Our Custom Built-in Bookshelves Design You’ll love

They say good things come to those who wait. Well, I’ve been waiting around a year to start this project because of the huge undertaking it is to create a custom built-in and to get it right.

I knew some kind of vertical storage was necessary. At first I thought about purchasing open shelving units but after taking my measurements, the best solution was a custom piece. I started gathering cabinet layout ideas for my home office and listed our organization needs. With this information, I started designing the built-ins.

Did I think of building the cabinets myself? Maybe…

I didn’t want to compromise on the finish and to be honest, I think hiring out this project will be cost-saving then doing it myself. I wanted a lot of organization solutions and it needed a professional to do it. Our home office ceiling height is high and the cabinets need to be high enough to visually make an impact in this the room.

LOCATION

The built in bookshelves will also be the focal point in our home office. Our home office is located at the front of the house with french doors, making the built in bookcase a feature guests will see when they walk through our hallway.

Here are some of the inspirations that I pulled together,

source: left, middle, right

I wanted bookshelf design that would allow me to style books and home decor items that are beautiful, but at the same time hide things behind closed doors. Haha!

Can you tell that I’m so excited about having bookshelves that I can style and change things up when I want?!

Here is the wall for the built-ins.

I’ve been going back and forth on the cabinet design for over a year now. I know! Yep! Custom cabinets is a huge commitment. I need to ensure all the design elements that meet our needs.

BUILT-IN CABINET DESIGN ELEMENTS
YOU SHOULD CONSIDER

OPEN STORAGE

In my cabinet design, I wanted open storage mainly for styling books, family pictures and home decor items. These bookshelves are at a height that my little wont be able to reach which gives me peace of mind as well.

The open shelves are adjustable shelves and I can change their placement anytime I want.

CLOSED STORAGE

The reality is even if I planned to have things organized in this space, it will not happen all the time. Therefore my goal was to have ninety percent of the cabinets be closed storage, to hide all the mess.

PULL-OUT SHELVES

I love pull-out shelves. They are my must-have in any home. They are functional and increase storage space. Pull-out shelves allow for easy access to items.

These shelves are also part of my kitchen cabinets and knew that I also needed them in our home office. I included two pull-out shelves in my cabinet design, on the left side next to the bottom drawers.

FILE CABINET DRAWERS

A filing cabinet is a storage necessity to store and organize paperwork and delicate items. I wanted some of the deep bottom drawers to serve as filing drawers. I also plan to use these drawers to organize my kids artwork.

PRINTER CABINET DRAWER

Friends, I’m not a fan of seeing a printer in a corner of the room. Are you this way as well?

A cabinet drawer for the printer was a must-have for me. You might be wondering how do you account for your current printer or any printer.

My advice is to measure it! Or consider buying a compact printer that meets your needs.

ELECTRICAL ADD-ONS

I didn’t include sconces to the top of the cabinets because of the additional electrical work required. There is no attic access in this room, which requires an electrician to cut through the drywall and get power from the light switch at the front of the room. I didn’t have the budget for the work to be done.

However, I did include two outlets in my cabinet design. One outlet located above the bottom drawer in case we wanted to hang a TV. This was my husband’s request.

The other outlet existed on the wall but my cabinet builder needed to account for it while building the cabinets. This was the outlet for the printer.

PAINT COLOR

Oh the paint color! This decision took the longest. I wanted the built-in to be painted in a dark color, preferable a dark blue.

I started my research and bought samples of favorite blue paint colors by Benjamin Moore. These paint colors were Hale Navy, Newburyport Blue and Gentleman’s Gray.

I went with Benjamin Moore Hale Navy. I was very nervous about it because there was no turning back. My cabinet builder told me that this paint color is one of his most requested paint colors from his clients which made me confident about my choice.

After finalizing my cabinet design, I reached out to my cabinet builder to get this project started. He came to the house, took his own measurements and reviewed my design, making sure it will work in our home office space from top to bottom.

He really liked my design and I couldn’t wait to get started on it. We agreed on the final height of the cabinets, at 9ft tall.

He quoted the project at $4500 which I was surprised. I thought the quote was high but knew I had to proceed with it. We needed these built-ins for storage. I also have been saving up for this project for a year now.

INSTALLATION

The cabinets were built and painted in his studio. I was so excited when I received the call and was informed the cabinets were ready to be installed.

The cabinets were installed and I’m extremely happy on how it turned out. The paint color is beautiful. Crown molding added to the top of the built-in cabinets completes it.

Why didn’t I get started on this project sooner?!

I’m in love with all the design elements I included in our built-ins and of course, to get started on styling the open shelves.

Here is the built-ins fully installed,

I’m so loving it and glad I took my time to design the cabinets and considered how my husband and I use our home office. I believe it takes time to make a house and home and it’s okay for the transformation to take time.

When our guests walk into our home they are in love with our foyer transformation as well as the built-in in our home office.

I can’t wait to finish updating our home office. Here is a sneak peak of the shelves styled. You can check out my home office design plans here.

Stay tuned! I’m excited to get started on the next update, building a woven bench for additional seating in our home office.

Leave a comment below on what you think about our built-in bookshelves and let me know if you have any questions.

xo, Gbeke