I tend to gravitate toward shelving. I love displaying all of my trinkets that I have collected [and I say that loosely, because I am not a collector], over the years. And on top of that, I enjoy having the ability to change up a space, simply by restyling shelves!

However, this time, I had a limited budget, because we are in the process of building a home and it is spendy…to say the least. So where do I turn? Ikea, of course! I picked up the Billy bookcases for an exceptionally reasonable price, but didn’t want to leave them in their current white state.

I hired our family painter to add a coat of muted + calm grey to the plain, white shelves. And I think it did the trick. It took it from looking like Ikea, to well, not looking like Ikea [not that there’s anything wrong with Ikea. I love Ikea].

I purchased the wider bookshelf, along with the thinner one. The difference in size added interest to the whole look, in my opinion!

A little effort + a little paint=complete transformation. I’m happy!

All styling, photography + opinions are my own.