Hi IKEA fans,

My TV/media setup is currently comprised of a full-width (31 1/2”) Billy bookcase, a narrow width (15 3/4”) Billy bookcase, a discontinued matching TV stand, and the discontinued horizontal wall-mounted Billy piece.

I have a set of large vintage speakers matched with my stero system that I would like to incorporate with my media setup, but the problem is that the narrow Billy is JUST narrow enough that the speaker will not fit in it. It’s about 1/2”-1” too narrow.

I don’t have the wall-space to switch that bookcase with a new full-width Billy.

I am considering either getting a new 31 1/2” Billy and cutting it down, or getting melamine board or plywood from Home Depot or just spare Billy shelves and cutting them down, to get to me the desired width of about 16 1/4”. I realize the backerboard may need to be replaced. These are white Billy cases on white walls, so I am not too concerned with my ability to make it all look good, but I want to be sure I can keep it stable enough.

Has anyone ever seen a successful hack of either expanding the narrow Billy or cutting down the full size? I have cut melamine board before with decent results, but I am just not sure at this moment which method (reducing or expanding) would be most cost/effort effective and give a good result.