Design ideas for built-in furniture
Built-in furniture can be used in many ways; consider building a bed into a small space to create a cosy cocoon, or a banquette to maximise on space around a dining table. From reading nooks to window seats, here are the best examples from the House & Garden archive.
Paul Massey1/22In this Victorian villa, existing built-in wardrobes were extended and painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Ultra Marine Blue’, which complements the red fireplace tiles from Mosaic Factory.
Chris Horwood2/22This bedroom features nearly all built-in furniture. The bed sits between two floor-to-ceiling cupboard units, with bedside table nooks added in. As the bedroom leads into the bathroom, it passes through double built-in wardrobes.
Ngoc Minh Ngo3/22In the kitchen of this New York townhouse a built-in banquette utilises the space between the wall a cupboard to increase the seating capacity around the small round table.
Davide Lovatti4/22In this attic room, wood panelling has been painted in Farrow & Ball's 'India Yellow' around this built-in bed at Lamb's House in Leith.
Simon Brown5/22When decorating Robin Muir's London house, interior designer Caroline Holdaway built a window seat into the space under the square bay, adding storage beneath it. The seat is built from wood and covered with fabric cushions, which both complement and clash with the blinds, lampshades and valance.
Yuki Sugiura6/22Matilda Goad designed this bench for her dining table, which was built by her husband's company Blockhouse Build. The seats are upholstered with denim and Matilda added wooden tops to the backs of the seats to use as a place for decorative ornaments.
Paul Massey7/22In the book-lined nook under the stairs of Lonika Chande's house, the bench doubles as storage space and a place to read.
Gaelle Le Boulicaut8/22Artist Ghiora Aharoni's Manhattan apartment has a bedroom that is large enough to just fit Ghiora’s bed. ‘It is the size of the original bedroom – literally the size of a mattress,’ he says. It does not feel confining, however. ‘I have a huge window in here, so it’s like a beautiful cocoon.’ To maximise on the space, Ghiora built storage underneath the bed.
Paul Massey9/22Fiona Golfar's Cornish house is full of warm textures and patterned fabrics. The window seat in the snug room is an example of this, filled with a pile of cushions with varying covers and in all different sizes. The built-in seat has storage space underneath.
Simon Brown10/22Princess Beatrice's husband used to live in this one-bedroom flat and maximised the use of each inch of the main room, fitting in a large sitting area and a dining nook with banquette seating in Linwood's 'Moleskin Velvet' fabric in mustard.
Alicia Taylor11/22At The Newt hotel, this rustic, wooden bedroom features a built-in bed that feels cosy and cocooned within the space.
Helen Cathcart12/22The main bedroom in designer Paul de Zwart's Kensal Rise home cleverly combines decorative details with storage; a chest of drawers built into the alcove is made from the same material as the wall cladding and features pretty panel detailing. The two 'Leggera' chairs from Giò Ponti add colour.
13/22The best thing about having a small or strangely shaped room is the opportunity it presents to use your space imaginatively. The alcove behind the door, in the home of designer Patrick Williams of Berdoulat design, has been turned in to a charming sleeping nook. Enclosed behind the curtain are shelves, and a lamp for reading. The room is painted in Farrow and Ball's 'Lamp Room Gray'; while the random-width floorboards were bought on eBay. Reclaimed drawers are used under the bed as storage.
Paul Massey14/22Maria Speake divided this old byre with a wall of storage that conceals a television, an audio system and gym equipment. The doors, which slide, swing up and pull open, are made from engineered oak floorboards and have been trimmed with reclaimed iroko.
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15/22Fitted shelves, wardrobes and a desk wrap around one end of this bedroom by Charlotte Crosland. Charlotte added rounded beading to the doors and chose a strong teal for all the woodwork.
Sarah Hogan16/22In this small bedroom by Jane Taylor, cupboards are cleverly disguised by panelling made by Sympatico Joinery, while a small cubby hole acts as a bedside table.
Elsa Young17/22This owners of this London house gave architect Maria Speake of Retrouvius the go-ahead to make structural changes to give their family and business the space needed without having to move home. A shed has been made into a little studio in the vegetable garden, with a daybed that's fitted with storage underneath.
Paul Massey18/22The architect and designer Giles Vincent has reconfigured the rooms of his west London town house to set off a rich mix of inherited and collected antiques. The smaller of the two spare rooms has a day bed upholstered in a discontinued Galbraith & Paul fabric. The bed's headboard wraps beneath the window, padding the whole side of the bed, and making a deliciously cosy nook.
Ngoc Minh Ngo19/22In a spacious Hamptons home, the spare bedroom features a tricky sloping ceiling. The designer built a bed underneath it with in-built storage to create a cosy nook.
David Oliver20/22Interior designer Virginia Howard had no intention of moving from Knightsbridge to Pimlico, until a balcony flat in a nineteenth-century garden square changed her mind. In the dining area, Virginia created a workspace cleverly tucked inside a wall cupboard.
Paul Massey21/22Designer and furniture maker Jeremy Pitts has built a one-room cabin the woodland near his house in Sussex. ‘I wanted to demonstrate how many functions could be accommodated in a small volume,’ says Jeremy. A bunk bed doubles as a sofa, and there is a wall-mounted folding table made using a single board of oak from the same tree as the floor. Of course, it is also an example of what the designer can create for a client.
Simon Brown22/22In Alexandra Tolstoy's former house, bunk beds have been designed to provide space for three children in this bedroom. The room is full of charming things to engage young imaginations, but free of the whimsy and bad design that so often characterises nursery furniture.
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