TikTok Gave The Viral Billy Bookcase Trend A Horizontal Twist

You may have seen the viral Billy bookcase all over your social media pages. It's DIYers' favorite IKEA bookcase to use in all kinds of DIY projects, thanks to their affordability and ease of installation. For example, using multiple Billy bookcases together can give you gorgeous floor-to-ceiling shelves in your bedroom, home office, or living room. While most DIYers use them vertically, one TikToker, Dalia Aly (@dalia.ea), gave it a twist by using it horizontally in her living room.

Instead of using the Billy bookcases for books, Aly created her own entertainment center with two long bookcases, one short bookcase, and six glass doors to turn a few shelves into cabinets. She revamped their style by putting linen cloth on the door's faces and used wooden serving bowls as legs. The final result gave her all-white living room a warm and cozy feel with the dark wood finish. While dark wood is unavailable on IKEA's website, you can use lighter brown (birch veneer), black, or white finishes if you want to recreate Dalia's entertainment center.

Billy bookcases can undergo some stunning transformations that you would've never believed were plain bookshelves from the start. TikToker Dalia Aly added beautiful texture and legs to her bookcase to give them some extra style. Aly uses two tall, dark brown bookcases for the entire media unit and one short one for the floating shelves. Since the bookcases are made with shelving inserts, Aly bought six IKEA Oxberg glass doors to add to the unit's ends. She covered the glass part with thin pieces of linen cloth to give the doors and overall unit some texture. The linen cloth is ironed to the glass so it easily tucks in with a putty knife.

Though the bookcases are meant to stand vertically against a wall to hold books and small décor, they were instead laid horizontally on the floor with DIY legs to give them height. Aly glued together wood serving bowls to create the legs and drilled a few holes the size of IKEA's Mejarp legs, sanded the edges, and inserted them through the bowls. She assembled everything and drilled the legs to the bottom of the unit.

Large furniture pieces like entertainment centers can be expensive, so recreating this Billy bookshelf hack can be a great way to add a custom piece to your space. You can follow Aly's exact steps or change a few things that you feel will complement your space best. Billy bookcases come in lots of different sizes, allowing you to pick the shelving that best fits your space.

The dark brown Billy bookcases Aly uses are unavailable, but if you purchase the birch veneer finish, you can stain it to give it a dark finish for a vintage chic look. Ensure you sand it down properly for the wood to absorb the stain, or consider sanding after staining so that the pigment will become more prominent. You can add a pop of color by painting the bookshelves, and you can go for a see-through glass door look, or switch it up by using rattan or canvas to cover the doors.