Billy bird

Handem tips me on this hack found on the Blog on the Bookshelf. Thanks Handem!

Dan Black and Martin Blum of design consultancy Black + Blum, do their thing on the ubiquitous Billy bookshelf. They say, "Our main priority was to give this piece a bit of character. In its basic form, it is very recognisable as the cheapest bit of shelving you can buy from Ikea, so we wanted to give it a new identity as well as a function by turning it into a self-contained home-office unit."

I thought it was smart of them to add a work surface by joining two shelves with hinges, resulting in a neat, compact workspace. Better yet, it can be folded up to hide a laptop when not in use. What I am not so hot about are the magazine racks on the sides and top, which are supposed to give Billy the appearance of a "winged creature". Huh? It would be like working in the belly of Big Bird."



This Billy hack is part of an article by the Independent, "Pimp my Ikea: How to bling up your 'Billy' bookcase."