New Bookcases

[Martin]

sock monkey - what kind of shelves are those? Where did you purchase them? Gorgeous!

Not meaning to speak for him but they look like Billy Bookcases from Ikea.

[Sock Monkey]

Not meaning to speak for him but they look like Billy Bookcases from Ikea.

sock monkey - what kind of shelves are those? Where did you purchase them? Gorgeous!

Yep, it's the Ikea special! The bookshelves are the Billy Bookcases, with the added glass door and height extensions with glass doors as well, which I think makes a big difference in the appearance. The lights are the Urshult LED cabinet lights.

I also upgraded the door knobs. The glass doors come with pretty plain peg knobs so I switched them out for these silver ones. I was on the fence about how they were going to look as I was afraid it would be too modern looking, but I'm really glad I did as they match well with the LED lights.

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The middle display shelves are the Bottna display shelves but they only come in beige, red, blue, and green (kinda weird choices, I think) so I bought three and spray painted them an oil rubbed bronze color. I also trimmed some black furniture pads and put them on the shelves' lip to give a little cushion for the books to rest on.

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Overall, though they took quite a bit of time to put together, I'm really happy with the results.

[Martin]

Yep, it's the Ikea special! The bookshelves are the Billy Bookcases, with the added glass door and height extensions with glass doors as well, which I think makes a big difference in the appearance. The lights are the Urshult LED cabinet lights.

I also upgraded the door knobs. The glass doors come with pretty plain peg knobs so I switched them out for these silver ones. I was on the fence about how they were going to look as I was afraid it would be too modern looking, but I'm really glad I did as they match well with the LED lights.

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The middle display shelves are the Bottna display shelves but they only come in beige, red, blue, and green (kinda weird choices, I think) so I bought three and spray painted them an oil rubbed bronze color. I also trimmed some black furniture pads and put them on the shelves' lip to give a little cushion for the books to rest on.

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Overall, though they took quite a bit of time to put together, I'm really happy with the results.

I have my den partially converted to these bookcases and I love them. Unfortunately the ceiling in my room is just a tiny bit too short for the extensions. I have LED lights inside the cabinet and a glass shelf for the top shelf. The doors do a great job of keeping the books from collecting dust. At some point I will get the rest of the room converted to these as well.

[Brian861]

Wouldn't mind upgrading to that setup myself. About how many books does it hold, Keith?

[khaos]

Thanks for the info. Yours look great. I've been contemplating a set of these in white for my new library. I like the doors on yours, never thought about going with them.

[Ben Staad]

Nice choice on bookshelves. I have always drooled over those shelves. Are they fairly easy to assemble?

[Brian861]

Nice choice on bookshelves. I have always drooled over those shelves. Are they fairly easy to assemble?

I've heard that they are/can be a PITA to assemble.

[Sock Monkey]

I have my den partially converted to these bookcases and I love them. Unfortunately the ceiling in my room is just a tiny bit too short for the extensions. I have LED lights inside the cabinet and a glass shelf for the top shelf. The doors do a great job of keeping the books from collecting dust. At some point I will get the rest of the room converted to these as well.

I looked into the LED lights for the inside of the cases as well, but my wife kinda nixed it. I kept adding a little more and a little more to the bookshelves and the cost wound up getting to the breaking point. Still kinda wish I had gone with them though, at least for the three display shelves.

[Sock Monkey]

Wouldn't mind upgrading to that setup myself. About how many books does it hold, Keith?

Each bookcase with extension will hold roughly 200 books plus or minus depending on size of books. That's also if you don't use a whole shelf for the display shelves like I did.

[Martin]

I looked into the LED lights for the inside of the cases as well, but my wife kinda nixed it. I kept adding a little more and a little more to the bookshelves and the cost wound up getting to the breaking point. Still kinda wish I had gone with them though, at least for the three display shelves.

I have a display shelf at the top of each and only have the lights above the those shelves.

[Sock Monkey]

I have a display shelf at the top of each and only have the lights above the those shelves.

Oh nice! I bet that looks really sharp.

[Sock Monkey]

Thanks for the info. Yours look great. I've been contemplating a set of these in white for my new library. I like the doors on yours, never thought about going with them.

I went with the doors mostly because of dust issues but I also think that doors on a bookcase just look super nice. There are a ton of hacks on the internet for Billy bookcases that will spruce them up quite a bit especially if you aren't putting doors on them and are willing to do a little extra work.

Here's picture of one of those hacks that I really like:
Billy-bookcase-ikea-hack-french-doors-via-smallspaces.about.com-56ead0de3df78cb4b97bbe50.jpg

[Martin]

Oh nice! I bet that looks really sharp.

I have never snapped any photos with the lights. Will try to get a few this weekend.

[khaos]

I went with the doors mostly because of dust issues but I also think that doors on a bookcase just look super nice. There are a ton of hacks on the internet for Billy bookcases that will spruce them up quite a bit especially if you aren't putting doors on them and are willing to do a little extra work.

Here's picture of one of those hacks that I really like:
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Yeah. I've been stuck between doing some of that or going crazy and seeing if I could build something. In a better world I'd get my dad to help but I'm better off not talking to him. I'm lucky that I have two decent sized walls I can fill with shelves but that also means more cost to buy them. All my wife's wants for the new house come first.

[TacomaDiver]

Nice choice on bookshelves. I have always drooled over those shelves. Are they fairly easy to assemble?

I've heard that they are/can be a PITA to assemble.

Every bookcase that I've owned has been IKEA Billy bookcases and I've never had any issues putting them together myself. So I think they're pretty simple.