After an IKEA BILLY Hack, This Room “Immediately Looks Much Cozier”
This project combines two popular DIY trends: an ever-popular IKEA BILLY hack and a DIY curtain to conceal clutter. DIYer Marleen Dicks (@studio_dix) was looking to give the BILLY bookshelves she’d had for awhile a glow-up.
She purchased the shelving secondhand from eBay, and “unfortunately, it didn’t look nice anymore,” she says. “The paint was chipped in many places, and the white color had faded and lost its appeal.”
The BILLY bookcase got a paint makeover.
Marleen sanded and painted two 31 1/2-inch wide units and a 15 3/4-inch-wide unit periwinkle (Shelfmade’s Arctic). “I sanded everything down once, and since I was a bit lazy, I painted the bookcase as a whole without taking it apart,” she says. That made the process faster, she says, but she might not do it again the same way.
“I think I would take out the individual shelves and paint the frame separately from the shelves,” she says. “The sanding was very exhausting. Since I didn’t take the bookcase apart, I really had to twist and bend to reach all the corners.”
Marleen’s other IKEA BILLY painting advice? If you don’t have the patience for thorough sanding, go with a quality primer. “Otherwise, the paint will be more vulnerable to damage,” she says. “It’s important to let each coat dry thoroughly.”
A curtain can conceal clutter.
Marleen attached a white IKEA BEKRÄFTA curtain rod to the top of the bookcase so she can drag her linen curtain over the top to conceal clutter, if necessary. (After all, those adorably styled shelves are bound to fill up over time!)
“The room immediately looks much cozier,” she says of her project. “It makes me happy every single day.” The paint cost about $35, and the curtain rod is $20, so in total, it’s a $59 stylish storage upgrade.
Inspired? Submit your own project here.
> Have a question about the DIY project in this apartment? Share it in our Community forum.