Julie in Chicago had a problem. She was looking for an inexpensive way to tackle closet organization and like most, her searching landed her at IKEA. She wanted to use the Billy bookcases, but couldn't justify paying $30 extra for colored bookcases when she could spiffy up the white ones for less! Although we've seen the backs of bookcases papered before, we learned a new trick from Julie, click through to see what it was!
After Julie applied her paper to the backer board she went over the top of it with contact paper. We think it's a great way to give your colorful addition some longevity. Paper can wrinkle with humidity over time and by covering it with the contact paper, you've locked the color in and the water out!
We love the idea of bringing a bit of beauty to the closet and think this is a great way to do it. It's a perfect way to start your morning off when getting dressed and think it's money well spent. You can read more about Julie's Billy Makeover from her blog and hear the step by step instructions on this great little project.
Thanks Julie!
(Image: Julie Mack licensed for use under Creative Commons)
Apartment Therapy's Sofa Shopping Guide
Nikki’s Sweet and Cheery Print Studio
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sprout Side Table
5 Things Paris Taught Me About Travel
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
I can actually think of tons of projects where this process could work- in fact, I've been scouring stores for pretty shelf liner when I could have been using this technique all along- thanks Julie!
We did something similar with wood grain contact paper to create a wardrobe for our son's room.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/denbow/2888031093/in/set-72157607377990514/
Wow! Thanks for the post, sarahrae!
Anyone know how contact paper holds up on a bookcase such as this, but covering the outside? Might be a good resource to buy the white one and cover it with different paper for an all over pop!
Laura
grafxnerd.tumblr.com
Laura, I had a straight lined desk covered with contact paper as a kid ( a long time ago, maybe the adhesives now are better...) and it peeled. It looked nice for a while, but the edges slowly loosened, lifted, got dust underneath which stick to the adhesive, and then the plastic curled, looking pretty bad.
So I'm not so sure it would work to cover shelves, either, unless you weren't worried about this, or you had some brilliant idea about edging to hold the contact paper in place beautifully. (I'd suggest paint -- Kilz primer, and any kind of paint.)
(If you line the backer board before assembly, the shelves and edges of the cabinetry hold the edges of the contact paper down, so the problem is less likely...)