Over February vacation this year I had Andy embark on quite the project. We had this wall in our living room that is absolutely perfect for something like this. It’s funny it definitely takes a while to truly live in a home to see what you could do or what changes are potentially able to be made. One day last fall I was looking in our living room and I was like “wow’ this wall really has potential to have an entire bookshelf on it. We also have soooo many books and by we I mean Andy so we were running out of places to put all of them. So I knew this would be such a practical addition.
If you look into having a professional come and possibly install and make a bookshelf similar to this from family members I know that have done something similar you are looking at upwards of $5k + depending on the size and complexity of how you would like it to look. With that in mind we knew to keep the cost down making one on our own would be the best option. I had seen so many people on Instagram do the Billy Bookcase hack from IKEA and I honestly could not believe all of the different variations and options that could be done.
Below are photos of what the wall looked like before the bookshelf was installed.
This is a video of what the wall looked like before Andy added the Ikea bookcases. The gallery wall was great however I just always felt over the years that it was missing something. It lacked a wow factor and something that really tied the room together. By adding these bookshelves I really feel like this room is totally complete now.
Okay so how did we do it? Here is a breakdown of the different steps we took in order to build it from start to finish. The first thing Andy did was build all of the IKEA Billy Bookcases. We got four of them. Here are the exact ones I ordered. As I mentioned I got four of these Billy Bookcases. Here is the link for you to reference. They were $69.00 each.
Then, I saw a lot of different posts on Instagram of people adding doors to the bookcases as well. I thought that was a great idea for storage and additional items such as seasonal decor and toys to hide away. So I ordered these Oxberg doors and they were $25 each. I got four of them in total to put on two out of the four bookcases. I love the way they turned out.
Here is a breakdown of everything Andy bought from Home Depot along with photos of everything that he purchased for the bookshelf.
IKEA Bookcase & Door’s Total Cost: $428.50 (This includes tax and the delivery fee)
Hardware for the doors: $112 Rejuvenation Hardware (I had to buy four so we had one for each door)
Home Depot Purchases: $230.40 All of the items that Andy purchased for this bookshelf I have pictures of and quantities of above. Keep in mind though we do have Home Depot ProX which allows you to get discounts on all products.
Lighting: $37.39 each x4 =$149.56 (They often have sales on these and they are marked down significantly. Remember these are battery operated and do not need to be hardwired.
Plugs for the lighting: $38.99 this is the lighting kit we used to get the lighting we ordered installed and they work really well.
Decorative items for shelves: $260.93 I included a whole bunch of different items I think would look great on a bookshelf if you are in need of some inspiration. Keep in mind a lot of the items that I got for the bookshelf I did already have to style it so the only really new pieces I incorporated were the white vases from Target and the woven baskets.
Wood Bowl|Rim Vase|7″ Vase|Scalloped Candle|Monstera Plant|Storage Basket|LED Picture Light|Scallop Frame|Vintage Sailboat Photo|Seagrass Basket|Ceramic Lamp|
Caulking: $3.98 each Acrylic Latex Caulk
Paint: $75 a gallon of this with a primer (We told the guy at Sherman Williams we were painting a bookshelf and he made a concoction for us that went on so well. Chantilly Lace OC
TOTAL COST: $1,299.36
Next week for part 2 I will get into the nitty gritty of how Andy built it and some of the tips and tricks he advises.
