Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.
If you’re constantly running out of storage space but don’t have the budget, or the joinery skills, to build something bespoke, this clever IKEA BILLY bookcase hack I just completed might just be your answer. It’s proof that with a little imagination (and paint), even the most ordinary flat-pack can be transformed into something stylish, practical, and completely your own, without breaking the bank!
I’ll admit that I previously attempted (and failed) at making my own alcove bookcase, from scratch, out of MDF sheets. The bookcase I built was very practical and gave us ample storage. However, on closer inspection, it didn’t function very well - the door didn't close properly and the shelves weren’t even level! So I learned my lesson, and knew that when we moved house, my next bookcase would be an IKEA hack.
You won’t believe that this hack was done without any power tools! We inherited four BILLY bookcases from the previous owners and I knew instantly that this was my chance to recreate my version of Belle’s bookcase! This is a true amateur DIY guide - so if you’re a carpenter, please look away now! What follows is less about precision cuts and perfect joins, and more about doing what it takes to achieve the bookcase of your dreams.
The best way to start any IKEA hack as I’ve mentioned before, is of course by priming the units. Zinsser’s BIN, in my opinion, is the best primer to use when painting laminate. If you’re worried that it’s shellac based, you’ll be happy to hear that there’s a water-based version now too (Zinsser BIN Aqua). I used the shellac-based version on this occasion - as with all prep work, this step took the longest. Once they were all individually primed, I secured them by screwing the units together.
A little tip for if the bookcase isn’t as tall as your ceilings: IKEA sells little extension boxes to fit on the top. These were also left by the previous owners and at first glance I thought they were cubby holes; what a revelation it was when I found out they were extension units to the BILLY bookcases. Now, seeing it as a full unit, the vision was all coming together.
To achieve that built in look, I added coving as cornice to the top and wood moulding to the front. I used a mitre box to cut the coving and tried (but failed again!) to scribe them so they sit flush against the coving in the room. Thankfully, the bookcase is in the corner of the room and you’ll have to stand at an awkward angle to truly see my mistakes…or the gaping hole between the bookcase coving and the room’s coving.
As for the wood moulding, I tried using mitre shears to cut them down to size but that didn’t work so well either. If I had to do this again, I would stick to a simple saw. Once they were cut, I installed both the coving and wood moulding with Hard as Nails.
Finally, paint. I have to say my best decision about this hack has to be the colour I chose for it - Mouse’s Back by Farrow and Ball, in Dead Flat. It’s the perfect colour for a cosy but masculine home office for my husband. The colour changes from green to grey in different light. To minimise brush marks, I added a little paint conditioner, Floetrol, to the paint, and it makes the unit look like it’s been spray painted!
I honestly think this might be one of the simplest IKEA hacks I’ve ever done - no power tools, no complicated steps, just a few easy tweaks that make a surprisingly big impact. Don’t get me wrong - this took me a few weeks of evening/nap-time slots to accomplish, but I’m still in love with it, and how I can change the look using well placed decorations at any time.
More importantly, it’s the kind of project that proves you don’t need a workshop full of tools to create something that looks completely custom!
