the trim I chose to hid the gaps in between each cabinet and between the cabinet and the wall. How lucky is that?
At any other width, we would have had to choose different trim or run it through a table saw, but luckily I found the perfect 2 ¼” trim x ¼” trim at Lowes to disguise the gaps to perfection, plus the greater width gives the cabinets even more of a custom look. We also added crown molding to the top for a finishing touch using the same technique I mentioned here.
The vertical pine trim was easily attached with a nail gun then primed with Zinsser (I always use oil based primer on raw wood.) I used paintable caulk to fill in any gaps between the baseboard, crown, and bookcase edges. Two coats of paint unified the vertical trim, baseboard, and crown.*
The final issue was providing access to the existing outlets on the wall, so to use them anytime in the future, I just notched their location on the back of the cabinets with a box cutter (not shown).
All four cabinets are reinforced with another long strip of plywood across the top that is the same size as the base piece of plywood. That plywood top is nailed into the Billy’s frame and then anchored to the studs in the wall with ‘L’ brackets so the entire unit is sturdy and there’s no danger of them falling even if little munchkins should be so bold and try to climb on them. The crown along the top hides both the plywood stabilizer and the brackets from view.
Now the real fun begins, how to make them function for us as storage but also look stylish. I’m thinking I’ll definitely paint the back and play off the blues, greens, and yellow in the window panels. Looking at the room now there’s too much white, but this wood pedestal table will help ground the space and provide dark contrast.
How do ya like this fun pair of accent chairs I found at a local second hand shop, aren’t they fab? I love them gloss white but I’m tempted to spray them a bold hue for a fun punch of color like this yellow barstool or this aqua chair.
I’ll be working on styling the bookcases later this week (following most of the tips from this article) and hopefully I’ll have something to show you soon. A blank canvas, how fun!
Cost: four 15” deep Billy bookcases at $69 each ($300 with tax), plus plywood, crown molding and trim: $65
Total = $365
Not a bad price for sturdy wall to wall built-in bookcases completed in a weekend.
* update: many asked about paint colors. The wall color is ‘Camouflage’ by Benjamin Moore and the paint on the trim on the bookcases is Valspar’s ‘Dove White’. Valspar’s ‘Cream Delight’ and ‘Ivory Dust’ are also very close matches to the IKEA white.
** update #2: if you’d like to see how they turned out when styled with books and collectibles, take a peek at this follow up post.
Thanks Apartment Therapy for the feature!!
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Tags: billy bookcase, built in bookcase, ikea
these look great, just what i have been wanting to do in my living room. but i’ve got to ask, how did you get each bookcase fro $69?? online the 15” deep is listed as $99 each, which really adds up when you are buying 4. i loved how low cost it was, but fear mine would not be that price at all….
HI Deveney, are we looking at the same bookcase? My link to the IKEA bookcase (and what I paid) was 69.99, here it is!
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10208467/
Kate
I would have never thought to do this! We moved about 5 months ago and our new bedroom is HUGE! Since we lived in an apartment before, we don’t really have anything to fill the space. We’ve been wanting to do something like this: http://pinterest.com/pin/173845314/ but the thought of building it all from scratch is daunting! Thanks for the inspiration!
How amazing! Looks like completly custom made! Awesome job!
They look amazing! So want to try this :) With regard to a shorter version, there’s a fantastic one made by Ashli at Maillardville Manor in her library. She has done both tall and and short versions in the past, both fab. http://www.maillardvillemanor.com/2011/01/bookcase-tutorial.html
Wow what an amazing idea! We cannot really do this in our rental appartement, but Ill save the idea for later! thnx!
I love this! Are you going to put a TV back in there? If so how?
Great question Barbara, the answer is no, because we’re getting a smaller flat screen and positioning it on another wall. BUT there is room inside for a flat screen TV that’s no more than 30″ wide, so it actually could work inside the bookcases too!
Kate
What a great project! Here’s a tip I’ve collected but have yet to use for painting the insides of bookcases a contrasting color – cheat with painted foam core:
http://recentlytheblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/bookcase-project.html
Love these! Trying to determine if we can do the same for some bookcases I got from an office store a while back. For the previous post about price difference it’s probably the finish – the bookcases are $30 less with the white finish than they are in the other finishes (birch, black brown, medium brown).
Just a question – do you plan on painting all the bookshelves and trim the same colour? Given that the Billy is laminate and not solid wood, I wonder how this doesn’t come off as laminate bookcases with some trim tacked on rather than built ins because of the texture and colour discrepancies between the wood and the laminate?
Love this! I am attempting to do this as we speak but I am lost! How did you get the molding on the top and bottom? There is a huge gap between the molding and the shelf because the bottom of the shelf is not totally flat.. Know what I mean? Please help me!
I would tell you to pick some fun wallpaper and use it as a background on your bookcases instead of painting it. I saw it done on pinterest in a closet – I think it would add just enough color – to make it interesting and eliminate to get rid of some of the white – changing the chair color would be fun, too. I vote for a muted mustard yellow.
Just wondering, are the Billy’s 15″ deep or the 15 and 3/8″ the website shows? I really want to use these as I have been dying for IKEA to have something deeper than 11″ but the wall I want to put them on only has 15 1/4″ depth! I might have to break out the tape and start marking off furniture placement!
Hi Megan! There is a small gap (1/8″ or so) but we filled it with two applications of paintable caulk. You could also use very narrow trim!
Kate
Wow Kate, You really “hit it out of the park” again with this fabulous project. Are you still planning on putting your TV on this wall?? Are you going to make a cut out for the outlet?
Warmly, Michelle
I am totally gonna copy you on these bookcases! I have so many books and unique finds to decorate with and never enough storage. My wheels are turning now in my head as to the perfect spot.
Thanks!
Hugs,
Natalie
Oh my goodness. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We moved into a new built 6 months ago and there are no built-ins flanking the fireplace. It just looks weird. But in pricing companies to come out and do it I realized there is NO way we can swing it in the near future.
I never thought about Ikea. This looks VERY easy. I just don’t know how to use them to flank the fireplace. It’s a bit more complicated that way, I imagine.
I’m still willing to try it though. Guess I’ll be doing some measurements tonight :)
Wow! They look great. What an awesome idea I may just steal it!!! Thanks :)
Thanks for the tutorial! We paid a couple thousand for ours! So, this is way cheaper.
Such a great idea!!! It looks SO good :)
genius. and. perfect.
I LOVE THIS! Wish my husband was a little handier to help me, and that IKEA made bookcases tall enough for our ceilings!
xo,
Angela
These look fabulous!
Question: did you install them over the carpet or did you remove it?
Right over the carpet Kristen!
Kate
Angela;
I live in a 100 year old house with mega high ceilings. Ikea makes these great height extensions for the 12″ deep billy, http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40197392/ , and you can stack multiple ones. This is what I am using for my home, and am building them up to the ceiling.
Thanks Kristen, yes I’ve heard of those extensions! Not sure if they have them yet for the 15″ deep ones so I’m going to check it out, thanks!
Kate
I did it! Thank you for your blog and inspiration, I wouldn’t have done it without seeing and reading this. I did mine under the carpet so that we can go hardwood one day. Also, I couldn’t reuse the baseboard bc it wasn’t tall enough so I didn’t even remove – except where the front baseboard of the cabinet had to hit the wall on the right and left corners. I didn’t use the backs of them and painted the wall navy blue. Also, we wired in sconces and hooked them up to a wireless remote switch. We absolutely love it! Thank you!
Tasha
http://pinterest.com/pin/38843615505796059/
I did it! Thank you for your blog and inspiration, I wouldn’t have done it without seeing and reading this. I did mine under the carpet so that we can go hardwood one day. Also, I couldn’t reuse the baseboard bc it wasn’t tall enough so I didn’t even remove – except where the front baseboard of the cabinet had to hit the wall on the right and left corners. I didn’t use the backs of them and painted the wall navy blue. Also, we wired in sconces and hooked them up to a wireless remote switch. We absolutely love it! Thank you!
Tasha
http://pinterest.com/pin/38843615505796059/
By the way, I used the 12″ deep Billy’s and installation took one weekend. The majority of our time was spent figuring out our lumber. We needed something wider in between each bookcase so we hac to get 1×3 boards, used the same on the floor for baseboard. got creative with the top crown molding and cut it at an angle in order for it to match up better, since it isn’t an inch thick.
Hi there, could you tell me what the paint color match to the white Billy was?
Oh my gosh, this has been a must have on our list for years, and never in my life did it occur to me to do it this way! Thanks a million for this tutorial!
HI Avigail, I listed a few at the end of the post!
Kate
Thank you…this just might work for our library !
Thanks so much for this great idea! We started this project in our son’s room this weekend. It’s looking great! :) I’ve got a question about the painting. Did you sand the book case and shelves down before painting? Thanks so much!
Use fabric starch to put fabric pieces in the back in various colors. Cut the fabric a little larger as it might shrink a little once it dries. Kinda like this post – http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2010/04/fabric-as-wallpaper-in-kitchen.html And paint the chairs – or dip the legs in paint for contrasting color.
No sanding Karen! I only painted the backs of the bookcases and the trim, not the actual bookcases themselves.
Kate
Would you please share where you got your lovely curtains? Thank you!
Hi Stephanie, those are the Gardenia Paisley panels from Pier One!
Kate
hi kate. on the dove white paint, what gloss do you use (flat, eggshell, satin, semi-gloss, etc.).
thanks!
Thanks so much for the tutorial – we just finished ours! Love your blog!
Wow! I will so show this to my husband! Amazing!