I have seen this done on home improvement shows. What they did was line the bookcases up side by side. Clamp them together and then screw them together and to the wall. Then a strip if thin matching wood was put over the two connected sides to cover the seam. Sometimes they set them on a platform to raise them off the floor, and they also sometimes add crown molding. Again if you are going with stained pieces the wood must match and then you would have to stain the wood to match.

I think it would be much easier and cheaper to go with paint grade shelves and paint the whole thing a shade of white or stain it all at once.

I remember! It was RMkitchen, I googled rmkitchen billy bookcase and this came up.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: rmkitchen billy bookcase

This is exactly what I did here in my office. The Billy bookcases fit perfectly, and the cost was WAY less than if I had custom-built them myself. Mine are black/brown, with two extension units on top that make them 9' high.

In order to attach them to the wall, I added a horizontal piece under the top shelf of the main unit and screwed them to the wall like you'd attach a kitchen cabinet ... if that makes any sense. Ikea supplies L brackets for this, but I felt more secure doing it a more traditional way.

I still have to trim out the bottoms. I have to cut and customize those pieces so I can extend the a/c vents in the floor, and I just haven't done it yet.

I needed a little more width on the right hand side of this corner to make the shelves balance on each side of the window. We attached a CD rack between the two units to give us the extra width ... and a place to put our CDs.

Hopefully, these photos show what you're looking for.

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: house and garden blog

Thank you everyone! I'm reading everything now! My DH & I hope to do this over the Christmas break.

This is a fantastic idea! We would like some additional shelving or cabinetry in a corner of our kitchen, and I would not even think to use the Billy bookcases. That you can buy doors for hidden storage is huge. Wow, not expensive either compared to other storage units I've seen or custom cabinetry.

We have an IKEA about 30 min away, so double wow.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Wow, Connie - I like your "side table". Is it difficult to move because of the weight?

I did this with cheapo laminate bookcase from Target. I screwed them together and added crownmold, panel molding and beadboard. I don't have a "before" but here is an "after"

positano and I 'simul-posted'. I love the link with the wall of Billys around the door.

kathleenca, I got that safe at an auction years ago ... it still has the original owner's name on it. You guessed right, it's heavy as can be. It took all 4 movers to put it in that spot ... and it's not going anywhere ever again. (hijack finished, we can now get back to our regularly scheduled topic.) :)

I forgot to say that I liked the black-brown finish for my room because it has a faint woodgrain, which goes well with the traditional nature of this old house. I just hope I can use some oak molding and their black-brown stain (which I have) to configure some sort of crown. Ikea doesn't make crown in this finish ... not even in the kitchen department.

Connie

Here is a link that might be useful: house and garden blog

Can you tell me if any of the finishes they sell are stainable? I'm wanting to do this same thing, but I want to be able to stain it myself to match some wainscoting in the room.

Thanks!!