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#BillyHack: Tips to Incorporate IKEA's Billy Shelves Into an Elevated Design

IKEA pieces like the beloved Billy shelves can be a great way to create a high-end look for less. Here's how an interior designer recommends pulling off the look:

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The social media hashtag #billyhack is all over TikTok and Instagram, and it's one of the most widely circulated IKEA hacks for people looking to carry out their design dreams on a budget.

News4 spoke with D.C. area interior designer Holly Polgreen, who explained ways she's used the shelves in her own designs.

"Here’s the question I always get asked: How do you elevate IKEA design?" Polgreen, of Carlyn & Company Interiors + Design in Great Falls, Virginia, said.

"The high-low in interior design is taking some more expensive pieces, mixing them with affordable ones and creating a modern, contemporary look," Polgreen said.

She said one of the most popular IKEA hacks they use are customizing rooms with the Billy shelves.

"They’ve been around since 1979," she said.

"It's completely versatile. They come in different dimensions, different heights, and it's sort of a blank canvas that you can really add your own personality."

"In this example, we are using Billy, we are using kitchen counter tops and we are also using the Alex line," Polgreen said.

IKEA's Alex line is for storage and also creates some stability in this home office and then the billy book cases sort of add that versatility and storage and then we buy these over sized kitchen countertops

"One of the great things about Billy is it has a removable back," she said. "You can either take peel and stick wallpaper, you can take contact paper. I've even heard of people using wrapping paper."

"The idea is to give some graphic quality and a pop of color behind the Billy shelves."

Billy shelves can also sit on top of a countertop with the backs off.

"We spent the money on the bedding, on the accent pillows and some of the accessories," Polgreen said.

In another example, the billy shelves are floor to ceiling with a cantilever desk between the two.

"The high feature in this bedroom is the light fixture that’s centered over the daybed and the window," Polgreen said.

"If you make it more built-in looking, wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling, it, again, starts to elevate the product and
starts to look like a really built-in look,"

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