Back in the Netherlands the wall next to the dining table was full with five Billy bookcases from Ikea. It was a complete mess, believe me. We only brought two of them to Stockholm and the rest we sold. During the time we were renting this apartment we've been thinking about what to do with this corner. It's part of the living room, the only wall that is possible for a tv and still it felt cold and separate from the rest. I barely have good photos from this corner with how it was, since I was not happy with the way it looked like at all.
I always like interiors with walls full of books, but this definitely is not the right example of that idea. So when we bought the apartment and it was up to us to do whatever we wanted, this became one of our first projects. The plan was to bring this corner more to the living room and to find a solution for all the cables from the tv.
Photo from Bjurfors
When the apartment was out on the market for sale, the broker and the photographer didn't like this corner either. This photo shows all they photographed from that wall. They took away the tv with all the cables and the table, but even then they decided to not show this part.
We won the biddings after a few very intense months and the apartment was finally ours. Before building the bookcase we had to paint the walls. As you can see on the right we tried several beiges. When we asked the painter when he could come he answered with next week or in approximately five months. So we had to decide really quick for the color since the quicker we could start, the better. Surprisingly we sold these bookshelves as well, never thought second hand Billy's are popular. Now the corner was empty and ready for paint.
Image from New Day Interior
We've been measuring a lot, found many inspiring examples and changed over and over until we finally had a definitive plan. The main doubt we had was between two or three rows as you can see in these drawings. In the end we went for two, mainly to keep it a bit more calm and open. It's a bit of a dark corner and we were afraid that three rows wouldn't really catch enough light to show the items inside at his best.
Image from New Day Interior
First changes are done. The walls are painted with paint from Jotun in color Sand and we bought a new tv. The Samsung Frame tv in its smallest size with a white frame. We had an elektricien coming over to make an electricity point on top of the bookcase. You can see the cable from the left to the right corner and all the way up. We used to have one Sonos speaker on top and a lamp, but did not wanted any cables to be visible so we decided to create an extra electricity point.
Only a few hours left before the builders are going to start. We emptied everything and are so ready for this huge change.
Work in progress. Because we painted all the walls first, we could give the builders the name from the paint so they prepared the bookcase in the exact same color.
See here the result! Definitely not a corner anymore that will be skipped while making photos of the apartment. The doorknobs are similar to the ones we have at the cabinets in the hallway. It was quite a search, but luckily we found them. The final step is decorating the shelves and to hang the tv on the wall. They made a small opening in the wood for the tv cable and as you can see on the photo hereunder we placed a Sonos soundbar in front of that hole so it's not visible anymore either.
This photo is already taken a few months ago, it doesn't look that empty anymore. The main goal for the interior now is to find more accessories. We left almost everything behind when we moved and most of these items where from our student days. Time for more designer items that fits with our current style. Most of the books are in the basement and a quarter of it is behind the doors. That also goes for the cables from the tv.
