Save space with this pull out shelf desk on BILLY

A few years ago, I bought my first condo, which had a loft floor plan. Most of the room was on one big ground floor, with a small lofted bedroom and even smaller study area/second bedroom.

As such, I promised myself that every piece of furniture in the living room would either

(1) serve at least two purposes to reduce furniture clutter, or
(2) act as storage.

Thus I decided to transform my little BILLY bookshelf into a new IKEA family member, which one of my coworkers dubbed “Dra ut hyllan” (apparently it means “pull out shelf).

I call it a craft armoire, because it holds my sewing machine and my crafts.

Materials:

BILLY shelf (white)
1/2″ white particleboard
Legs
Foldable hinges for legs
Door hinges
L-brackets

How I made a pull out desk for the BILLY bookshelf

pull up desk for BILLY bookshelf

What I did was:

1. First, I fastened one of the BILLY shelves to the BILLY frame at the height I wanted the desk to be using L-brackets.

2. Now, on the 1/2″ particleboard, I attached the foldable hinges and then the legs to the hinges.

3. Lastly, I fixed the table to the BILLY shelf with door hinges.

The legs fold up when not in use.

~ Wei-Ling Lorelai Wu, California