BILLY may be the king of but don’t be quick to dismiss the other IKEA bookshelves that can work just as beautifully.
Matthew’s choice is the LIATORP half-panel-glass-door combo. The delicate shapes and details of the IKEA LIATORP series evoke a sense of country living. The door is beautiful with its grid glass panel.
A search on the IKEA website offered up very few items in the LIATORP range, a sure sign that it’s on the way out. Nonetheless, the LIATORP doors are still available, making them the perfect finishing touch to Matthew’s custom .
IKEA items used:
- Panel/glass door, white, 44×198 cm
For styling
- TJENA, storage box with lid, white 32x35x32 cm
- TJENA, storage box with lid, white 25x35x20 cm
- TJENA, storage box with lid, black 25x35x20 cm
- TJENA, desk organiser, white, 18×17 cm
- KVARNIK, storage box with lid, gray, 25x35x20 cm
- KVARNIK, storage box (round, set of 3)
- RISSLA, box (set of 3)
- STILREN, vase, 22 cm
- GODTAGBAR vase
- FEJKA artificial potted plant, 9 cm
- CHIAFRÖN plant pot, 9 cm
Other materials and tools:
- Laminate board, white
- Inside wooden corner moldings
- Covers-profile wooden moldings
- White paint for wood
- Miter saw
- Cordless Screwdriver
IKEA LIATORP doors on custom bookcase
Build the custom bookcase frames
Matthew first constructed cabinets out of white laminate boards, spanning the width of the wall. The two LIATORP doors were fitted into the two center cabinets. He attached the door panel to the frame using the supplied hardware. For details on how to build a bookcase from scratch, the Internet has many .
Secure bookcases to each other
He then secured the bookcases to each other and built two bridging shelves above the LIATORP sections.
Add trim and molding
Use trim and top molding to cover up the edges and create the built-in bookcase look.
Paint everything
Lastly, he caulked all the joints, sanded and painted the entire built-in with white paint for a uniform expression, and blend the white laminate board with the doors.
Start styling
To organize the shelves, he used IKEA storage boxes and storage organizers to reduce visual clutter peeking through the door panels. The bookcase added lots of storage in his living room, even a space for the TV. Complete the display shelves with decorative items.
Open section for the cat tree
In one of the sections, he left it open for a .
Make extra shelves for the LIATORP Bookcase in 3 easy steps
I have a storage bookcase. It has 2 fixed solid pine shelves for stability and 4 adjustable shelves but I wanted extra shelving for my books. The problem was, IKEA does not sell extra shelves for the LIATORP.
Hunting around IKEA, I found the BERGSHULT shelf a reasonable match in style to the LIATORP shelf. The BERGSHULT shelf is longer in length and slightly shorter in depth. But once the books are on the shelf you won’t see the difference. I’m very happy with my simple hack!
IKEA ITEMS USED:
- LIATORP Bookcase
- BERGSHULT Shelf
OTHER MATERIALS AND TOOLS:
- Saw (manual or power saw)
- Shelf supports
How to make more shelves for the LIATORP
Step 1: Use a LIATORP shelf to mark the exact length on the BERGSHULT shelf and cut it with your saw.
Step 2: The LIATORP comes with wood supports for the original shelves. I won’t be replicating these. Instead I will be using regular shelf dowels. However, the dowel pin holes in the LIATORP frame are smaller than my pins. With a 5mm drill bit, I expanded the holes in the LIATORP sides to fit the shelf pins. I had spare shelf supports from another project, so I used those, but any type of shelf support pins will do.
Step 3: Insert the pins and place your new shelf on top. (The towels were to help slide the bookcase in place, it’s a heavy item!) My new storage shelves are the two at the bottom.
HOW LONG AND HOW MUCH DID IT COST?
2 x BERGSHULT shelves at around €13 per shelf; it took about 20 mins!
WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT THE HACK?
It was very simple and effective; I got two extra shelves and made better use of the bookcase.
WHAT WAS THE HARDEST PART ABOUT THIS HACK?
Making sure I cut the shelves to exactly the right length and perfectly straight.
WHAT TO PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO?
Use some masking tape on your drill so you don’t drill right through the side of the bookcase by mistake.
~ by Eleanor
Can LIATORP doors work on BILLY bookcases?
Apparently yes. Erik, who previously gave us a discreet , does it again with this BILLY-LIATORP fusion.
(Ed: The size of the BILLY frame and LIATORP doors may have changed over the years. Please verify the latest measurements before attempting to merge these two products.)
He says, “IKEA is one of my favorite places, being a Swede, it’s one of the few places to grab a Flavasoft for a decent price. I needed an inexpensive way to hopefully make my office look nice, clean, and a little bit stylish.
I liked the look of the white LIATORP bookcase with doors but they did not come in black-brown and are also very expensive compared to the BILLY system. Then, I essentially mated some As-is LIATORP doors to a BILLY, creating the look of the LIATORP for an inexpensive price.
Spray painting to color match
I found all of the following in the As-is Section, but this could be assembled with raw components as well. The LIATORP glass doors are much more elegant than the traditional BILLY doors, I found these for $10 each in the As-is section in new condition. They come in white and not in the Black-Brown finish that I needed. I used a quality and gave them one light coat.
Followed by a heavier coat in a Black with Satin finish. I feathered it in a manner that the brown lightly shows through in places giving it a black-brown appearance.
The center desk is a GUSTAV Desk in black brown The desk is normally US$299 but I found one in the As-is for considerably less, There was a good chip knocked off one of the front corners, but I rotated the desktop, to place the damaged edge away from view.
Installing LIATORP doors on BILLY bookcases
The base of the bookshelves are standard BILLY shelving units. I used the black shelf units with various amounts of damage but was easily hideable with the doors. The black units I found were preferable to the black-brown which were more expensive.
The LIATORP doors are a bit larger than the BILLY Doors, so I had to use three sets of brass hinges from the hardware store for each bookcase. I let the doors hang over the edge of the BILLY frame. Then I fastened the brass hinges behind the door and against the outside of the BILLY, they remain out of sight and work functionally.
The bookcases do need to be fastened to the wall as the glass doors make them front heavy and prone to tip. Use fasteners suitable for your wall to secure the unit to the wall.
In the future, I am going to add some glass BILLY bookcase shelves, LED lighting, and a small bit of crown molding to the top of each unit to give it a bit more detail.”
Other workstations you may be interested in:
- An almost 100% IKEA
- How to make
- with lots of storage
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