4 Rooms With Unique Built-in Furniture Options

We’ve gathered four rooms with built-in furniture that offers storage space and custom seating options to houses for our latest article. From window benches to custom-made bookshelves and couches, built-in furniture can be both ornamental and functional, offering an additional room in small-footprint interiors or adding interest to larger ones.

Among the 4 examples below are a former hotel flat with an entirely custom-made interior and a Portuguese house with hardwood woodwork.

1. GjG House, Belgium, by Blaf Architecten

The project, called GjG House, is placed on the grounds of a 19th-century estate near a busy road, so the trees serve as a screen. The uneven design of this Ghent home wraps around existing trees. Because of the house’s odd design, most of its furnishings were custom-made, including a wooden storage wall in the kitchen that houses cupboards and shelving.

The interior of the undulating house is devoid of supporting walls, and the towering home feels quite big thanks to concealed storage. With two-tone blue tiling and bare wood cabinets, the kitchen is incorporated into a curved wall. Along the undulating wall, the wooden furniture forms storage and display niches for the eating area.

2. Steel Craft House, The Netherlands, by Zecc Architecten

Zecc Architecten in Utrecht transformed a garage into an artist’s residence with a distinctive Corten-steel exterior. The innovative use of materials extends inside, where the owner created a sculptural piece of built-in furniture.

“The stairs include a shelving system and storage space, and the base steps also serve as seating furniture,” project architect Marnix van der Meer said. The house appears tranquil due to the homogeneous interior with closed surfaces, and the sculptural piece of furniture saves space.

3. Nicolai Paris, France, by NOA

Network of Architecture converted a hotel in Paris’ Marais district into an apartment, which included custom-made oak furnishings. To avoid creating wasteful corridors, NOA used two different floor surfaces to subtly mark the distinction between rooms and the connecting spaces in between.

The goal was for the “playful” furniture to contribute to the overall usefulness of each room. The pièce de résistance of the living area is a single piece of built-in furniture that lies beneath one of the brilliant windows and features both a cosy window seat and shelf niches. The bigger island has a lounge, dining area, and kitchen, while the smaller one houses a single piece of built-in furniture that includes a window seat and shelf niches.

4. Workroom, Russia, by Ruetemple

This artist’s studio features a central plywood divider that divides the work and relaxation sections, as well as furnishings such as a work desk and shelves for books and sculptures. A plywood partition separates working and relaxation areas inside this artist’s studio in Moscow, incorporating both furniture and shelves for tidying away art supplies 

It holds a sofa and a series of steps that rise to a suspended sleeping platform on the other side of the barrier. The neutral wood utilised throughout emphasises the workshop-like vibe of the space while also serving as a blank canvas for the imagination.

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