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Home Decorating

Help with built-in shelves

7 years ago

Hi Everyone-

These are some pictures of our main TV/LR/Family room. We have 3 school aged kids. We would like to add painted built-in shelves and bookcases to accommodate the TV and frame the window. The fireplace and mantel are almost finished. The area above the FP will be repaired with sconces added and artwork (no tv up there) We need to have the portion over the radiator cover portion removable so we can access that. The TV will stay in the same spot but within the built-in shelves. Do the top of the bookcases need to go all the way to the ceiling or can they stop were the window stops? Should we have doors and drawers or just doors?

New furniture including a sofa with chaise and 2 leather chairs will be delivered mid-november. Hopefully a new rug as well. The room is 13.5ft wide by 25ft long. The sofa is on the long wall opposite the FP and will stay there. Thanks for any input and if anyone can do a photoshop I would greatly appreciate it!!

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Comments (4)

aprilneverends
7 years ago
a) I'd either take them to the ceiling, or put the lower shelf a bit lower than the upper window edge..if it makes sense. You don't want all lines to perfectly match. Or: I wouldn't want all lines to match perfectly:) Some difference in height is usually pleasing to the eye.

b) Drawers are always amazing to have. I had 6 or 7 integrated into our custom shelving-great solution for keeping there documents and files, greeting cards, and whatnot. Some things are much easier to look for when they're in a drawer. Each one of mine was designated for certain things..they definitely still became messy once in a while and I combed through them and cleaned out stuff that ceased to be relevant, but overall, make life easier and organization better.

c) Unless you do it all yourselves-you'll probably commission a cabinet maker? They often are very knowledgeable, and will have great ideas and suggestions about the design. Do find a couple inspirational pictures for them, to explain what you have in mind, even vaguely-and then sit to discuss the detailed plan with them. They usually take some time to think about things, and do the renderings..then they show their ideas to you, and you talk together and decide how things will look in the end.

And-you have a very, very nice room!
lazy_gardens
7 years ago
If you ran the bookcases to the ceiling, with a bridging shelf over the window you would have the whole wall covered.

Bookcases are among the easiest things to build - get a jig for making the holes for adjustable shelf pegs, plenty of right-angle clamps, pocket screws and a jig, a drill and a miter saw, and you are pretty much ready to start. It's a square box with a very lightweight back.

Also, consider getting ready-built units, like IKEA's famous Billy and adding blocks and molding to make it look built in. Searching for "ikea billy built in" will give you a ton of links. Using other cabinets in the combo can give you bottom cupboards and upper shelves easily and not too expensively.
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Here's some advice from someone who lives in a 100+ years old house. Who has had to spend money on maintenance more than anything, much more than I would have liked. Here's what I would do if I could do it over. Before you move in, paint and tear out the old carpets. If you can afford to, refinish the hardwood floors if necessary. Sure these are "cosmetic" updates, but it will make living in the house so much more pleasant to have things freshened up. Plus, it's easy to refinish floors in an empty house. Hardwood floors actually add value, so you can feel good about that right away. Pick no more than three "colors" for the entire house (in this case, ivory, gray, and tan count as colors) and stick to paler shades of these colors for the walls of every room. You can use more than one shade of each color, but stick to three base colors. This will establish a color flow from room to room. You can change it later if you want. I say, go ahead and paint the cabinets. Paint is the least costly way to change the entire look of the kitchen. Updating the hardware on freshly painted cabinets, changing out the dated light fixtures and adding under cabinet lighting will give the whole space a face-lift. In fact, updating the lighting is where to start a kitchen re-do! Redoing the counter-tops and flooring is not that hard or expensive. But it is worth getting help to do it correctly from someone who has done it before. We have to re-do our ceramic tile kitchen floor either because the sub-floor wasn't laid correctly or they skimped on the mortar, causing the tiles to crack. Everything is harder to do once you're moved in, but it's not impossible to finish a kitchen floor in a week-end. The way the tile is laid out and/or a mix of tile sizes can update the look of a plain tile floor. Stick with neutral tiles and darker-colored grout (trust me, you don't want light-colored grout) and you can't go wrong! Personally, I'm not a fan of granite at all. But the tiled counter-tops I've lived with for years are way worse! I think I would look for a solid surface counter-top and call it a day, that's just me. Since you cook, you might want to update the sink and faucet to accommodate large pots or colanders before making any counter-top decision. Expect to have to change the faucet someday. With that in mind, buy a decent, well-known brand. Can't wait to see how things turn out! Good luck to you on this new adventure.
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You do not need to put something on every shelf. It appears that either niche is large enough for a flat screen TV. I'd paint the back of the niches to match the cabinetry.
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These items are often available through kitchen cabinet manufacturers. You can go to HD and have them quoted by Kraftmade Cabinets for example. Are you sure you don't want something more contemporary? These books shelves are from C&B + CB2
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Comments (7)
I drink wine, so I would put several wine racks in either side of the lowest cubbies. I wouldn't get fancy about it -- in fact, I would want to make the room more of a mix of informal and welcoming and sophisticated -- so I'd put in a bunch of these or whatever else fits and doesn't break the bank and spend the savings on better wine. ;) Middle shelf above the double door cabinet I'd put in crystal canisters or European ceramic or tines filled with after dinner candies, rock sugar treats and cookies -- like, a lot of them Then I think I would simplify my life and put 3 framed artworks to cover the upper shelves, hanging them over the shelves so that some of the shelves were still visible. These come in big sizes , But I might stick with a dark old fashioned rug because of your light fixtures (which I like) and the cabinetry
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chestnut3
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks for your input! Yes we have a cabinet maker and I haven't met with him yet. Just trying to look at pictures so I can show him. Appreciate the help!
roarah
7 years ago
Love your two sided fireplace, you lucky duck your home has so much character! My husband and I did the rad covers in all rooms and bookshelves in the kids bedrooms ourselves in our home so we could remove the tops and the bookshelves have cut out space to access the control valves. We only did small on each side of this window to allow for furniture placement flexibility.

Pic of how we access rad valves

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