Floating Bookshelves – an IKEA BILLY hack

Jules Yap·
Secondary Storage
··33 Comments
floating bookshelves IKEA Billy
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I love this floating bookshelves, IKEA version.

The BILLY bookcases seem to take on a new lightness when hung on the wall. It gives it an almost library-feel to it.

Also, furniture off the floor is the way to go for me. Makes cleaning so much easier, eh.

floating bookshelves IKEA Billy

Karine Schenkeveld and Erik Roscam Abbing from Rotterdam, The Netherlands turns a $59.99 bookcase into a fancy designer object.

How they made their IKEA BILLY floating bookshelves

They tell me, “All we did was cut off the bottom part of the vertical elements underneath the bottom shelf. Next, we mounted nine steel L-brackets per bookcase to the wall. (Comes up to three per fixed BILLY shelf.) Then, we just mount the BILLY bookshelves on to the brackets.

Pretty simple, but everyone thinks we had these floating bookshelves custom made for us.

Some people are worried that they’ll come off the wall. But come on, there are 18 (!) 8cm (approx 3″) screws per floating bookshelf. And the load is almost completely vertical: no problem.”

You may also like these IKEA BILLY bookshelf hacks

#1 Tall Wall-Like BILLY bookshelves

tall cabinet

Roel needed to add some extra storage space in the living room. They came up with the idea to make a tall cabinet at the head of the table, with a more “wall like” appearance. See their tall cabinet hack.

#2 BILLY is for built-ins

built-in bookshelves

Jeff had a really long wall that needed something to separate the games area from the media area. What better way than to introduce more storage and some built-in bookshelves.

#3 Full BILLY wall

full BILLY wall

When you need to fill an entire wall with shelves, BILLY’s your man or bookcase. See the full BILLY wall.

#4 Daybed reading nook from BILLY bookshelves

daybed reading nook

Jessica shares her IKEA hack — a daybed reading nook — made from 4 BILLY bookcases. It’s amazing how it turned out.

Related: See 14 more IKEA BILLY hacks.

 

Jules Yap
Latest posts by Jules Yap (see all)

33 Responses

  4. I did something similar a few years ago. Sorry I don’t have pics, but it was built-in and I lost the house in divorce.
    I used 3 Billy units side by side bolted with L-brackets to studs. I used huge brackets and the largest bolts possible, because the shelves were suspended off of the floor, and I had two TV tables (I forget the model name) under the Billys so that it looked like the shelves rested on the tables. I covered the Billy front edges with moulding and used crown moulding around the top for a built in look.
    The TV went in front of the books on one side. Nowadays it would be an LCD TV or similar, but we just had a tube type flat screen, which necessitated the addition of a small shelf extension under the TV. Looked great!

    Reply

  7. The extra weight of the expedit bookshelf would be negligible compared to the weight of the books.

    In any case, structurally it just depends on:
    1. The number/strength of your brackets
    2. The strength and security of whatever you use to fasten the brackets to the wall, and to the bookcase. (you don’t want flimsy shallow screws)
    3. The holding capacity of the wall. If it’s any kind of solid masonry you’ll be fine.

    As long as you over engineer the brackets and the fastenings – and you’ve got a suitable wall – should be no problem.

    Reply

  8. Thanks for the great idea. We were thinking of doing the same with Expedit bookcases (the square one). Has anyone ever tried it? We are a bit worried because Expedit looks much heavier than Billy…

    Reply

  9. My wife and I recently moved into a new apartment and used this idea for our bookshelves and it is fantastic! (photo: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=67890&id=744933271&ref=mf#/photo.php?pid=1989564&id=744933271).

    When we first picked up the shelves at Ikea, we freaked out as the shelves were so heavy and the original posts did not specify the brackets used. We were starting to doubt whether it will work.

    Well, it worked and we’d like to share our experience. We used 7 pieces of 5″*3″ L-Brackets per shelf. 7 pieces: 2 on top, 2 in mid-tier and 3 to support the bottom. We wanted to put 9 brackets per shelf but our contractor assured us 7 was plenty!

    Look at the photos and you’ll see that the shelves are pretty well loaded and it has shown no sign of any strain.

    Thanks for the idea and we hope this testimony will encourage more people to use the idea!

    Reply

    1. Could you post your photos again (FB photos are inaccessible)? Did you use the L brackets facing up the way the hackers posted did? Thanks. Rachael

      Reply

  10. These bookcases really do look great. reminds me of an acquaintance of mine though who was told professionally that if he took his bookcases down his house would become structurally unsound – then again he did have floor to ceiling bookcases in every room on every single floor of his house.

    Reply

  12. Hi all, here’s a small note from the hackers themselves. Thanks for all your compliments, we’re honoured and proud!

    To answer some of your questions: we did not use the backing. You don’t need it for stiffness since the billy’s are fixed to the wall, and we liked the contrast between the books and the white wall behind them.

    The L brackets are used on the top, middle and bottom shelves, with the vertical part of the L facing upwards, the horizontal part underneath the shelves (fixed with small screws). You don’t see them because of the books in front. Since there are nine brackets (3 for each shelf) with two large screws each, the brick wall is strong enough. With a dryboard wall you’d have to use the metal or wooden studs, but I’m not sure we would have dared this.

    We used the extra top shelves to stress the height of the room by the way.

    we will send some close-ups of the brackets.

    Cheers, Erik and Karine

    Reply

  13. Wow, amazing. I love this hack. I can see that the backing was not used in the bookcases. My question is, were the brackets specifically hung on studs or because so many brackets were used that studs were not needed?

    Reply

  16. The most beautiful hacks are often the simplest.

    This does so much for that room – they fit perfectly, make the room even more classy and allow the parquet floor to really show off.

    This is one of the best I’ve seen recently – possibly perfect!

    Great job!

    Reply

  19. It shouldn’t be a problem if the right size bracket were used. And they should be screwed securely into the wall studs.
    The spot lights are perfect for the space too!

    Reply

  24. If you look closely at the larger version of the picture you can see that the bookcase backings were not used. Therefore there’s no need to cut holes for the brackets.

    As for hiding them, there’s no need as long as you put books on your shelves. 🙂

    Reply

  25. ditto previous comment.
    wish there were pictures of the actual brackets and bracings that were used. I can’t see them at all in the picture, and I’m wondering where ALL 18 screws were placed.

    Reply

  26. This looks great! I’m not sure I understand how the L brackets were used. Can you post a close-up? Did you have to cut an opening in the back through which to slip the “L”? Is the “L” screwed to the bottom of each fixed shelf? If so, how do you disguise it so that it isn’t visible?

    thanks!

    Reply

  30. I LOVE this inspiring idea! I can’t tell if the bookcase backings were used. If they were, you’d have to create an opening for the L bracket part that supports the fixed shelf.

    Reply

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