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How to personalise and style a bookcase for your home

With the IKEA range of bookcases – along with some well-chosen additions – you can easily create a library that’s an impressive feature of your room décor, as well as a reliable home for your much-loved books. Read on for a few ideas or get started in our BILLY planner right away.

White BILLY bookcases with panel/glass doors, filled with books, cups and dishes, behind a blue sofa and white coffee table.
White BILLY bookcases with panel/glass doors, filled with books, cups and dishes, behind a blue sofa and white coffee table.

Different ways to arrange your beloved books

With a BILLY bookcase, you set the distance between the shelves, so you can easily arrange your books by height. For ease of reference, you might want to order alphabetically (author or title) or group by topic. Or, for a visual statement, you could shelve books by the colour of cover. Whatever works for you.

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Video: Four ways to arrange the contents of the same white BILLY bookcase, including colour-coordinated books and panel/glass doors.
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Integrated lighting for greater illumination

Naturally, you want to see which book you’re picking off the shelf. So integrated bookcase lights serve a practical purpose. More than that, they can help you to create a warm and cosy mood in the room. You can position them on the top of your bookcase, under the shelves – or both. Energy-efficient LED bookcase lights are long-lasting and quick to install.

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Black TVÄRDRAG cabinet lighting shines down from the top of white BILLY bookcases with glass doors.
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A BILLY bookcase with doors to other worlds

Want to keep the dust off your books or simply create a different look? You can personalise your BILLY bookcase with doors that fit perfectly. A range of finishes are available in glass, solid panel or a panel/glass combination. So you can create a BILLY bookcase for almost any style of room.

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White BILLY bookcases with panel/glass doors, books and boxes inside and baskets on top, next to a beige curtain.
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A light and bright living room with a high and a low BILLY bookcase next to eachother and a LOHALS rug on the floor.

Design your own BILLY bookcase

Get started in the BILLY planner and discover the many possibilities.

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Shelving units to keep your other treasures

If books aren’t your priority, you might be after a shelving unit rather than a bookcase. Whether for decorative display or for workhorse storage, there’s an IKEA shelving unit with the size and design to suit.

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