I love, love, love books. They are all over my house – and not necessarily in a good way. Prior to my new floors kicking off a huge makeover of my living and dining rooms, I had 3 little folding bookshelves from Target along the living room wall.
Cute, but not quite cutting it. Not only were these bookshelves full, but there were also shelves full of books in the family room, the craft room, and the guest bedroom. Not to mention, there were even more books stuffed in drawers.
I have wanted a wall full of bookshelves for years, but it wasn’t until I saw Censational Girl’s built-ins made from Ikea Billy Bookcases that I felt like I could really make it happen.
Unfortunately, there isn’t an Ikea near us, so this project began with a three hour road trip to pick up bookshelves. (Any good reason for a road trip is awesome in my book). From there, it was actually pretty easy.
I knew from the start that I wanted to paint the backs of the bookcases to give them a pop of color. So I went ahead and painted them before putting the bookshelves together – which I highly recommend. Zero taping or cutting in edges required. I used a small foam roller to lightly roll on one coat of primer and three coats of blue paint. I was a little nervous about painting these since the backing is basically glorified cardboard, but I stuck to thin coats and it worked just fine.
After assembling the bookshelves, we moved them into position and basically followed Censational Girl’s tips from there. We don’t have a nail gun, but an old fashioned hammer and finishing nails worked perfectly for attaching the trim to the bookshelves.
Trimming the bookshelves made a huge difference. They went from a bunch of prefab bookcases shoved together to a custom-looking cohesive unit.
We originally planned to have these stretch wall to wall. But the placement of some outlets and the vacuum system led us to change our arrangement a little. There are now about eight inches between each side and the wall but I don’t think it affects the overall look much.
*Update – since sharing this post, I have gathered my confidence and turned my Billy bookcases into true wall-to-wall built-ins and now they look even more amazing!*
I may just have to get fancy and start calling this room the library. I have ALWAYS thought it would be the coolest thing to have my own library. You may be thinking that one wall of bookshelves does not a library make. But I think, in this day and age, a whole wall of books and no TV totally qualifies a room as a library.
I cannot wait to gather my books from all over the house and start arranging them! (Okay, so let’s be real – I am planning to leave plenty of room for pretty stuff too.)
*Check out this post to see the bookcases styled and filled!*
Barbara says
The bookcases look GREAT! The color gives a nice pop! I can’t wait to see how you fill them up! I have built ins, and not loving what it looks like right now.
Diane Cayton-Hakey says
I am not a fan of Ikea, but these look superb! Great job!!
Anonymous says
Great job!
kfickey says
These look wonderful!
Michelle says
Amazing! I would love that much space! Thanks for sharing! I am visiting from Southern Lovely and I am a new follower! Hope you have a great day!
Michelle
http://www.delicateconstruction.com
Christina {Designing by Numbers} says
Loving that hit of blue in your bookcases!
Argh, you’ve totally re-kindled my urge to re-do my billy’s – I have been wanting to make them look more like built-ins for SO long, but keep putting it off. Unfortunately I have WAY more painting to do with them since I picked the dark brown colour and now want a more subtle gray. Glad to know that painting the back worked well though – that was a BIG worry of mine!
Thanks for sharing – can’t wait to see them all styled up in your new library ;-)
Take care,
Christina
http://www.designingbynumbers.com
angie says
Beautiful! My favorite room in the IKEA showroom is the library room. Wonder if hubby would have a fit if I turned the living room into a library.
B is building a house says
The bookcase in your library looks beautiful!!!!
Have an amazing weekend!!!
B
Nelda says
It looks awesome! You will definitely have a library room now.
Samantha says
I love the color blue! It gives a great pop! Found you at TT&J :)
Cindy says
Your wall of bookcases is beautiful! I can’t wait to see it full of books and pretty things!
Hugs, Cindy
Hartwood Roses says
We used Billy bookshelves for a built-in library look for two walls of our home office. They’re great! Yours look beautiful.
Eve says
great idea! i dont know why so many people arent a fan of ikea! i think they have affordable prices and nice stuff!
im also passionate about interior designing.. check out my blog:
http://www.evedeko.blogspot.com
Karen at Bargain-ista.com says
These look awesome! Can’t wait to see them all styled up! I need to re-think my overcrowded bookshelves…
Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co. says
Oh this looks great! I’ve always wanted a library too! I think this qualifies!
Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co. says
Oh this looks great! I’ve always wanted a library too! I think this qualifies!
Daisy says
Oh, these look great! I am thinking of getting some Billy bookcases to create a library/reading room in my home but figured the white would look a little too stark. The blue looks wonderful!
[email protected] says
This is soooo coincidental it scares me! I was looking online last week at painting floors and ended up here with your BEAUTIFUL artwork of paisley and sweat :) However…. Tonight, I drove to the IKEA an hour from here and was just following your posts to see what other ideas you had that I might fall in love with and stumbled on this! All I can say is wow … I’m thinking I need some apricot backsplash on those white book cases! Thanks!!!
Lisa R says
My son was just telling me about the shelves at Ikea. He was telling me I should do this in my house. He loves it there and just got a great deal on table and chairs for his apartment
sibabe64 at ptd dot net
Carrie says
They really do have some fantastic deals.