The Key to using IKEA is to mix and match with other decor, and hack them where neccessary. I wouldn't want to decorate a room solely in IKEA.
I used two Billy bookcases to extend the storage of our kitchen into a narrow hallway. Rather than use the full length door, I used two half doors, solid on the bottom and glass on top. I put the small extender on it as well to make them almost 8' tall. The mounting holes will not line up for the bottom, so you have to make your own which drops the door a little lower on the toe kick, but no problem. On the backs I braced the cabinet with 1/2" thick straps glued to the backer-board and screwed into 1x4" straps situated at the top, middle, and bottom shelves (against the front of the backer board. These are fit tight to the width of the cabinet and also glued into the sides with some counter-sunk finishing nails to make sure they don't move. The cabinets are now very sturdy, probably overkill, since they're affixed to the wall. I filled the holes and seams with wood filler, painted the whole thing with melamine paint, and changed the knobs with nickel kitchen pulls.
I even came up with a plan for a library based on Billy's. In this version I would set all the cases on a pedastle and close in the toe kick with baseboard. This can be made with simple 2x4s laid down like train tracks and notched to lock the cases in place. Nail the tracks to the floor and drop the cases on top, then cover toe kick with baseboard to build in the bottom. Rather than put the topper on directly, I would lift it about 5-6" and bring it forward slightly, and use a flat crown or window cap to fill the space between the cabinet and the topper. To this face, I would add a rail for a ladder encircling the room. A normal crown moulding would finish off the top, essentially building it completely into the wall, from floor to ceiling. Between the cases, an assortment of double door and single door Billys, I would leave about 4.5" for a fluted flat casing fit to the front of the cases with just enough relief to be flush with the doors where they might be used, probably centering a double case with glass upper doors between two singles with open tops. The good news here is minimal finished carpentry skills would be required. Two by fours brace the top and bottom cabinets and cheap MDF casing/crown covers everything. Add wood filler and paint and the IKEA origins disappear almost entirely. You just measure your wall and do a little math to figure out how many bookcases you need and how wide the fluted casing should be in the gaps.
.........................................
|