Sure, you could duck down to IKEA and grab yourself a hot dog and a beautiful Fjällbo, Vittsjö or some other flatpack with an umlaut OR you could support a local joiner or cabinet maker and go custom. Honestly, built-in furniture is the couture of the furniture world and while the price may be higher, it's sure to flatter your home in ways you didn't even realise your home could be flattered. You're worth it.
Here are approximately 7 benefits of built-in furniture...
1. Maximise a Tight Space
Even the tightest of spaces and the nookiest of crannies can benefit from a well-designed piece of built-in furniture. Look, here Catseye Bay managed to turn a sad little corner into a bedroom, couch, wardrobe AND storage space with a clever piece of built-in furniture, turning a dysfunctional 36 square metre apartment into a function-FULL studio. Now that's making the most of a tight space...
See, bedroom, lounge and assorted vase storage in one!
And around the corner? A portal to Narnia wardrobe!
2. Make the Most of Awkward Corners
Sadly, limited pre-made pieces of furniture come in triangle, so it's wise use built-in furniture for those awkward corners where nothing seems to fit. For example, there isn't an underneath of a staircase in the known universe which wouldn't benefit from some wine storage. Or, if you're a puritan, a linen cabinet. Or bookshelf.
According to current estimates, there's a 90% chance of wine behind those doors...
You can even recruit the risers of stairs to house drawers filled with all of your things...
Exhibit 1: A good spot for your shoes and miscellaneous trinkets.
Exhibit 2: The perfect place for your healing crystals and wiccan spells.
Sorry, what?
3. Change the Focus
Like a timely segue, orderly, reliable, built-in furniture is the perfect way to change the focus of a tangent - or even a room. Because sometimes you don't want the furniture to be the focus. You want it to fade into the background and let the view take the heat.
At this home, built-in shelves change the focus of a room from what's inside to the Italian Greyhounds and the lack of compliant railings.
4. Frame a View
Actual frames are so last decade. These days, it's all about using inconspicuous built-in furniture to frame views. Just like changing the focus of a room, the right built-in furniture can make a view look like an expensive print on the wall.
As a bonus, you get a sunny day bed on which to nap while you feel guilty about all the housework you're not doing because you're napping. Again.
5. Show Off Your Personality
The aubergine streak you got in your fringe in high school was all about showing the world what a fun-loving carefree spirit you were, right? Similarly, built-in furniture can be used to show off your personality.
Whether it's your fixation for dried flora?
Or your fetish for footwear?
Get some built-in furniture built-in and show off what makes you, you. And you can guarantee prissy Janice from down the road isn't going to buy the same cabinet as you, because your piece is custom, bitch.
6. Define Zones without Walls
Built-in furniture is also a tip-top way to create zones without going all Berlin circa 1961 and building a wall. Open shelving can be used to separate a lounge from the kitchen and dining areas, for example. In studios, built-in furniture can even be used to create a sleeping zone, without making the space feel smaller. When you've only got 50 square metres, you don't want to cut it in half with a stubborn wall.
At this beach house, a simple built-in bookshelf defines the bedroom without coming right out and saying bedroom.
or even act as a balustrade.
7. Redefine a Space
Built-in furniture has secret powers. Like the power to redefine a space. What the heck do I mean by that? Well, just because it's just a corridor doesn't mean it has to be just a corridor, know what I mean? Like, for example, at this cat's house, a built-in desk means this corridor is also a study. Multi-tasking isn't just for busy mothers, you know.
8. Storage, Storage, Storage
Built-in furniture is the pinnacle of space-efficient storage because it can be custom-designed to fit exactly what you need it to fit. This apartment makes up what it lacks in floor space by being German-level efficient with its storage space. And I made a GIF to prove it (is it pronounced Gif? Or Jif? A question for the ages...)
Has tiny apartment. Dedicates 1/4 of storage to wine. There's someone I can relate to...
