Built-In Furniture

by: Jim Tolpin

Topics include: horizontal story stick, glue film, extension slides, tambour door, china hutch, cabinet unit, head casing, solid cherry, maple veneer, cornice molding, toe kick, counter surface

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First Sentence: Deeply rooted in the Old World, from the ornate vestry furnishing of the church to the humble chimney cupboards of the peasant cottage, built-ins have been with us in our shelters for many centuries.

With Built-In Furniture Jim Tolpin has put together an idea book, a lushly illustrated look at built-in furniture through history and in modern homes, from Shaker attic storage systems to Frank Lloyd Wright room designs to contemporary dream houses. A blending of furniture and architecture, built-ins are known for saving space, but Tolpin takes us to a new level of art and inventive design; for example, he depicts a cleverly designed, secure document-storage area that is completely hidden behind a pivoting bookcase. Even a casual page-through reveals hundreds of useful, creative ideas, such as a revolving entertainment center, hidden storage rooms, and elegant but sturdy built-in shelves. Built-In Furniture will have you walking from room to room, fantasizing about built-in projects that you could construct yourself.

Built-in furniture offers all kinds of benefits, both practical and aesthetic, but the design and construction can be intimidating. Cabinetmaker and best-selling author Jim Tolpin demystifies both processes in this combination of inspirational guide and how-to manual. The book starts with the basics of designing built-ins and the principles behind the construction, showing how to harmonize permanent furniture into its environment. Projects run the gamut, from window seats, benches, and couches, to bookcases, cupboards, and cabinets.

A gallery of design ideas for the home Here are some of the best examples of built-in furniture and cabinetry for nearly every room in the house. Jim Tolpin treats you to a room-by-room survey of unique design solutions and strategies that you can use to add functional and delightful built-ins to your home. Built-in furnishings offer many advantages over freestanding furniture: They are generally less expensive to build than stand-alone furniture of the same type and size. They give you great latitude in designing the look and function of your interior spaces -- you are not limited to designing around existing furniture pieces. And because of the manner in which built-in furnishings are constructed, you can maximize the use of the most unusual spaces while creating an effective and aesthetically pleasing design solution.

A gallery of design ideas for the home "It is quite impossible to consider the building as one thing and its furnishings another...the very chairs, tables and cabinets -- where practical -- are of the building, never fixtures -upon it." -- Frank Lloyd Wright, American Architecture I'd wager that you could find built-in furniture in nearly any type of American home: from the parlor-wall storage cupboards of the earliest New England saltboxes to the family room/audiovisual entertainment centers of the neo-modern villas lining California's Skyline Boulevard. Why are built-ins so ubiquitous in our homes? For the early colonists, storage and comfort were important needs. Built-in cupboards provided the most storage space for the lowest cost and maximized the use of the interior space of the thick, timber-framed walls. Other built-in furnishings were created to satisfy the need for comfort: Benches worked into an alcove by the fireplace created a warm, cozy space within these notoriously chilly homes. For later American designers and builders -- notably Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene and Greene -- architectural unity, was the goal. Built-in furnishings allowed these designers unprecedented control over the ultimate look and function of the home. Rather than having to work around existing free-standing furniture, they would, with built-in furnishings, design interior spaces that achieved a unique, yet comfortable, effect: an interior landscape in which highly functional furnishings blended harmoniously into their surroundings. Because the creation of built-in furnishings often demands unique design, construction, and installation techniques, this book begins with chapters devoted to these issues. Armed with some fundamental principles, you then embark on a room by room inspection of contemporary built-ins chosen for their visual appeal, unique design solutions, or extraordinary detailing. It is a close look that includes detailed explanations and illustrations of the special design, construction, and installation strategies used by their builders. By the end of this book, I'm sure you will agree with me that built-in furnishings are far more than "furniture without legs."

Table of Contents: Introduction 1 Architectural Furniture 2 Designing Built-ins 3 Principles of Built-in Construction 4 Foyers and Living Rooms 5 Dining Rooms 6 Kitchens 7 Rooms for Reading and Entertainment 8 Home Offices 9 Family Rooms 10 Utility Room 11 Bedrooms Contributors Index

Built-In Furniture: Foyers and Living Rooms Well-designed furnishings can fill entire walls, create boundaries, and offer display spaces

Built-in furnishings offer many advantages over freestanding furniture: They are generally less expensive to build than stand-alone furniture of the same type and size. They give you great latitude in designing the look and function of your interior spaces -- you are not limited to designing around existing furniture pieces. And because of the manner in which built-in furnishings are constructed, you can maximize the use of the most unusual spaces while creating an effective and aesthetically pleasing design solution. In this excerpt, author Jim Tolpin takes you on a tour of built-ins for foyers and living rooms. You'll discover designs for three entryways, along with full-wall cabinetry, a mantel, a partition wall, and more.

Reviews:

So disappointed! I can't tell unsuspecting readers and would-be remodelers how disappointed I was in this book. I bought the book for ideas for our major remodelling. In particular, I was looking for great pictures of clever, contemporary ideas for our sons' bedrooms and for our family room. The pictures in the book are very poor quality, grainy and faded, and most appear to have been taken well before the mid-Nineties. This book was published in 1997; it's now 2000. Why would I want to look at a room clearly designed for and in the 70's? What's with the crocheted pillow (p. 149)? I suspect that room has long since been RE-modeled. While I did enjoy the historical background on Gusbav Stickley's Structural Furnishings, I certainly didn't feel inspired by the already-dated examples of "contemporary" interpretations. While I am sure that Jim Tolpin is a competent carpenter, his taste and presentation are NOT for the style-conscious.

Built-In, North American Style -- This book does have enough pictures of built in cabinets/furniture from every room in the house to give you an idea of what can be done, but I found that other books I have read, such as Kitchen Design books, have way more information on certain topics than this book is able to cover. There is also some instructions on how to make some of the cabinets yourself. The style is all North American which is ok, but you should also read some books on how the Japanese design built in furniture, such as, Small Spaces: Stylish Ideas for Making More of Less in the Home, by Azby Brown.