DIY Built In Bookshelves from IKEA Bookcases
A step-by-step tutorial for how to make professional looking DIY built-in bookshelves using IKEA Billy bookcases for vertical storage.
If there is an Olympic event for building IKEA furniture, I think we just took home the gold medal. Because we just went all Billy DIY built in bookshelf crazy up in here.
Our playroom /media room makeover is officially underway for Week 2 of the One Room Challenge! (If you missed Week 1, you can check it out here.) This is definitely one of the biggest projects we’ve ever done- besides our faux fireplace, wood beam doorway, concrete countertops, kitchen cabinet painting…
Okay, you know what? I lied. This is our regular ol’ Saturday shenanigans. Our neighbors think we’re crazy.
UPDATE: See the full playroom makeover reveal here!Â
UPDATE: Because we loved this IKEA Built In Bookshelves project so much, we did it again. See our other IKEA DIY Built In Bookcase here.
The number one priority in our playroom has been built-in vertical storage to help with all of the art supplies, little toy parts, books, and all the rest of Olivia’s clutter that tends to get scattered all over the house.
Robert and IÂ thought about building from scratch, but it was going to take way more time and money and know-how than we felt we could give this monster of a project.
The IKEA Billy bookshelves built-in method has been done plenty of times all over blogland; we definitely didn’t invent this one. This is just our version since there are endless ways you could configure them.
Our playroom is exactly 214″ wide, which is the measurement I used to figure out exactly how many bookcases we would need to buy to end up with around 4 or 5 inches on each side, so if you want to do them yourself, you’ll need to crunch the numbers to decide for the size of your space.
DIY Built In Bookshelves Using IKEA Bookcases
Supplies: Â
- 4 32″x80″ Billy bookcases
- 4 Billy bookcase height extenders
- 2 32″x42″ Billy bookcases
- 1 16″x42″ Billy bookcase
- 8 Oxberg doors
- 2 2x4x8 stud boards
- 2 1x6x8 pine boards
- 3 1x2x8 pine boards
- 2 1x4x8 pine boards
- 3 3.25″ interior baseboards
- Circular saw
- Jigsaw
- Power drill
- 1.5″ finishing nails
- 1.5″ wood screws
- White trim caulk
- Tape measure and pencil
- Wood shims
- Square tool
- Hammer
- Semigloss paint (I took a small shelf from a bookcase to Sherwin Williams to get the IKEA white color matched. Behr Ultra Pure White matches IKEA bookcases perfectly.)
After we went on our bookcase building bonanza (say that 5 times fast) using the IKEA instructions, we moved the bookcases around until we found the center of our wall and ended up with 4 inches of space on each side. Once we were happy with their placement, we used the anchors the came with them to set them on the wall.
Then, we got to making them actual built in shelves.
The Steps:
- We built a box using 2×4 boards and wood screws on the right side of the bookcases since we only had a half wall to secure it to. And we mounted the 2×4 box on the wall.
2. Using the circular saw, we cut a pre-primed 1×6 using the exact measurement of the width between the bookcase and the wall and used finishing nails to secure it to the 2×4 box. We nailed the bookcase to the box too.
3. When cutting the 1×6, we used a jigsaw to notch out a space for our existing baseboard. We didn’t make it perfect since we knew caulk could fix the gap later.
4. Then, we measured and cut another piece of 1×6 to sit on top of the 2×4 box to make it flush with the half wall and secured it with more finishing nails.
5. We did the same on the left side of the bookcases, only instead of building a box to make a shelf like we did on the half wall, we nailed a 2x4x8 board directly to the wall and nailed up our 1×6 board on top of the 2×4 to make it flush with the bookcase. Then, we ran nails through the side of the bookcase to secure it to the 1×6.
6. Once the sides were done, we used wood screws at the base of the bookcases to attach them even more securely to the 1×6 boards.
7. And we used wood screws at the base of all of the bookcases to secure them to each other.
8. To connect the bookcases to the ceiling and fill in the gaps at the top, we made headers using a 1×2 piece and screwing it into the top of a 1×4 piece the same length of the bookcases’ depth. Then secured it to the outside top of the bookcase with finishing nails.
9. We did the same on the front of the header to mimic the Craftsman style molding we have around our windows. If you wanted to do this step with a more traditional crown molding, you definitely could, but you would need a miter saw to cut the angles.
10. After the top was finished, we went ahead and attached our Oxberg doors.
11. And we attached our baseboard to the base of the bookcases. We ended up having to shave off a quarter of an inch using our circular saw so that the doors could close, but if you didn’t use doors, you wouldn’t have to worry about that part.
12. We ended up with some pretty big gaps at the bottom to accommodate for the doors, so we used wood shims between the base of the bookcase and the baseboard.
13. And we caulked like crazy. Caulk is a carpenter’s best friend, ya know. You can’t even tell there used to be a gap there.
14. After the caulk was dry, I painted all of the caulk lines, filler spots, and boards with the semigloss paint I had color matched to the IKEA white. It blended perfectly!
So now we have this wall full of fabulous storage possibilities. Ooooh ahhhh.
These shelves are rock solid.
We still have a couple of spots we missed caulking and the stairway/ half wall side still needs to be painted, but other than that, we’re on to the next phase in this playroom.
Next on the list is putting up our reclaimed wood wall that will add some pretty texture in here, since it’s still currently a sea of white. I heart contrast!
Those plain wood crates will be getting a staining job too, but I put them up there just to get an idea of how they’d look.
You might be able to see a sneaky peek of the desks we’ve been working on too, but I’ll share more about those later.
Our window is just one more coat of paint away from being totally framed and pretty, and our builder grade light fixture has already been taken down so that we can install our ceiling fan. (I shared all of the fans I’ve been considering in yesterday’s post.)
I’m SO excited to see how far we’ve come already, but I know it’ll be the finishing touches and little details that will slow me up later.
Are you starting to see it take shape? Have you ever installed built in bookshelves before? Or done a fabulous IKEA hack? Or won a medal in IKEA building? I’d definitely watch that race.
If you want to save this post for later, you can pin it here:
Frequently Asked Questions
Behr Ultra Pure White is the closest match I have found though for the best match, you can take a shelf or drawer front to any paint store to have color matched.
Use a hole saw bit on a power drill to cut into the shelves where you need to run cords through. If your cords will be exposed, you can hide them with cord covers.
Wow! Lauren, I am so inspired by this project! I would love to try this in our basement. My children have outgrown their “playroom” and this might be perfect for updating their room into more of a “hang-out” place for them. Thank you so much for sharing your creativity!
Thanks, Lynne! We’re hoping this playroom is more a hangout for the whole family and grows with our little one too. 🙂
I’m carefully watching every move 😀 I have a room just the same in my home and I think your built-ins wall will be perfect for us too! I’m hoping that you’re about to add reclaimed wood in the big space in the middle of your shelves.!! It’s a look I saw on pinterest that I fell in love with. Has your little lady bug already sorted her treasures into the cupboards?!
Have an awesome day 🙂
Yep! We just installed the reclaimed wood yesterday and it looks AWESOME! I can’t wait to share the update about it soon. 🙂 No treasures in the cupboards yet but she’s discovered those are her new favorite hiding places. Thanks, Min!
Wow! This project turned out fabulous! I’m sure that storage potential is very exciting. I’d be absolutely giddy over that much storage potential. Great job!
Thanks, Angie! SO giddy!
Lauren I’ve wanted to do this so bad in my living room but my hubs has banned me from any more big projects since we are selling the house. Love love love
After this one, I think I might have to ban myself from big projects for a while. It never ends, does it? 😉
Beautiful Billy Bookcases! I love reading your blog and your practical ideas. Such a pleasure! Can’t wait to see your finished room.
Thank you, Mary! That means so much to me!
Spectacular job so far, you two. Without even seeing the finished room, it’s impressive. Cheers, Ardith
Thanks, Ardith!
This looks great! This gives me an idea for R.B.’s storage needs!!!
Good job Lauren & Robert!
Thank you, Mary! It was so great seeing you the other week, despite the circumstances. Hope all is well!
You are my hero, Lauren. That is all.
Haha! Thank you, Kelley! Buuuut you’re my hero. 😉
The room is coming along beautifully. I really enjoy watching all the progress you and your husband have done. Its going to be a great playroom for the whole family. Can’t wait for the reveal!
Thank you, Shari!
Have you heard of http://www.myoverlays.com? They make beautiful unpainted “overlays” to put on doors, drawers, whatever. They really jazz up the plain lines of IKEA furniture. I painted a Malm nightstand bright pink, and painted the overlays a bright orange for my daughter’s boho room makeover.
They also make overlays for other furniture as well. I wasn’t sure if the doors on your Billy bookcases werre IKEA.
I have heard of those! That’s a great idea. Thanks, Karen! 🙂
Hi, Lauren-
It looks great! I have a couple of questions that have come up as we plan for our shelves. Did you sit the bookcases on the carpet or did you trim it back? Also, did you fill and paint all of the extra holes that make the shelves adjustable or just leave them? I couldn’t tell from the picture. How would you allow for electrical cords and all of the cables that go along with an entertainment system?
Thanks very much for your input. I love all of the work you have done to make your house a home. I also love that you and your hubby do it together!
Cheers,
Kris
Thanks, Kris! We set ours on the carpet. We didn’t fill the holes since we wanted to keep them adjustable but you definitely could if you wanted. For the electrical cords, we actually will be drilling a hole in the top of our middle bookcase and running it down to the outlet. We left the backing off of the shorter bookcases to still have access to the outlet and cable box and just caulked the seams and painted the back wall with the matching white paint.
Could you possibly also share the paint formula? I have the same bookcases but having the formula to give SW would be a huge help.
HI! So sorry! This is from our first house. I no longer have the information. :/
These look amazing. Great job.
Thanks, Marty!
I cannot wait to see the finished project. Amazing so far.
Thanks, Linda!
Lauren it looks really great.Just as good as if you had done them from scratch and no one is the wiser. Those tables are also looking mighty fine, looking forward to the room progress.
Thank you, Mary!
I always had the impression this sort of project was a big undertaking but you make it look so easy man! I’ll definitely be saving this for when we someday have a big fun space to put it in 🙂
Wellllll, it was a pretty big undertaking but we just cranked up the radio and made a date out of it. 🙂
I love this look. Impressive for a lot less work than building your own. Can’t wait to see what’s next!!
Thanks, Amy!
Beautiful, they look custom!
The “bones” of the room are coming together!
Thank you, Shelley!
I love this so much! Looks like they were always there. you guys did a fantastic job(and definitely deserve a medal for that!). Can’t wait to see how the rest turns out!
Thanks, Hope!
Wow, these turned out fabulous! I love the idea of staining the crates and can’t wait to see this space finished. And those desks are going to look so good against the crisp white built ins!
Thanks, Katie! Can’t wait to see it all finished. 🙂
They look great–I can’t wait to see the final result!
Thanks, Karen!
Hey there. Mind sharing the total cost (materials) for this project. We’ve been debating something like this for a while. Now that we see it, we’re definitely going to build it. You guys did amazing (and inspiring) work.
Awesome! Thank you!! I am so glad you decided to go for it. 🙂
I have a major question! What are Oxford doors and where do you purchase them? Your work is amazing and such an inspiration to others. Thank you for sharing all the love you’ve put into your home. 💕
HI, Brenda!! Thank you for following along. I am so glad you enjoy the journey. Oxford doors are textured and with a design. You can get them at home depot or Lowes.