DIY Built-In Bookcase

I love to read. I love books. I love bookcases. At one point when I was younger I owned 800 books which were all in my bedroom. Yes I counted. So now that I have my own house with many rooms I have wanted a built-in bookcase for a while. And our new wall in the office seemed like a great place: no windows, good size, in the office, and visible from the living room.

I pinned this tutorial from Censational Girl at least six months ago. It uses the Billy Bookcases from Ikea which are $60 for the standard size. There are a lot of Ikea hacks out there using the Billy which is a great price and pretty solid/sturdy. Easier and possibly cheaper than building from scratch.

So six months ago (all my projects take a long time) I measured my space and figured out that I needed 5 of these bookcases. They do sell extender shelves if you need to make your bookcase taller but luckily (at least for this project) the ceilings in our office are lower than elsewhere in the house so I didn't need any extenders.

At this point I figured out it would be $318 (with tax) to buy just the bookcases. Which isn't bad. But I waited a bit to save some money.

I then had the idea to look on Craigslist for the bookcases...There always seems to be a lot of Ikea stuff on there. This would be my first time buying anything on Craigslist but I thought it was worth a shot! I looked at least once a week and in April I found three of the bookcases from one person. I bought two more at separate times in June and July. And at last I had all of my shelves. Now obviously this took a while to find all of them...But it worked for me because I wasn't in a rush. And by the time I was done I had all 5 bookcases for $165! Half the price! Well worth all the time waiting.

And finalllyyy the project started...

The bookcases come with cardboard like backs. All the tutorials I have seen, the people either used the backs as is or painted the backs. I felt like since I was painting the room anyways I might as well just paint the wall. This seemed easier then having to prime and paint the backs. Also they are kind of flimsy so I thought the actual wall looked better. Now one thing I didn't think of was that the backs actually slide in so there is a gap on the sides of the bookshelf where the back is supposed to slide in. But you can't see it unless you are up close and it doesn't bother me.

After we put the bookcases together and put them in place we needed to buy trim to frame it all in. Here is my very technical drawing that only I can understand.

Yeah...That's why my husband is the one who draws not me. Basically we needed flat trim for in between all the bookcases and molding for the top and bottom. We bought the pre-primed stuff and ended up spending $105 on the trim and paint (Valspar Dove White which Censational Girl used as well) bringing the total project cost to $270!!!

Ta da! So much better already. Before putting the trim up Pascal used a LOT of L brackets to make sure the bookcases were sturdy and tight against the wall. Pascal used his finishing nailer to attach all the trim and then caulked all the gaps. 

We also got some quarter round to add at the bottom and some smaller trim for the top to cover gaps between the molding and the shelves. 

Bookcases completely built in! I spent like 4 hours painting all the trim...I might have also been watching a Criminal Minds marathon on a rainy Saturday while Pascal was at work so that is why it took me so long.

I wanted the bookcases to go all the way to the ceiling but there is a stupid vent there foiling my plans. But even with the gap I think it still looks good. 

So far I think this is my favorite thing in the house!!! Once we had all the bookcases it took us two weekends to completely finish this project. For $270 I think they make a big impact.