Materials: 2 Billy book shelves, plywood (1side finished), trim, crown molding, miter saw, jig saw, table saw, drill, screws, upholstery foam, fabric, thread and sewing machine
Description: I knew Ikea could help us 'cheapen' our built-in plans. With my super smart and talented husband our end result looks like we paid big bucks to a professional!
To replicate:
- Put Billys together, position in desired location
- Use large 'L' brackets to add window seat connecting shelves
- Add face of windowseat (ours covered a radiator so we used a jig saw to make an opening for a tin mesh section to let the heat thru and a space for the bottom to 'breathe'
- Box out top with miter saw and add crown moulding
- Add trim to the face of the book shelves for a more custom/substantial look
- Our shelves came with drawers on casters (that I couldn't find on Ikea's website, maybe they aren't the Billy or have been discontinued)so we added trim to the bottom of them to balance the visual weight of the crown moulding
- Prime and paint
- Cover cushion in desired fabric
Enjoy!
~ Lauren
Wow! The end result indeed looks expensive and custom-made. Lucky you have someone handy in the house!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful job, I love it!
ReplyDeleteThis truly looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteThat looks STUNNING! I am a little confused by your directions—is the seat then supported by the heater? Would love to see more up close pictures of the window seat and details.
ReplyDeleteThanks Joanna! The windowseat is actually supported by the L-brackets (that's why we used large ones) and hovers a few inches over the heater..L-brackets affixed to the bookshelves and wall along with the support of the wooden face of the heater cover add more than enough support for the depth of the seat :)
DeleteWell done! I'm interested, how much it cost to create such a fascinating design?
ReplyDeleteReally, really nice! What kind of heat system do you have? We have hot water baseboard and would love to do something like this. My other thought would be to start the bookcases about 12-18 above the baseboards but then it might look funky!
ReplyDeleteAgain, terrific design!
Ellen
We floated our billies using L brackets as well...get the hurricane-rated ones...there's no WAY you're bending those bad boys.
ReplyDeleteFantastic. Thanks for taking the time to share it.
ReplyDelete