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DIY Ikea Billy Bookcase Built In Bookshelves

DIY Built in Billy Bookcases IKEA

Good morning friends! I am especially excited about sharing today’s project with you all for several reasons. One, because it involves books! Books! I love books. But we’ll get to that later. Two, because it is a project that represents a point where we are at with our remodel that I was never sure if we would make it to. We are finally at a point where we can start putting in things out of desire, not out of necessity and function. We are past the point of “I need to kitchen sink so I can wash dishes”, and onto the point and I need a bookshelf because it’s pretty and I want one.

So yes. The beginning of a new era here in our house! We are super excited to be where we are at. That doesn’t mean we’re done, we still have one and a half bathrooms and a master suite left to go but we’re at a point where we can slow down and focus on some fun stuff for a bit which is exactly where I want to be.

So, anyways. Back to books. One of the hardest things about living in a remodel zone was the amount of things that we had packed away. It was simply was not feasible to have lots of things out when we were living in one tiny room or two tiny rooms at a time while the rest of our house is a mess. So we literally had one room stuffed full of boxes over the last year and a half that we haven’t been able to open. It’s been a fun exercise in minimalism, but boy was I glad when we finally got to unpack everything! A lot of it we gave away, a lot of it we threw in the trash and we kept a lot as well. There was plenty of stuff to go around! Here’s our room of boxes….don’t be scared we are not hoarders. Promise. :-O

scary room of boxes

My favorite boxes to unpack? Books. Glorious, beautiful, wonderful books. If you’re not into reading, then you might not get it but let me try to explain it to you like this. What most people think of for entertainment- movies or video games, books trump all of that for me. Ever since I was a kid I’ve always loved reading. I have always been the kid sitting at the dining table or the doctors office or wherever with the book and my nose stuck firmly in it. Much hasn’t  changed since I was a little one! I still find myself staying up till 4, 5 AM because I can’t simply wait to find out what happens in the story. So finally going to unpack the boxes of books that I missed so much was a big deal for me. Kind of like welcoming home long-lost friends.

But before we could really unpack the boxes, we needed a plan. And I’ve had the last year and I have to think about exactly what I wanted. And my husband is sweet enough to indulge in and agree with me. We’ve taken one of the spare rooms in our house, and turned into what we call my studio. This is a place where I will paint and draw and craft, and most importantly be able to read and store all my books.

Y’all this is my favorite room I’ve ever done. Ever. I can’t wait to share it with you all, but let me start with the beginning, which is the wall of bookshelves. So we also painted this room white, to match our bedroom. Another clean blank slate. This room will have plenty of color from curtains and paintings to all kinds of fabrics and crafts materials, and of course the lovely wall of bookshelves. Yup, I now have an entire wall of bookshelves. It is so wonderful.

What we did was buy some IKEA Billy bookshelves (2 that were 16″ wide and 2 that were 32″) extenders and four because we knew we wanted to floor-to-ceiling look. I actually went by myself to pick them up- I hauled them all on the cart (they are HEAVY), and paid a man to load them in my car for me. I did this the eve of the Icemagedon here in Dallas, so we could spend our blizzard-week working on this project.

Billy bookcase

So we spent an evening putting together bookshelves. Honestly more Scott then me. He has a lot of patience for this kind of stuff. I was too busy trying to decide what order to put everything in and planning how to decorate it all. The next weekend, when I flew to Philadelphia to visit my best friend, Scott put the bookshelves on the wall. He also took all these photos for me to share with you all…without me even asking. <3

DIY Built in Billy Bookcases IKEA 2 DIY Built in Billy Bookcases IKEA DIY Built in Billy Bookcases IKEA

He fastened them not only to each other but also to the wall, so they are super secure. I’ll tell you all a secret. The wall that we put the bookshelves on doesn’t have any drywall behind it. It’s actually where the old entrance to the bathroom used to be before we converted it to a hall bath from a jack and Jill. Shh.

Securing bookshelves 2Securing bookshelves

We wanted them to look more like built-ins and less like IKEA, so he added baseboard and crown molding. Scott said he learned a lot about crown molding, and how difficult it is. We’re planning on doing, molding in other parts of the house, so as we get better at it we can share what we learn. For now let’s just say it’s hard and even a math teacher himself says involves way too much math. 😀

Adding Crown Moulding to Billy bookcase 2 Adding Crown Moulding to Billy bookcase

We had an electric outlet on the wall that we wanted to be able to access, so Scott carefully used a template he created to trace and cut a hole into the bookshelf it self.

Electric outlet in Billy Bookcase 3 Electric outlet in Billy Bookcase 2Electric outlet in Billy Bookcase

We took one of the bookshelf to Home Depot and had them match the paint. They use the machine to do it, and created a custom color. We got a high-gloss finish and it turned out to be an absolutely perfect match. You literally can’t tell that the baseboard and molding was separate. So that’s how we turn the blank drywall-less wall into the most beautiful wall in our house. Come back tomorrow to see a couple other finishing details we did, as well as how I organize my books! Which is really the best part. 🙂

Any other book lovers out there? Is it weird that I already feel like I need a second wall? Too greedy? 😀

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Tania Griffis is an accomplished writer, blogger, and interior designer with a Journalism degree from the University of Oklahoma. She started her popular blog, Run to Radiance, in 2011, demonstrating her design expertise through the personal remodeling of six houses to millions of readers across the globe.

Tania also owns The Creative Wheelhouse, a respected ghostwriting agency for bloggers, further showcasing her talent for creating engaging and informative content.

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11 Comments

  1. oh gosh, i would love a house with endless bookshelves, but every time i read a good book i simply give it away — doesn’t leave me with too many books for the shelves, does it? or i would just end up with a terrible book collection. anyway- your shelves turned out great 🙂

    1. Jennifer you can totally send me your books anytime! 🙂 I will totally admit to being a book hoarder if it’s a good book!!!

  2. Pingback: The Studio Reveal!
  3. I totally need to make mylsef a list.. .and then win the lottery so I can do everything that needs to be done. I have boxes still from our move (LAST February!)

  4. Hi Tania!

    I see this was done almost a year ago – I hope you’ve gotten a lot of enjoyment from your bookshelf wall.

    We seem to share a love of books, and the problem of parting with them! LOL Building a bookshelf wall would definitely solve my storage issue. Right now most of my books are in boxes. But if I had a wall like this, I could put them on display.

    I’m so glad I came across your blog on someone’s pinterest board. Finally a solution to my book-storage problem!

    Love and Prayers,
    Brenda

  5. Hi! I’m in Phase 2 of making an island with Billy shelves. What did you do to fasten the shelves together?
    Thanks! Love the look!

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