By Corbin
housetohomediy.com
The first step is to remove the baseboards and carpet. You will not want to build something like this on top of the carpet. To remove the carpet I just used a utility knife, but I know there are also special tools that you can use to make the job easier.
Step 1
After the carpet and baseboards were out of the way we started building the base that we would place the billy bookcases on. We have an 8-foot wall and the billy bookcase is only 6 1/2 feet tall so we decide to put them on top of a 6-inch platform to get them a little closer to the ceiling.
Step 2
Assemble the billy bookcases. We decided to shave off the back of the bookcases and use some smooth 1/4 inch plywood for the backing. This is completely optional, and honestly, if I were to do this again, I wouldn’t shave off the back.
Step 3
Next, we need to build the support to attach the bookcase to the wall. This is what gives them that “built-in” look. We took a common 1x6x8 and attached it to the side of the wall. Then we used 4 pieces of scape wood to bring the support 11 inches wide.
Step 4
Screw in your bookcase to the sides of the supports that you just built.
Step 5
It is time to start making those bookcases look built-in and beautiful. Start first by adding MDF board to the baseboard. The base is 6 inches high so we just got a 6 inch wide MDF board and slapped it on there with a brad nailer. Because we wanted our base to stick out a few inches we covered the top 2 inches with MDF board as well.
Step 6
Add MDF trim to the shelves for a thicker more custom shelf look. You can use whatever size MDF you choose, but we went with 1 1/2 inch.
Step 7
To fill in the gap between the ceiling and the bookcase we used the 3/4 inch birch plywood. We attached these pieces to the same board for the bookcase.
Step 8
We took a little bit of a lazy route for the crown molding. We kept it simple with a single piece of MDF across the top. Like I said this is kind of a lazy/easy way to do the molding. Don’t forget to cut your end at a 45-degree angle for clean joints.
Step 9
Now it is time to fill in nail holes with some spackle. If you have any nails that are sticking up a bit a recommend using a nail set to the nail flush with the wood. After all your holes are dry go through and give them a lite sand with 220 grit sandpaper.
Step 10
Use paintable caulk to fill in all the cracks and joints where you attached the MDF boards
Step 11
Paint. I recommend using a paint sprayer for this job. We ended up painting with a roller and brush, but it would have been so much better and faster if we used a paint sprayer.
Step 12