41 Comforting Interiors That Are Pretty in Plywood
Affordable, lightweight, and versatile, plywood has become a favorite choice of designers looking to bring warmth and personality to a space without breaking the budget. From cost-effective backyard office projects to elegant modern homes, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite examples of plywood interiors from around the world.
A Giant Ribbon of Wood Wraps This Mind-Bending Parisian Apartment
Having just lived in a modern home, Seattle artist Mattie Iverson was drawn to the old-world character of a 1915 Tudor-style house, with its half-timbered facade and stained glass windows, in the Queen Anne neighborhood overlooking Puget Sound. Working with interiors firm NB Design Group, Mattie embarked on a gut renovation, lining the attic guest room with cozy plywood.
St. Kilda–based firm OOF! Architecture gave a Victorian shophouse in Melbourne a new addition and a bold exterior treatment, turning the formerly dysfunctional space into a neighborhood gem. Commonly available materials are used throughout the home, such as plywood and the industrial tresses that criss-cross the open-plan living area.
At 23 years old, self-taught designer Mariah Hoffman set out to craft her own 156-square-foot sanctuary. The interior of her tiny home features an open floor plan and an exposed, black-steel structural frame that informs the material palette for the furnishings. She clad the walls with light-toned birch paneling that contrasts with the structural frame, adding warmth and texture.
In 2015, a young couple expecting their first child reached out to Nimtim Architects to extend their townhouse in Forest Hill, London, to make room for their growing family. For the interiors, the firm chose timber for "a hard-wearing internal finish and a gentle, humane scale within the space," says O’Callaghan. A series of semi-open plywood screens creates porous living, dining, and kitchen areas.
Defined by an abundance of warm timber accents and an overall sense of intrigue, the aptly named Pine Flat residence by architecture firm A6A resides inconspicuously on the top floor of a 19th-century building. Inside, platforms, partitions, doors, and storage stitched together by plywood installations contrast the white, loft-style ceiling. Adding to the apartment’s congenial feel are heightened windows on the west side, which bathe the space in natural light while also offering views.
When young couple Leïla and Xavier decided to buy a house in Montreal, they envisioned a multigenerational home that could house Leïla’s mother as well as their own planned family. They purchased a duplex in the Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie neighborhood with two identical apartments (one over the other), and engaged architect Catherine Milanese of MOA Architecture to bring their dream to life. Faced with this challenge, Milanese drastically reconfigured the floor plan and inserted a Nordic-inspired, plywood-clad mezzanine into the roof space of the second-floor apartment.
Instead of designing another closed-off contemporary work of architecture, architects Andrew Maynard and Mark Austin created a village, wherein a series of friendly, gabled structures lead out from the original house and border an open garden. The house’s dominant gable form repeats at a smaller scale throughout the dwelling, as in the kitchen’s plywood and steel cabinets.
The cabin structure and arches are made of locally sourced poplar plywood. The design team selected this material because of its fast-growing characteristics and wide availability in the Netherlands. "Because they grow fast, there is a lot of water in the tree," add the architects. "During drying, this water is replaced by air—that’s why this wood insulates, and therefore feels warm and pleasant (it is the same wood type used for making clogs). The wood does not splinter, and it is non-toxic."
Two people can work back-to-back in this unique space that incorporates home office ideas for two. Two long, thin desks provide ample dual work surfaces, each with its own built-in storage shelves. The floors are Douglas Fir with OSMO finish. The angled walls and ceiling are Douglas Fir Marine Grade Plywood with a whitewash finish.
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