So Much Storage!

We love our house and have ever since we walked through the designer model in January of last year. The problem, though, was that we had no easily accessible storage space. Yes, we have closets, but beyond that, not much else. The model had a bunch of built-ins to add additional storage, but with the outrageous prices they were charging, my husband and I decided to just make do without them.

Fast forward to now and we have two beautiful built-in units and they provide us with a TON of extra storage!  A friend of mine from high school is a contractor, who has a side business as a custom woodcraftsman. I contacted him to just get a quote, thinking it would be something we could do somewhere down the line. Well, down the line turned into now!

The first unit he did for us was in our loft. In our floor plan, we could have chosen to close off the loft space and use it as a bedroom, but we knew we did not need a five bedroom house and, instead, wanted to keep it open and use it as a second family room. Since it could be a bedroom though, we had an awkward opening where you would put a closet. That is where we had the built-in installed. 

It has eight adjustable shelves that we are using to house all our DVDs and Blu-rays and an enclosed cabinet space on the bottom. Currently, the cabinet is mostly empty minus a few games (Cards Against Humanity, anyone?), but we figured that in the future when we have kids, their toys can live in there. Previously, we had a bookcase in this space and it worked fine for what we needed, but it just looked messy and out of sorts. Now...beautiful organization.

It did not take long to have this piece made/installed either. My friend came out and did some measurements and then built everything in his shop. When he brought it out to install, he only had to do a few cuts and adjustments, but nothing major and had it installed in an hour. We (and by we, I mean mainly my husband) primed and painted it and then it was all done!

The second unit my friend made for us was actually a Christmas gift from my parents and is in our mudroom. The designer model had a nice bench/hook area in the space and we knew we wanted something similar. What we got was even better than we could have hoped for.

Shoe cubbies, storage cubbies, hooks, and a bench! I am completely obsessed. My husband likes to leave his shoes and jackets around the house, but now, they have a designated place to go, as do all the winter wear we currently need because of the freezing temperatures outside. 

I LOVE the beadboard backing and the crown molding at the top. Those two touches just make it seem more elegant. I added the upholstered seat, which was pretty easy and adds a fun pop of color to an otherwise white space. And, again, my husband did most of the painting.

If you live in the Richmond area and are interested in having any custom pieces made for your home/office, I highly recommend Chad Howard Custom Woodworking. He is fantastic!