Before & After: An IKEA BILLY Hack Turns a Dingy 1970s Room into a Dreamy Home Library

"Sometimes 1970s wood-paneled spaces are great, but other times they just look old rather than retro. In Katie and Phllip Bowling's home office, that was the case. "We loved the coziness of the small office room, but it was so dark with the old faux wood paneling," homeowner Katie Bowling (@katiebowlinghome) says. "The carpet in the room was so worn-down.""

""We cleared out the room and the old carpet," Katie says, adding that one of the biggest changes to the space was the flooring. She and Philip had refinished hardwood floors before, but this time around, they laid new white oak flooring and then painted it in a harlequin pattern using Benjamin Moore's Black and sealed it with water-based polyurethane."

""We likely watched about 100 YouTube videos and then did our best," Katie says. "I'm not too picky about things being perfect, but Philip is a little more of a perfectionist, which helps with details." The pair used delicate painter's tape and a 12×12 FloorPops tile to plan out the pattern, and they marked every other square with a dot of tape to know which ones to fill in with black paint."

The small office featured dark faux wood paneling and a worn carpet that made the room feel outdated and cramped. The couple spent about $2,000 to renovate the space. They removed the carpet, installed new white oak flooring, and painted a harlequin pattern using Benjamin Moore Black, sealing it with water-based polyurethane. The pattern was planned with delicate painter's tape and a 12×12 FloorPops tile, marking every other square to fill with black paint. The floorboards were used as a guide to keep the pattern straight. Two existing IKEA BILLY bookcases were incorporated into new built-in shelving around the door.

Read at Apartment Therapy