Thursday, August 26, 2010

Built-in bookcase and Home Theater Unit


Materials: 3 x 15" Billy Bookcases, 2x Billy height extenders, 2 x Billy doors, 2 x Benno DVD Rack, 1 x Hemnes Storage Bench, 1"x2" moulding, crown moulding and baseboard to fit your perimeter, Brad Nailer and nails, Liquid Nails adhesive, level, saw, 1' particleboard screws, caulk and paint

Description: We have an extremely small, 100-year old downtown house that has a teeny tiny living/great room -10' x 10'. Every inch of space counts! We decided that the look of built in bookshelves would be a suitable way to give ourselves extra storage and multi-task while still looking great.

1. Assemble 2 Billy bookcases, including adding the height extenders and put them on opposite ends of your project

2. Assemble the Benno DVD racks and place them against wall beside the Billys (both on the side facing the middle)

3. Trim your 1x2 moulding so that you can build a support ledge starting from the side of the left Billy across the front and side of the left Benno, across the back wall, and up the side and front of the right Benno ending at the side of the right Billy

4. This is the part where you can decide how wide you want your unit to be (we used the whole Billy). If you want it shorter, then you'll have to saw off some length). Assemble the third Billy, nailing the shelves in place on the sides, as this unit will be mounted horizontally

5. Secure the Billys against the wall - make sure they are levelled - and Liquid Nails the Bennos to them. The Bennos go flush against the wall

6. Attach the moulding ledge as described in Step 3, with the mouldings immediately below the height point where the Billy extenders meet the parent Billys

7. With another person, hoist the third Billy horizontally between the height extenders, resting on the Benno tops and ledge that you just installed. Have that other person keep holding it against the wall while you take a few particleboard screws and, using the shelf-mount holes in the Billy extenders, fasten the extenders to each end of the third Billy

8. Install the crown moulding and baseboard to the unit

9. Caulk every single gap on the unit, caulk it to the wall, and remember to caulk the crown moulding to the ceiling

10. When the caulking is dry, paint unit and the back of the wall where the TV will go so that everything looks built-in

11. Assemble the Hemnes bench, leaving out the front panel on top of the drawers. (You will be able to hide all of your home theater/cables/satellite boxes there). Place the Hemnes bench between the two Bennos

~ LittleMy17, Ottawa

12 comments:

  1. I am seriously considering this, but i was just curious, if you don't mind, what did all the parts set you back? (I am trying to justify this with my wife. haha)

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  2. Wow! This looks great! I love your "hacks"! So clever! Thanks for sharing :)

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  3. I really love this, and was discussing a similar solution with my husband for when we redo our little condo. Although that blank space over the tv is a little distracting- it could use some art or some more shelves maybe.....

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  4. Looks like it would cost about $520 from ikea

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  5. wow, this is a great piece of furniture, most of the furniture that i have seen on ikea is too good looking and impressive, it would easily house a plasma screen from 20 inches to 40 inches i guess, very cool thing for storage too

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  6. I love how this looks, I'm definitely gonna get something like this as soon as a leave my flatshare days behind =)

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  7. hi, nice job - i am from germany - i got an onkyo 505 and it is 15 cm high - the tv-Bench box is 15 cm high too. how did you solve the problem with the heat of the running device?

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  8. Thank you everyone for your kind comments!
    -it cost less than $500 in material as I bought as much stuff used as possible
    -the unit houses up to 47" TV
    -the Hemnes bench had the backing left off to wire in and disipate the heat
    -the space above the TV was indeed for future art

    All the Best,
    LittleMy17

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