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February 20, 2018 By Brandy 17 Comments

Home » Home & Garden Projects » Cleaning & Organizing

Organize Your Living Room With IKEA Built Ins

Filed Under: Cleaning & Organizing, Home Decor Projects

Organize your living room and make IKEA built ins for books, toys, and electronics with billy bookcases! Add trim, doors, hardware, and a top for a custom look.

Organize your living room and make built ins for books, toys, and electronics with IKEA bookcases! Add trim, doors, hardware, and a top for a custom look.
Our new living room presented a challenge when it came to organization. The only wall to put the TV on was above the fireplace and the two small windows on either side made it difficult to find storage units to fit without covering the windows. We also didn’t want anything taking away from the pretty fireplace mantel so we looked for things with a shallow depth. Everything we found was either too tall, too short, or too narrow. So we got creative!

IKEA Built Ins: Living Room Storage

Organize your living room and make built ins for books, toys, and electronics with IKEA bookcases! Add trim, doors, hardware, and a top for a custom look.

We put a narrow Billy bookcase and a wide Billy bookcase from Ikea side by side and attached them together. Then we added doors over the wide bookcase as well as handles. For a custom look, my husband trimmed them out, mounted them to the wall, and added a top with a ledge that matched our fire place.

A couple of coats of paint over the top and trim, and we had a custom organizational piece!

We made two of them. One for toys, and one for electronics.

Organize your living room and make built ins for books, toys, and electronics with IKEA bookcases! Add trim, doors, hardware, and a top for a custom look.
Our toddler is finding his way into everything so it’s nice to have one area that he can go crazy in. He loves opening and closing the doors and making a mess of his little space.

The other built in houses the DVD player, Wii, remotes, and the kids’ Kindles. (We keep a baby lock over the handles to keep little man out.)

Organize your living room and make built ins for books, toys, and electronics with IKEA bookcases! Add trim, doors, hardware, and a top for a custom look.
I love the streamlined look of everything now and it really helps reduce clutter by housing the electronics and toys out of sight. With 7 people living in a home that seems to be designed for 5 people, we’ve had to get creative in almost every room of the house! Up next I’ll be showing you guys the baby’s closet nursery. We don’t just call it a closet because it’s small—it’s an actual closet, ha! Our master bedroom has two of them so we gave him one and we use the other for our clothes. We’re making it work! The best part about all of this? We are more organized than we’ve ever been. We are choosy about what we bring into the house more than we would be if we had tons of closets and square footage to hide junk in!

Billy bookcases and doors: IKEA

Handles: Lowe’s

Wicker Baskets: Target

Wire Basket: Walmart

Drapes: Click here for the tutorial

Pillows: Target

Fan: Lowe’s

More Organizational Posts on Gluesticks…

IKEA Built Ins: Wall of Storage

Tiny and Tidy Closet Nursery

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About Brandy

Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!

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Comments

  1. Christina Bowen says

    February 20, 2018 at 5:56 am

    Looks great! We did something similar in our living room with the Bodbyn cabinets for game and DVD storage.

    Reply
    • Brandy says

      February 20, 2018 at 7:45 am

      That’s awesome! They really make everything easier to organize! And, thank you so much!

      Reply
    • Griselda says

      April 27, 2020 at 4:39 pm

      Hi I love it all. I’m interested in the furniture in your living room, and I would like to know if possible how did you do the billy case. The upper part of it that you add to match to the fireplace, is it a board that you put on top that has that tipe of edge or is it a ledge that you had to glue to a board. I don’t know if you understand what I mean. Thanks a lot. Love you work.

      Reply
      • Brandy says

        April 27, 2020 at 4:42 pm

        Hi Griselda! We added a board to the top then added a small strip of wood all the way around to resemble the fireplace. Hope that makes sense!

        Reply
  2. Leanna says

    February 20, 2018 at 3:20 pm

    Everything looks so clean and organized, it instantly makes you feel comfortable. The little one playing in the closet is a real little heart melter. Not sure I could get anything done with that adorable little munchkin around. So cute.

    Reply
    • Brandy says

      February 22, 2018 at 6:09 am

      Thank you Leanna! It’s a struggle for sure, he’s so sweet and cute!

      Reply
  3. Margaret Robinson says

    February 21, 2018 at 10:33 am

    What a clever idea! I took a look at some of the rest of the things you’ve done in your home and it all looks so good (besides having a cute baby).

    Reply
    • Brandy says

      February 22, 2018 at 6:09 am

      Thank you so much, Margaret! He’s a lot of fun, for sure!

      Reply
  4. Michelle Leslie says

    February 23, 2018 at 8:56 pm

    They look like they were meant to be there. It’s the perfect fit for that space Brandy.

    Reply
    • Brandy says

      February 24, 2018 at 8:42 am

      Thank you so much, Michelle!

      Reply
  5. Michele Morin says

    February 24, 2018 at 4:09 am

    I love that you can keep the toddler toys right in the living room so he can use them with the family nearby, but they don’t have to dominate the landscape!

    Reply
    • Brandy says

      February 24, 2018 at 8:42 am

      Thank you! Our house isn’t very big so anything that helps with clutter, while still letting us feel like we LIVE here has been so helpful!

      Reply
  6. Mother of 3 says

    February 25, 2018 at 3:12 pm

    Those look great! We have yet to visit an Ikea but I always get such great ideas from posts like these for fun ways to use their products.

    Reply
    • Brandy says

      February 26, 2018 at 4:35 am

      Thank you! We don’t really live close to one anymore, so it’s quite the drive. But worth it for big projects like these! Have a great week!

      Reply
  7. Audra @ Renewed Projects says

    February 25, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    You have some great ideas here that are easy to make. We’re finishing our basement and adding a den. Along one wall we’ll need storage since we’re loosing some of it with the remodel. Your ideas look affordable and stylish. Pinning to my basement board on Pinterest. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Brandy says

      February 26, 2018 at 4:33 am

      Hi Audra, thank you! How exciting to have a finished basement. We tackled one years ago in our home in Ohio and it was worth every penny and hour of work! Enjoy!

      Reply
  8. Donna @ Modern on Monticello says

    February 26, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    I think your custom cabinets look fabulous. I really need to visit Ikea soon. Thanks for sharing at #HomeMattersParty

    Reply

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About the Author

Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you! Learn More About The Author

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