This week we are doing something so fun, we are renovating my office and creating Billy Bookcase built ins! We are using the Billy Bookcases from Ikea that I was waiting for forever to get back in stock and we’re DIY-ing them. This is our first ever woodworking experience ever! All of the things that we are doing besides maybe painting, we’ve never done in our lives. I’m going to take you along with me!

Before:

Before we created the built ins, the wall behind my desk was just plain white with no bookshelves or anything. We received all of the Billy Bookcase pieces by delivery from Ikea and we are ready to get them going!

Prep Day:

Today is like prep day, so I’m heading Lowe’s to get a bunch of paint! I’m going to do a slate blue, paint a sample on the wall, and test it out! That way, I can see which one I really like and then get it approved by Cam because I want to go a little crazy!

3 blues secured! They actually look very similar on the lid of the sample containers but look very different from the pieces of paper. We’ll see once we get it on the wall! Let’s give it a try!

Back home and here are the paint swatches! Cam and my favorite front runner is called Leisure Blue and then we also got Secure Blue and Inky Blue, all from Sherwin Williams. 

Day 2:

I cleared out this room and I’m freaking sweaty. I’m going to sample the three blue colors up on the walls so I can swatch them and see what we like. 

Okay so here are the three colors! I felt like they looked pretty similar like with the tiny tap on top of the lid but now they look very different here. 

I was leaning very much towards one of the blues but now seeing them up on the walls, I am leaning towards a different one now. The first one is very classic but the one I’m leaning towards now is a little more fun.

Assembling the Pieces:

Juan and Shelby came over to help with the prep and start assembling the Ikea pieces! Of course, Bella was involved and was the best girl ever. You can see in our videos, we assembled all of them successfully and put them on the wall! WOO!

Day 3:

Yesterday, basically assembled everything from Ikea except for the doors that will go on the front. We bracketed them into the walls, and basically that’s it. So that was step 1 and 2 out of a 12 step plan Billy Bookcase Built Ins plan that I laid out, haha!

Today, I am going back to Lowe’s with my dad and we are going to get all of our final supplies. We need things like caulk, a lot of the wood that we’re going to use for the trim, and paint primer.

I’m actually pretty scared to go to Lowe’s, that’s why my dad is coming with me. There are a few things that we need to get that I’m just afraid that they’re going to ask questions about it, like why do you want to do this and I don’t know, I need them to cut some things so we will see. 

I’m also nervous about all these things because it’s all very DIY. It’s like, I pieced this together and what I think will work best, so we will see if it works. 

We’re back at Lowe’s! In the meantime, Juan and Shelby filled the nail holes, sanded, and built the side support while Cam and my dad later cut the arches. They also cut the trim pieces!

Day 4:

So we finished the trim pieces and are beginning to work on the pieces around the window! We had to bring in Cam for the math components, of course. 

Cam & I had to leave to go to a mini session and while we were gone, Shelby, Juan, and my dad finished all of the trim pieces except for the baseboard! WOOHOO!

Day 5:

The next piece of our steps were to sand the doors and get them ready to paint! Bella hung out with me on the porch and enjoyed the sunshine while I sanded. I caulked all the pieces and got everything ready to paint!

Today was a massive day, we finished wood filling all of the nail holes, we sanded literally everything, we wiped everything down, and then we caulked everything. So Cam’s mom, Amy, and my dad, Roger, were over and did all of that. And everything got taped in order to paint! I just need to do a little touchup of one area and then I’m going to prime everything. It’s 9:40pm, we just got home from a rough kickball game but I need to get this on so that it can dry overnight. That way, we can go to a wedding tomorrow and then Amy and my dad will paint the first coat on it! 

Fast Forward 3 Days:

We were at a double header this weekend, but the first day Amy painted the first coat and then my dad painted the second coat the next day. Last night, I painted the last coat on the doors and let me show you what it looks like!

Thanks for tuning in to our DIY Billy Bookcase Built Ins vlog! Stay tuned for the full styling of my office on our channel, see you soon!