Coleman - Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Custom Shelves & Built-ins: Build Custom Add-ons to Create a One-of-a-kind Home

Build Custom Add-ons to
Create a One-of-a-Kind Home

by Theresa Coleman

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

www.creativepub.com

Get ready to flex your carpentry muscles and improve your home with a little help from stock and semi-stock cabinets.

Built-ins are no longer just for kitchens. With the range of available cabinet sizes, finishes, and organization accessories available in stock and semi-stock styles, combining cabinets and standard sheet goods to create custom looks for your favorite rooms is a realistic option to buying the pre-made shelves and hutches that everyone else in your neighborhood owns.

We designed the one-of-a-kind projects in this Complete Guide to live up to the essence of the titlecompletewithout making the projects too tough for weekend DIYers. The result: A variety of fun projects for various skill levels with a range of design styles for rooms all over your house.

If you like the look of sleek urban style, check out The Club Bar (), on the other hand, is DIY-friendly project inspired by traditional hardwood libraries.

Chasing the brass ring of good design inspired more than just a hip-traditional design stew. It begged us to be mindful of the permanence of these projects. Sure, the projects are fun to create, but we took the nature of a built-in seriously. When you create a built-in or add shelving, it becomes part of your home, part of your day-to-day realitywhether your built-in is used to store laundry detergent, display cherished mementos, or curl up with a favorite book.

We crafted projects that you can build, projects with rock-solid, real-world assembly and fabrication techniques. And, since many of the designs include semi-stock cabinets, the carpentry skills needed arent furniture grade. Personally, I like to think of this guide as the carpentry equivalent of using a cake mix: You still have to add a few of your own ingredients, but you get to skip a few steps with the pre-made mix.

While you need the proper tools to combine all of the pieces, you dont need a professional workshop, as many of them combine pre-made cabinets with on-site carpentry that ranges from simple to intermediate skill levels.

Some projects call for some fancy fabrication like the Country Diner () are tied together with unique site-built details that integrate the built-in into your space.

For a different mix of skills needed, check out the Trim Molding Shelves (). Each of these projects combines rough and finish carpentry to create two totally custom built-ins.

Youll also find super shelves, fun furniture, and spacious storage projects for kids rooms, bathrooms, and utility spaces that can meet your needs today and grow with you and your family.

In the end, we hope that weve created a book that lives up to its namenot so much on these pages, but in your home and in your life.

If you arent inspired to create that one-of-a-kind perfect-fit look for your house after flipping through the designs weve included in the Complete Guide to Shelves & Built-Ins, you are missing out on an opportunity for maximizing the Wow from your friends and family.

We hope you have as much fun building these projects as we did building this book.

Theresa Coleman

Portfolio of Built-In & Shelving Projects

Built-ins add character and charm to any space. While built-ins can be purely functional, they can also be decorative or combine functionality with a showcase element. The type of built-in that works best for you and your home depends on your style and how you enjoy showing off prized treasures.

Built-ins are more than just simple shelves and wall cabinets. Whether you are building a cozy kitchen nook, an underbed platform or a storage cabinet that custom-fits your bathroom floorplan, unique little extras like drawers and cubbies in one-of-a-kind built-in furniture can maximize storage options for every type of space.

Bookshelves are one of the most popular types of built-in projects. Bookshelves dont have to just be showcased prominently in a formal living room, they also fit perfectlyand dramatically maximize smaller homes storage potentialalong hallways (opposite page). Built-in storage also can act as a visual room divider in larger spaces, creating the opportunity to display keepsakes that can be viewed from both rooms, and giving homeowners additional nooks to stow other items away. Even the smallest, simplest of shelves can greatly increase the amount of usable space and add visual impact.

Built-in projects arent just for traditionalists. In the built-ins category you will find countless perfect projects and stock products that match the modern style of many of todays homes. A uniquely shaped room can benefit from a custom built-in couch that maximizes the space inside the frame. Drawers keep throw blankets handy for colder days, and games ready for guests. A kitchen with a view is a perfect spot to integrate an eating area without interrupting the floorplan or flow of the space. And for the home office, there are many cabinets that offer semi-stock accessories, from file drawers and CD organizers to pull-out writing trays and office supply organization trays.