Built In Billy Bookcase

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.

Built in billy bookcase. Diy arched bookshelves by juniper home. One of the most important steps in turning billy bookcases into built ins that look and function like built ins done from scratch is anchoring them to the walls and or ceiling. Building the diy ikea billy bookcases we purchased three of the ikea billy bookcases built them and spaced them out evenly along the wall. The problem was i never quite managed to turn them into the built ins of my dreams.

How to make a built in billy bookcase step one. I don t want to go off on too much of a tangent but the reason was two fold. Interior designer jenny on her blog juniper home shares how you can create this expensive look using mdf and billy bookcases. These billy bookcase built ins totally changed the room.

If you are new here let me fill you in real quick of what i am working on right now. Built in arched bookshelves are one of those lovely features spotted in multimillion dollar homes. In my build i extended the bulkhead that was already existing in the basement. First i built a base for my bookcases.

How to build a built in billy bookcase. A base elevates the shelves from the floor and gives the entire piece a feeling of substance. Every model in the billy series also features adjustable shelves so you can fit anything from books to trophies and everything in between. We spaced the boards out 11 25 inches in order to eliminate any wasted space.

Let s take a look at the different ways you can make a billy look like a legit built in. The base is built out of a 2 4 frame with interior studs to support the plywood top of the base. Huge built in bookcases are incredibly expensive so i decided to save money by using ikea billy bookcases and just adding molding to make them look built in. You do not want them to move after they re installed and having them flush to the wall gives the most polished professional look.

So i headed off to ikea bought a huge pile of ikea billys brought them home and assembled them. The challenge requires us to makeover a room in 6 weeks well it s only five weeks as we reveal the room on the 6th week. I love to take the challenge as i. 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.

Take a look at all the details including her inspiration piece. I am going to add a quick preface here. And one of the most impressive ways we ve seen people hack the billy is to actually make a series of them look like built in bookcases. I am a linking participant of the one room challenge hosted by linda from calling it home.

From there we cut boards and nailed them in between each bookcase.