Welcome back friends! I'm going to show you how easy it is to transform a space by hacking IKEA Billys to look built in. Our dining room in our fixer upper felt like a total afterthought in the floor plan- a random space with a light fixture above it in the big great room. I wanted to make the space feel purposeful and anchored and needed a LOT of storage for our books, homeschool supplies, and miscellaneous kitchen and dining items. Here's how we made over our dining room with IKEA Billys:
We started with four Billy Bookshelves and added Extenders on the top. It took us some adjusting to figure out how we wanted to space the Billys, then anchored them all to the wall when we got them where we wanted.
After many Billy hacks over the years, I've decided that the best formula for making them look built in is a combo of Trim + Spackle + Caulk. PS- Here is another IKEA Hack we did in our last remodel.
We trimmed out the sides, top, and bottom of these Billys and caulked around the trim. We also spackled every hole (only do this if you are set on where your shelves want to be).
I used my trusty paint sprayer (such a great investment) to paint the shelves and doors Natural Tan by Sherwin Williams.
Initially I ordered (and painted) full Oxberg Doors and after hanging all of them decided I hated it (big bummer- will have to figure out how to use them a different way). We then ordered half doors and I liked them much better.
Here is the final reveal:
