Going custom means creating a unique home that has your personality built in. Ideas for built-in furniture ground your living space in functionality while maximizing every square foot.
How do you incorporate built-ins into your home design ideas? And what are built-ins exactly?
The pros at Weaver Custom Homes have a deep understanding of how custom built-ins can be tailored to a homeowner’s needs. In fact, built-in cabinets, seating and shelves rank near the top of our fave five things to consider for building your dream custom home.
If your family needs a lot of storage but you also crave a tidy atmosphere with impressive character, custom built-ins are your most versatile option.
Let our decades of experience transforming custom home design ideas into reality lead you through the ins and outs of built-in furniture. We break down the basics of built-in benefits, then we dig into creative built-in ideas for every room, from a custom built-in bookcase that cleans up the mudroom to integrated window treatments that elevate your home’s style.
What Are Built-Ins?
Custom home built-ins are furniture pieces that are permanently affixed to the walls or floors of your house. You and a designer dream up ideas for built-in closet shelves, cabinets attached to bedroom walls or other custom elements. Then our contractors and carpenters build them onsite to the specific measurements and dimensions of your space.
If you’re deciding between a home addition or custom home, your affinity for built-ins could be the tiebreaker. An older home’s rooms may be cramped or awkwardly shaped, and adding built-in cabinets could make matters worse by eating up the already sparse square footage. Plus, it may be difficult to match an existing home’s style of molding or other trim with newer materials — and built-in furniture that looks inconsistent with the rest of the home could turn off prospective buyers.
On the other hand, custom home built-ins are integrated into the design plan from the very beginning. This ensures they’ll fit into the overall aesthetic of your home for a seamless effect that adds long-term value while supporting effortless everyday enjoyment.
Benefits of Adding Built-In Furniture to Your Home
The benefits of a custom home are undeniable: your preferred aesthetics married to ideal floor plan design elements constructed in the perfect location. How do custom built-ins support and amplify those benefits? We’re glad you asked!
Including built-in furniture in your custom home design will:
Add ROI Value To Your Home
It may seem like putting the cart before the horse to consider the resale value of your custom home before you’ve even moved into it. But thinking ahead is our specialty! It’s how we help our clients avoid common mistakes when building a custom home — like settling for less than a truly one-of-a-kind design plan. Predesigned floor plans might seem like the cheaper route, but they don’t always check all the boxes for a homeowner. When built-in furniture supports your family’s specific lifestyle needs with seamless function, it’s universally valuable. And your thoughtful use of all the space in your home for extra storage that also looks gorgeous will add value when it comes time to list it, making your investment worth the effort.
Maximize Your Floor Space
Adding built-in shelves in the living room or bedroom reduces the need for tables and freestanding bookshelves. Built-in cabinets along a hallway or in the laundry room can rein in coats, boots and other potential clutter. Custom window seats add extra seating without adding more furniture to a room.
As you consider the cost of a custom home, it makes sense to scrutinize every inch of floor space for its most effective use — and this is where built-ins become the hero of your floor plan. With a little forethought and the expert advice of our Design Consultants, you can maximize the space in your home by including built-in furniture that makes room for more important items, like those divine mid century velvet chairs.
Minimize Clutter
Too much clutter is one of the most common complaints we hear from homeowners about their current space. Having designated places to hide away seasonal décor, sports equipment, cleaning supplies and other periodic-use items is crucial for maintaining a sense of calm and order in a home. Explore creative ways to add storage to your home that nixes clutter, like custom built-in TV cabinets that hide electronics or built-in banquette seats that lift to reveal a stash spot for linens and pillows. From built-in closet ideas for the master suite to built-in cabinets under a staircase, the possibilities for custom tidiness are nearly endless!
Create Custom Charm
Love the charm and character of older homes but need the modern amenities of new construction to accommodate your family’s lifestyle? Get the best of both worlds with custom built-ins! You can choose wood types, paint colors and trim styles for your built-in furniture that echo your home’s exterior treatment or subtly underscore your overall aesthetic. And if you’re not sure how to choose your aesthetic, the consultants at Weaver Custom Homes can help you identify your preferences and pair them with design elements from various eras and artistic movements that define the look you want. Whether it’s traditional, vintage-inspired, transitional or sleekly contemporary, your style gets a three-dimensional lift with custom built-ins.
Inspiring Custom Built-In Ideas
Flexible floor plans, self-care spaces and integrated home offices were among the hottest custom home building trends for 2023 — and built-in furniture plays a big role in each one! Check out these inspiring home design ideas for including custom built-ins in your dream house.
Office Built-Ins With Desk Features
Working from home has gone from an anomaly to a norm since the pandemic. And many of us learned quite quickly that the kitchen island or dining room table is a poor substitute for a dedicated workspace. A recent Weaver Homes client knew well before breaking ground that a home office with doors for privacy and custom built-in storage was a must-have. An architectural spotlight featuring custom contemporary home design highlights this client’s built-ins with a desk, open shelving and closed storage. The homeowner needed a home office that mirrored the setup at his corporate workplace, hid unsightly electrical cords and allowed him to show off treasured mementos from around the world. You can see how we integrated all those practical needs into the home’s traditional aesthetic with complementary paint selections, crown molding and other thoughtful design details.
Built-In Closet Ideas
The master suite is the ideal setting for creative built-in storage. You probably know that walk-in closets should contain lots of open shelving for shoes and folded items plus multiple rods for hanging clothes — but there’s one unique closet storage idea you may not have thought of. Inspired by modern kitchen layouts, an island in the master suite has become an increasingly popular feature. It’s incredibly practical for folding or laying out outfits, but an island can also amp up the sense of opulence with a luxurious marble, granite or quartz top. And it can house additional storage underneath for a true win-win.
Mudroom Built-In Cabinets
Mudrooms were made for built-in furniture. Maximize this room by including built-in bench seating with space underneath for shoes and boots, cubbies with hooks for bookbags and jackets, and closed storage with shelves for sports gear, seasonal décor and more. Keep your fur babies as organized as the rest of the family with built-in ideas like dog food bins, integrated kennel cages and toy storage that make the most of your mudroom space. It’s one of our five dream home must-haves for the way it helps families transition from outdoors to indoors without compromising style, comfort or cleanliness.
Ideas for a Custom Built-In Bookcase
Custom home built-ins can make any room seem more spacious. Picture a built-in bookcase in the otherwise unused space under a stairwell or running along the wall of a long hallway. Because they’re constructed onsite, built-in shelves can work around windows and doorways like no other furniture can. Add a built-in bookcase wall to the den to create the luxurious feeling of a private library or fit one into a guest room nook for extra coziness. No ideas are off limits here! You’ll get to see 3D computer renderings of your home design ideas during our custom home process, which takes the guesswork out of how your built-ins will end up looking and functioning.
Custom Built-In Fireplace Surround
Adore the idea of a fireplace as the focal point of your living room — but think it will take up too much wall space? You don’t have to sacrifice the look and feel of real flames to gain storage when you consider a custom built-in fireplace for your main living area. The expert consultants at the Weaver Design Center can walk you through options for wood-burning, gas and electric fireplaces combined with built-in shelves for living room displays of cherished items and built-in cabinets for more discreet storage. You’ll be able to see and touch samples of materials that coordinate with your overall aesthetic while accommodating all your practical needs.
Custom Home Design With Weaver Custom Homes
Ready to take your custom home ideas to the next level with built-in furniture, cabinets and shelving? Check out what many of your neighbors have to say about the Weaver Custom Home experience from our clients’ point of view. You’ll see why Weaver is the best choice for custom built-ins that elevate your idea of what a dream home can be!
