Built-in Features: Value Added Options or Design Nightmares?

One way to add character to a home and make better use of dead space areas is by the addition of built-in features in your home. There are a variety of options that you can add to increase the usable space in your home and really add some charm.

Built-in features may take the form of storage options like book shelves, cabinets, drawers, specialized closets, entertainment centers, and wine racks; these types of built-ins commonly use space that's otherwise wasted to add richness to the rooms and help hide or organise clutter.

Other types of built-ins may give the home additional seating like a window seat in a bay window or a banquette which is a built in bench that is added to a windowless nook; either type of seating can be constructed to have an additional storage space underneath.

Built-ins may also be constructed as work spaces; many home work areas can be transformed with a built in desk and cabinets while laundry rooms can be made far more efficient with the addition of a folding counter or table, cabinets for laundry items, and possibly a built in ironing board or drying rack.

However, whatever sort of built-in features that you're looking at adding to your living space, keep in mind that not all of them are going to universally add value to your home. Many built-in options can severely reduce the amount of useable space in a room is it's installed in such a way that you can only set up the furniture in one configuration. Some built-in entertainment centers built in the 1980s horribly date the houses that they were installed in and do to advances in technology are utterly useless now.

The best way to use permanent features to add value to a home instead of taking it away is to only add built-ins that utilise otherwise unusable space, don't let the features dominate a room, and to try to keep as much as possible with the style of the home.

Some good built-ins can include bookshelves under stair cases or on stair landings; built in shelves in bathrooms; kitchen pantries; cabinets or shelves around fireplaces; and narrow bookshelves on small walls that you likely wouldn't want to put furniture in front of.

Built-in features can really add to the charm and attractiveness of your home but remember that not everyone is going to love every sort of permanent furnishing you'd like to install. Keep them simple and basic so that if you change your decorating scheme you will be able to work with the installation and keep in mind that if you're likely to sell your home any time soon that prospective buyers will usually prefer something that is easy for them to work with as well.