I’m Totally Stealing the Brilliant $25 Idea in This Gorgeous IKEA BILLY Hack

I’ve written about lots of IKEA hacks for Apartment Therapy, and I definitely have some favorites. One of those favorites features an IKEA classic: the IKEA BILLY bookshelf. 

In this hack, DIYer Dalia Aly couldn’t find a media console long enough to fit what she was looking for, so instead she created her own by flipping two 79 1/2-inch BILLY bookcases on their sides and connecting them together. The tweak is so simple, yet so brilliant!

The major selling point of this hack is that it saved Dalia about $1,460, as she couldn’t find anything off-the-shelf for under $2,000 and her custom project only cost her $540. Another advantage? The walnut color of the shelving was stylish as-is, so she didn’t have to waste any time painting it (easy peasy). But my favorite part of the IKEA BILLY hack is all the way at the bottom.

My favorite feature is an enhancement that’s actually not from IKEA, but rather H&M Home: the wooden bowls used as feet. It’s uncanny how good the two wood tones look next to each other, and how the $25 bowls give the piece a new (totally expensive-looking) style. 

The exact 2-inch-tall, 8 1/4-inch-wide Dalia bowls are now out of stock, but you can find similar individual bowls from Crate & Barrel or on Wayfair as a set. 

For those wondering how, exactly, four hollow bowls can support an approximately 55-pound bookshelf, not to mention the approximately 30 pounds of goods it can hold (Dalia hides all of hers behind OXBERG doors), don’t worry — the BILLY legs provided by IKEA are actually still there.

For her custom oversized feet, Dalia drilled holes in her bowls so they could thread through the legs and completely cover them. “The bowl legs were almost exactly how I wanted them to turn out,” Dalia previously told AT. “They gave me the exact look I was envisioning!”

I don’t have a BILLY to try this on (or space for a super-long console), but I do have a loveseat I scored on Facebook Marketplace with some black chunky legs that get the job done but don’t scream “stylish” (and unfortunately I can’t stop staring at them). 

I’d prefer rounded furniture feet, and if I don’t find something sculptural I can screw into the bottom of my sofa directly, I might try Dalia’s bowls-as-feet method.

For more furniture feet project inspo, check out these IKEA BLANDA bowls-turned-coffee table legs.