Ikea Spice Racks as Bookshelves

Ikea spice racks work beautifully as bookshelves. You can assemble them in just a few minutes and finish them in any color or style you want. Each one costs less than $5. Hooray!!

These Ikea Spice Racks make awesome bookshelves. You can put them together in just a few minutes, and customize them with any color or any way you want! And all for less than $5 a piece. Yay!!

Ikea spice racks as bookshelves were everywhere about 5 to 7 years ago. I remember when my oldest was born (she's 6.5 now), I couldn't find a single spice rack within a 1,000 mile radius of my house. Not one, not a sliver. I made several trips to the Atlanta IKEA, three hours away, over a few years and never once spotted these coveted racks.

Everyone snapped them up and turned them into bookcases, coat racks and craft caddies. Every single thing, all for under $5 a pop. Who could blame them?

But with no spice racks in sight, I gave up on my dream of Swedish-inspired bookshelves at home.

Until recently, when I realized the odd corner in my daughter's bedroom would be the perfect spot for some shelves. It's small and narrow with a bare wall, and it would be handy to have books there for a little reading nook.

So the craze must have faded, because on one of my last trips to IKEA I came across these once-rare, hard-to-find spice racks. I grabbed three right away, and then they sat in my craft closet for a whole year! Such is my life!

If you know me at all, you know nothing happens quickly around here. I take my sweet time with projects. I hem and haw and go back and forth on decisions for ages.

But about once a year I get on a kick to finish the projects I already have. It usually lines up with a decluttering push, like in the fall before Christmas, when I'm trying to make room for the incoming pile of toys and new things.

Ikea Spice Racks make fabulous book shelves! Take all of the pieces out and paint them before you assemble them!

I pulled out those spice racks and laid every piece out on the garage floor.

Then I gave them a quick three coats of Rust-Oleum's Champagne Mist spray paint, put them together and had them hanging up in no time!

I sprayed down my Ikea Spice Racks with champagne mist spray paint to make the cutest (and cheapest!) bookshelves!

Between drying time and finding moments to work on them while the kids were out of the way, it took about a day and a half. But it was honestly so easy!

Putting up my Ikea Spice Rack bookshelves was no problem with these basic household tools. LOVE those wall anchors!

These self-drilling drywall anchors are my favorite anchors around, and they worked like a charm. I used my stud finder to locate the stud, but it ran right through the spot where I wanted the shelves. So drywall anchors saved the day!

Tip: Drill the screw into the wall where you want it, then take it back out and screw the anchor into that pre-drilled hole, then screw the screw into the anchor. This way the anchor lands exactly where you want it!

These Ikea Spice Racks are super easy to install!

Aren't they perfect for this spot, and cute too? Rust-Oleum's Champagne Mist spray paint matched the colors in my daughter's room perfectly. I haven't shared anything from her room in a while, because it's halfway between a big girl room and a nursery. I still need to swap out some artwork before I show the new big girl room. It always takes me forever, I'm telling you!

These Ikea Spice Racks look great in this narrow, skinny corner and give it tons of function, too!

You can see just a peek of her gold polka dot bedding in the photo above. It's the Gold Dot bedding from Pottery Barn Kids, if you're curious. I think the quilt only comes in a toddler size, and it was half off when I wrote this. (Woohoo!) The pillow sham is still available. If you want a bigger quilt, PBTeen has a similar gold polka dot one!

We love this bedding. We've had it for 3 years, and it looks as good as the day it arrived. We have Pottery Barn bedding on all of our beds, and we just love their stuff!

We've since moved into a new home, but the spice rack bookshelves came with us and were among the first things I hung in the girls' room! You can see them below, next to their bed. They're perfect for grabbing a book at story time!

Built-in Desk in Bunk Bed/Loft Bed — the girls' room & bedding

Have you seen these IKEA spice rack hacks before? Do you have one in your home? Pick some up today and add functional space to your home for under $5 apiece.