How to Make DIY Built-In Bookshelves: 20 Ideas

Create a focal point in your living room, home office, bedroom, family room, or TV room with a wall of DIY built-in bookshelves. Decorate cabinets, walls, and shelving with custom millwork, paint, wallpaper, or lighting, and style your built-ins with books and decor objects for a stylish storage and display space.

Check out these DIY built-in bookshelves in a range of styles and rooms for inspiration.

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One Thing Ep 89: A Simple Guide to Stylish Bookshelves

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IKEA Billy Bookcase Hack

A Beautiful Mess

Get the look of built-ins in your living room or home office with half the work by using an IKEA Billy bookcase hack. You'll start by building a base and then adding the bookcases on top of that.
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Wallpaper-Backed Built-Ins

Thrifty Decor Chick

Hang wallpaper behind built-in shelving for a custom feel. Choose a light abstract pattern or go bold with color and pattern depending on your style.
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Colorful DIY Built-Ins

Chloe Joy of Little House Big City

Customize the size and shape of built-in shelves based on the items you want to display. This wall of shelves has a mix of sizes and shapes to showcase decor items and create a niche for the TV, with a coat of sky blue paint to make pieces pop.
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DIY Built-Ins Millwork

Artsy Chicks Rule

Create a place to display your favorite books, souvenirs, and decor objects with a wall of built-in bookshelves. Incorporate millwork details such as fluting, rosettes, and crown molding to give your DIY project a polished look.

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Built-In Cloffice Shelves

Ursula Carmona of Home Made By Carmona

Take your home cloffice to the next level with custom built-ins. Style shelves with books and objects to give it a pulled together look even when the closet doors are left open.
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Vaulted Wall Bookcase

A Beautiful Mess

Install DIY built-ins to give a bespoke feel to a room with unusual angles or vaulted ceilings. Install a library ladder so that you can easily and safely reach the upper shelves.
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Modern DIY Built-Ins

Eleven Magnolia Lane

Use pre-built white IKEA Billy bookcases to create a wall of shelves with a clean look to complement a modern living room. This is a quick project that really looks like you built the whole thing yourself.
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Tall Built-in Bookcases

Plank + Pillow

If you don't need an entire wall of storage, try positioning a pair of tall and narrow built-ins on either side of a window seat or bench to leave room for seating. Paint the walls and bookcases in the same dark shade for a sleek and moody feel.

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DIY Fireplace Built-Ins

Lucy Jo Home

Modernize your fireplace built-ins to give your living room a bright makeover. Paint them white for an airy look that allows books and decor items to stand out.
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Kid-Friendly Built-Ins

DIY Decor Mom

Incorporate built-in shelving to make a shared kids' room more organized and functional. This six-shelf project is easy to assemble and will ensure that books, toys, and photos will have a place to shine.
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Painted Built-Ins Wall

Crystel Montenegro At Home

Paint the wall behind custom built-ins for a custom feel. Choose a dark blue to add contrast with creamy white shelving and finish with polished brass hardware.
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DIY Open Shelving

Design Morsels

Add storage while retaining a light and airy look by sticking to shades of white and black. Install a row of DIY base cabinets the same color as walls, then finish it off by hanging long open bracketed shelving on the wall above.

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Corner Built-Ins

Remodelaholic

If you're tight on space, consider installing a narrow corner bookshelf with four cubbies. Mix open and closed storage for an uncluttered feel.
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Built-In Bookshelf Lighting

Melissa Lynch

Start with a row of IKEA base cabinets to create a budget-friendly wall of built-ins. Install gooseneck sconce lights for a custom feel that is stylish and functional.
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Modern Farmhouse Built-Ins

Free and Unfettered

Flank a shiplap fireplace wall with DIY built-in bookshelves to complement a modern farmhouse living room. Contrast white finishes with natural wood accents to add warmth.
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TV Wall Built-Ins

Katrina Blair

DIY TV wall built-ins will add storage and display space while helping you decorate around the flat screen. Hide wires and equipment in base cabinets for an uncluttered look.

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Niche With Built-Ins

Thistlewood Farms

Mimic the look of built-ins with freestanding bookcases. In this room, a pair of bookcases placed on opposite walls are transformed into built-ins by building a frame that extends to the ceiling, adding crown molding, and painting it all white to create a cozy modern farmhouse living room niche.
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Easy Built-In Bookcases

Lovely Etc.

One of the keys to using IKEA Billy bookcases as a shortcut is to remove tell-tale flat pack elements like cardboard backs, multiple holes for shelf pins, and the toe kick. For this project, the IKEA units were stripped of these extraneous details, while other elements like trim and paint were added for a custom look.
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Blue DIY Built-Ins

The DIY Playbook

Use pre-built cabinets and drawers to create a base for a wall of built-ins. Paint the built-ins in a dark color to contrast with white walls.
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Kitchen Island Built-Ins

Deeply Southern Home

Create space at the end of a large kitchen island to display cookbooks. Finish your mini built-ins with columns to add support and character and paint it the same color as the island base for a custom look.

How do I install DIY built-in bookshelves?

You can build a wall of built-ins from scratch using lumber. Or use premade kitchen cabinets as a base and build shelving on the wall above. Finish your built-ins with details like crown molding, paint, and lighting for a custom look.

Can built-in bookshelves increase home value?

It's debatable whether built-in bookshelves increase home value. Functional built-ins installed in kitchens and bathrooms add some value, as long as they are well-built and made with quality materials.

Some homebuyers may view built-in bookshelves as a plus. Others may view them as a negative—especially if they need to factor removal and disposal into their offering price.