A couple of weeks ago I popped by my friend Rob and his lovely girlfriend Olivia's new home in Leytonstone. They had moved there just over a year ago and had to refurbish the whole house. After spending a lot of money on builders to remove walls and replaster all of downstairs (and investing in a super nice marble bathroom upstairs) they didn't have much money left over to spend on furnishings.

Rob told me that he had always loved the 'library look' that often frequents an expensive home or a Soho members club, but employing a carpenter to create bespoke shelving was out of the question as new home owners. That's when he had the idea to create the look with an ingenious 'Ikea Hack' with Ikea's Billy Bookcase's, decorative mouldings and some lightweight duropolymer coving from the DIY store.