Built-in Furniture: A Gallery of Design Ideas

by James L. Tolpin

Built-in furnishings offer many advantages over freestanding furniture: They are generally less expensive to build than stand-alone furniture of the same type and size. They give you great latitude in designing the look and function of your interior spaces - you are not limited to designing around existing furniture pieces. And, because of the manner in which built-in furnishings are constructed, you can maximize the use of the most unusual spaces while creating an effective and aesthetically pleasing design solution. In this book, you'll see some of the finest examples of built-in furniture and cabinetry for nearly every room in the house. You'll be treated to a room-by-room survey of unique design solutions and strategies that you can use to add functional and delightful built-ins to your home.

Genres: Woodwork, Reference, Nonfiction, How To, Design

215 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have one problem with built-ins, you can't take it with you(voice of experience).

This book does tell you how to measure and make templates for built-in furniture in great detail as well as some basic construction methods. The examples showcase a variety of styles and the house sizes, there are some wonderful small house examples as well as stuff for the larger home.

Some good ideas and techniques for built in furniture, If you're building a new home or renovating an old one, this book may prove useful.

[Erika RS · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is exactly what the title claims it to be: a catalog of ways to integrate built in furniture into every room in the home. As a decided fan of nooks, built in shelving, bed alcoves, really almost any built-in furniture, I found something delightful on nearly every page, and I even got a handful of ideas that might actually be practical. Even the ideas that were not practical for us were still delightful (e.g., like the full bedroom width gothic built-in headboard, see the second hit for "gothic" on Amazon's Look Inside tool for the book above to see it).

Many of the built-ins in this book were added after the fact. I appreciated that because I suspect our budget cannot bear to have us build in originally all of the built-ins that I want eventually.

A good read if you are looking for inspiration about built-ins.

[Billjustbill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful pictures and great ideas (with actual explanations), but NOT for the beginner or timid. If you already have decent wood working skills, definitely a good book for ideas.

For instance, if you don't understand the difference between a regular dovetail joint and a blind dovetail joint, just consider this a book with great pictures you can show someone else and say "...make THAT for me!"

[Alex French · Rating 3 out of 5]

$1 yardsale copy was more than worth it!

Full read only a teeny bit more valuable than browsing pictures and skimming the occasional paragraph.

Lots of neat ideas. Much hideous style.

It sort of claims to talk about design and construction, but is room by room review with lots of pictures of real projects, mostly designed by architects and professionally executed.

[Matt Gaither · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright, I was hoping for more of a gallery of ideas but it's still helpful. Good tips on some of the trickier aspects of fitting new furniture to old homes, I'll probably pick this up when I tackle some projects around the house (this was a library read).

[John Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great ideas, some good technical tips.