7 IKEA BILLY Bookcases Transform This Living Room Corner into a Bookworm’s Fantasy
Credit: Kelsey Mansingh Credit: Kelsey Mansingh
Credit: Kelsey Mansingh Credit: Kelsey Mansingh
Credit: Kelsey Mansingh Credit: Kelsey Mansingh
ABOUT THIS BEFORE & AFTER
HOME TYPE: House
PROJECT TYPE: Living Room
STYLE: Colorful
SKILL LEVEL: DIY
RENTAL FRIENDLY: No
If you’re a voracious reader, you might find yourself in the same predicament as Kelsey Mansingh (@newbuild_newlyweds), whose books were piling up in closets and in cabinets and on random shelves. She needed a proper spot for all of them.
“I always wanted to live out my Belle from Beauty and the Beast fantasy and have my own library!” Kelsey says, and she used a sitting area in her split-level home to create a reading corner. It was a $1,500 project — “not including the books, haha,” Kelsey says — made with IKEA BILLYs and a bit of paint.
The project uses 7 BILLY bookcases.
Kelsey and her husband, Ryan, stationed seven IKEA BILLY bookcases (both the 31 1/2-inch version and the 15 3/4-inch version, plus extenders) around a corner to create their cozy setup. “We just removed the old trim and baseboards to be able to truly build in these shelves,” Kelsey says. “Once the old furniture was out and we assembled the IKEA shelves and put them in the space, it made the space feel so much bigger.”
(She wishes her ceilings were just a smidge taller so she could add a bookcase ladder, but that part of her Beauty and the Beast fantasy will have to remain fantasy — for now.)
Kelsey says making the bookcases look “built-in” was easier than expected. “We just added a bunch of decorative trim, and it really elevated the look from IKEA to custom,” she says. “We used IKEA shelving before to build a built-in pantry, so we were familiar with the process.”
Paint was the real difference-maker.
The trickier part of the project was prepping the shelves to add deep navy paint (Sherwin-Williams’ Sea Serpent), but the dramatic paint color made the biggest difference, according to Kelsey. “It totally elevates our living room,” she says.
Kelsey and Ryan sanded the shelves, and filled in the peg holes for a more finished look, and applied BIN Zissner Shellac primer before actually painting — but Kelsey emphasizes the importance of all the elbow grease. “Without the prep, the paint would have chipped and flaked away off of the IKEA laminate finish,” she describes.
The cozy reading corner has one more DIY project, too.
The big round seating in the space is Sixpenny’s Neva Round Daybed, and one of Kelsey’s favorite details in the reading corner is the stacked book table. (She found it secondhand for about $40, even though similar options are selling on Chairish for about $600.)
Best yet, Kelsey personalized the side table a bit. “I found it at Goodwill and hand-painted the books to look like my different books,” Kelsey says. “I used tracing paper, a mini projector to trace, and freehand painted the designs on the books! It’s the perfect spot to set my drinks and snacks on.”
Now she can curl up with a good book in a highly stylish spot. Happy reading, Kelsey!
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
Further Reading
I Tried the 90/90 Rule and My Closet Is Now Fully Decluttered
We Tested (and Rated!) All the Sofas at Pottery Barn — Here Are the Best for Every Type of Need
