IKEA HEMNES built-in: Trim and moulding does wonders

Here’s how I made a wall to wall IKEA HEMNES built-in bookcase.

It’s amazing what a little trim and moulding can do.

The project took me 3 days from start to finish. I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Materials:

• 3 HEMNES bookcase 90 cm wide
• 2 HEMNES bookcase 50 cm wide
• Crown moulding
• Wood planks for trim
• Baseboard
• White paint

DIY IKEA HEMNES built-in bookcase

I bought three HEMNES bookshelf 90 cm wide and two 50 cm wide.

If I push them all together the total width of the bookcases will measure 370 cm. However, the length of my wall is 384 cm.

So, I placed them slightly distanced from each other so the bookcases can span wall to wall. I made sure the spacing of the gaps were consistent between bookcases. I also slotted the smaller HEMNES bookcases between the larger ones for symmetry.

After getting the placements right, I made the first cut.

I sawed off the legs by a few centimeters so it would fit with the baseboard which is 95 mm high.

With the IKEA HEMNES bookcases in position, I added the baseboard to the front. They were starting to look built-in already!

Then, I used crown moulding on top, spanning the entire length of the IKEA HEMNES bookshelves, to make them look like one big built-in bookcase.

And finally, I used my saw and router to make 6 pieces of trim to cover the gaps between the bookcases.

After the routing was done, I sanded the wood down and cleaned off the saw dust. Then, I primed and painted the front of the trim pieces white to match the HEMNES bookcase.

The last step was to fix the trim onto the HEMNES bookcases. And that’s was it, I finished the IKEA HEMNES built-in bookcase.

I’m thinking of adding some nice lamps on top of the bookcase. But at the moment, I can’t decide on one that I like. Any suggestions?

The hardest part was putting all the books back in alphabetical order.

~ by Thomas

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