Ikea Hack: Lack Shelves

Remember these bookshelves that live beneath our family photo timeline? (If not, look here) They replaced some awful laminate bookshelves we had had forever. You know the shelves I’m talking about. The ones that are about $40 and bow the second you put anything on them.

If you can’t envision it, think of this, but bigger. We had 2 side by side and they just weren’t doing it for me. I really wish I had a before picture for you. Overall these shelves had served us well for 8 years, but ALL of the shelves were bowing, and one had a hole in the bottom. The color didn’t suit the style of our room and I just couldn’t find a way to salvage them. I knew I wanted new shelves, but I didn’t want to pay an arm and a leg for them. They were basically just holding Mike’s old textbooks after all. (Please tell me I’m not the only one with a husband who refuses to get rid of old textbooks!) In lieu of paying a pretty penny for shelves that weren’t exactly what I wanted, I decided to get creative and do a budget friendly version.

Enter Ikea! In my mind I envisioned floating shelves and Ikea’s Lack shelves fit the bill. They come in a few different lengths, but mine are 74 3/4″ long and were $19.99 each (they also come in different colors). Each shelf comes with the mounting bracket, but you have to come up with screws and anchors on your own. Am I the only one annoyed by Ikea’s inability to provide you with all the hardware you need? Despite that, I still LOVE Ikea.

*I found this photo online of what the bracket looks like. The brackets for the long shelves are obviously much longer and have more supports. To make the shelf as secure as possible, I tried to put as many screws into the studs as possible. Everywhere I needed a screw, that didn’t line up with a stud, I used an anchor like…

…this. These anchors are my absolute favorite! They’re seriously strong! Each one is rated for 79 lbs in 1/2″ drywall. I also love them because you can drill them in the wall just like a screw. No pre drilling a hole! The only down side is they do make a pretty decent hole in the wall if you ever need to take them out. Back to the shelves…Each bracket, in addition to putting as many screws into a stud as possible, has 15 screws attached to anchors. (The screws came with the anchors.)

I still wasn’t convinced the shelves could hold up to the amount of weight they had to support, so I added L brackets along the bottom at each stud.

For some additional support, but mostly for looks, I added brackets (found here) at each end of the shelves, anchoring them to the wall.

After that it was just a matter of placing the books on the shelves and accessorizing. I went through quite a few variations of decor before I realized I needed to simplify. Once getting the books placed where I wanted them, I added some storage boxes and plants. Both of which are from Ikea.

For around $100 we had completely new bookshelves. Ikea definitely saved the day on this one!

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