top shelf

We have had the idea to add book cases in our study FOREVER!!!  The room needs a little somethin somethin and we needed more storage for books and things.  It was just a matter of making it to IKEA to get a great deal on their Billy Bookcases.  Just google Billy bookcases and tons of blogs pop up with great ideas on how to make them look built in....and we tried too:)

Here's the study before...don't mind our sweet arm lawn chairs:)

The bookcases were super simple to put together.  Well, I am assuming because Joe put them together one day while I ran errands.  I came home to this beautiful sight, so to me, super easy!!

Just to clarify  we had enough space to buy 2 standard bookcases and two extensions for each one so they almost reach the ceiling.

We cut the floor board using a grinder so that we could get a snug fit as close to the wall as possible.  This process was intimidating but we finished in a couple of hours.  We just cut the caulking with a blade and used a hammer to pry apart the board from the wall which made easy access to slice the board in the right spot.  

Vacuuming down there was so satisfying!!!  Gross how many creatures can fit into those tiny spaces so we even sprayed the area a little too!  Take that!!

We goofed and cut the back base boards too which was unnecessary because the bookcases allow for floor boards on the back...oh well.  We even had to cut our window sill too!

The bookcases fit almost perfectly and Joe caulked the outlines so they look seamless to the wall.

Before caulking, however, Joe painted the back wall mint.  We chose not to use the backing that came with the shelves because we wanted that spare inch of room for larger books and things.  We do think that using the back would make it look more built in though:)

Here's how they turned out!!  I can't tell you how much it adds to the room...there's color, height, and lots of storage!  It felt good to get rid of 3 boxes of books:)  Next on the agenda is to add molding to the tops. Wish us luck!!