Get the look of built-ins without splurging on custom shelving

With its white clapboard exterior and pale blue shutters, Erika Vér’s Cleveland home gives off major modern farmhouse vibes. But step inside and a wall of blueish-gray bookcases feels like it’s been zapped in from a Victorian library or a Harry Potter film. The YouTube DIYer (@peonyandhoney) didn’t splash out on expensive built-in shelving, which can cost thousands to install. Instead, she achieved a luxe effect for a little more than $2,000, with four Ikea BILLY bookcases, several gallons of paint and whole lot of elbow grease.

“It makes things look expensive,” Vér says. “This is a builder-grade home, but now it seems custom built.”

Though the “bookshelf wealth” look — stylishly arranging novels, coffee-table books, and knickknacks — is trending, people have used shelving to showcase what they’ve read and collected for centuries. “When I walk into someone’s home, I go straight to the bookshelves,” says Nina Freudenberger, an interior designer in Los Angeles and the author of “Bibliostyle: How We Live at Home with Books.” “They tell me everything I need to know about that person — what they’re interested in, where they’ve been.”

Here’s how to get the built-in bookshelf effect without shelling out for actual built-ins.

Start with some premade bookcases

Though most homeowners aren’t as handy as Vér, retrofitting one (or several) purchased bookcases is a terrific stand-in for hiring a carpenter. The best-known option, IKEA’s BILLY medium density fiberboard bookcases, come in several finishes (wood, white, black), heights and widths. Glass doors, drawers and extra shelves give consumers more ways to personalize them.

Other sources of inexpensive to moderately priced bookshelves include Wayfair, Amazon, Pottery Barn and Room & Board, but BILLY boasts the most flexibility. “I just find BILLY affordable and durable, and I’ve used them for so many projects in my home,” says Elisa Mastrocolla, a DIYer who showcases her decor projects on Instagram at @thedgewoodhome.

Get the size right

Custom shelving often fills a wall from floor to ceiling (or close to it). Approximating the effect with premade furniture requires careful measuring and, sometimes, getting creative. If a bookcase is too short for your space, stack two together (Room & Board’s Rollins series) or, with BILLY, use 14-inch height extenders to stretch its 31½-inch- and 15¾-inch-wide models. (Be sure to anchor the bookcases to the wall with the proper hardware to avoid safety hazards.)

To make two or more free-standing bookcases appear to be built in, you can simply push them together along a wall. For a more custom look — or to fill a wall that isn’t precisely the size of, say, three BILLY bookcases — you can use lengths of plywood to create framing or fill in gaps. (When everything is painted the same color, no one will notice the hack.)

Another popular trick: cutting plywood or MDF into arched shapes and attaching them to the front of the bookcase to give it a Palladian look. “If you aren’t handy, you could hire a carpenter or handyman to help put something together,” says Tom Preston, an interior designer in Washington, D.C.

Paint your shelves

“Using paint to ‘color drench’ your shelves and the surrounding walls makes things feel more bespoke,” says Kate Watson-Smyth, the British design journalist behind the Mad About the House Substack. “A dark gray, navy, or red will really show off your books.”

To get started, lightly sand the bookshelves and spackle any interior peg holes you won’t be using. Then spray, roll or brush on paint. You can do this before assembling the furniture, but you may need to touch things up after everything is together.

“Be sure to use a primer — I like Zinsser shellac,” Mastrocolla says. “After that cures for 48 hours, I put on two coats of paint, and then a polyurethane top coat. That final coat really cures everything and makes the surface nearly indestructible.”

Use trim for a richer vibe

Crown molding — available in wood or lightweight polyurethane — can be cut to fit the top or bottom of bookshelves (this is also a good way to cover a gap at the top). “You can also glue rattan or a pretty wallpaper on the back of the shelves,” Vér says. Mastrocolla used pole wrap (a thin, wooden decorative paneling) to get a beadboard look on a bookcase-desk combo she created for her son.

The BILLY series also includes solid, glass, and rattan-inset doors; add your own touch to them by changing out the knobs or knocking out the rattan and replacing it with metal mesh in a brass or silver finish.

Think beyond bookcases

Traditional bookcases aren’t the only way to get a storied, library-like mood. “It can be really striking and cost effective to put up a track system with shelves, and then paint everything to match the walls,” says Emily Vaughan, an interior designer in Bethesda, Md., who suggests IKEA’s BOAXEL and Container Store’s ELFA systems. “In this case, the shelves aren’t the point, it’s what you put on them. It could come across as utilitarian and cool, like something from Herman Miller or Design Within Reach.”

“Or get inspired by artist Donald Judd, who would pile big, open plywood boxes on each other,” Preston says. “It was super minimal but luxurious.” Try Shelf & Co for a range of blocky, modern options, including styles that stairstep down the wall.

Style your bookcases

There’s nothing wrong with thinking like a librarian and filling every inch of your shelves with books, spines out, standing at attention. “But now people treat built-in bookcases like gallery walls and use them to tell the story of who they are,” Watson-Smyth says. “Plus built-ins have up to 30% more storage than free-standing furniture.”

You can use all that extra space to both stash and flash stuff. Stand books upright or stack them sideways, particularly if they’re large art or design books. “I’ve also installed shelves that are tilted forward, which let you open a special book and display it,” Freudenberger says. (A free-standing book easel can approximate the look.) Group them by subject or arrange them by color, depending on your taste.

Break up the nonstop bibliomania with pottery, sculptures, or even a tiny lamp. “Or top a pile of books with a small object,” Watson-Smyth says. “It’s about creating shapes and interest.”