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Collection by Heather Corcoran

These 5 Custom Built-Ins Let You Have it Your Way

When shelves and cabinets are built just as you like it, it's easy to maximize even the smallest of spaces.

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The architect brought the solid walls of certain rooms down to 7’ 8”, filling the remaining 4’ 2” with glass. This defining feature allows sunlight penetrate deep into the core of the space. The clients say the bright reds, oranges, and yellows of sunsets race across the ceiling and white walls.
The architect brought the solid walls of certain rooms down to 7’ 8”, filling the remaining 4’ 2” with glass. This defining feature allows sunlight penetrate deep into the core of the space. The clients say the bright reds, oranges, and yellows of sunsets race across the ceiling and white walls.
“The most important thing to do in a small space is exploratory demolition,” Pozner says. “We found all that height in the bathroom ceiling. There are giant cabinets above the bed—we found all that space. This facilitated architect Darrick Borowski’s small-space rallying cry: “Built-ins, built-ins, built-ins!”
“The most important thing to do in a small space is exploratory demolition,” Pozner says. “We found all that height in the bathroom ceiling. There are giant cabinets above the bed—we found all that space. This facilitated architect Darrick Borowski’s small-space rallying cry: “Built-ins, built-ins, built-ins!”
In the apartment’s new incarnation, the main living area is a family room that morphs—after the boys go to sleep in the back bedroom—into the parents’ lair. As Krastev puts it, “During the day it’s a one-bedroom apartment, at night, a studio.”
In the apartment’s new incarnation, the main living area is a family room that morphs—after the boys go to sleep in the back bedroom—into the parents’ lair. As Krastev puts it, “During the day it’s a one-bedroom apartment, at night, a studio.”
The computer-designed kitchen area has the feel of a ship's galley, with everything neatly stowed, yet visible and instantly at hand: It's much the definition of "ship-shape." For dinner parties, well-worn Eames shell chairs are pulled down by David, with the help of a footstool. "I have nearly an eight-foot reach," says the 6'3'' David. ("It gets a little tough if I have to spend a weekend or so alone," says Im.)
The computer-designed kitchen area has the feel of a ship's galley, with everything neatly stowed, yet visible and instantly at hand: It's much the definition of "ship-shape." For dinner parties, well-worn Eames shell chairs are pulled down by David, with the help of a footstool. "I have nearly an eight-foot reach," says the 6'3'' David. ("It gets a little tough if I have to spend a weekend or so alone," says Im.)