Flat-packed furniture with a built-in finish is the perfect combination for small spaces
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BUILT-in furniture is the best way to optimise space, the finish is sleeker, and you can personalise it the way you want it. In my home, I have built-in banquette seating and a built-in desk in my study, both of which I adore and were worth every penny. I also have a hybrid situation going on with my wardrobes - the interiors were flat-packed (the Elfa system from The Organised Store in Dundrum), but the doors are built in.
This is the sweet spot - flat-packed furniture with a built-in finish offers the perfect combination of affordability and customisation. Wherever I can afford it, and I can find an available joiner, I will choose fully built-in furniture because I do believe it’s worth it. But the rest of the time I will opt for the flat-pack built-in combo to keep costs down. Here are some of the best ways you can give flat-packed furniture that built-in finish.
When shopping around for the right flat-packed furniture to customise, it’s a good idea to look for the most simple designs available as these are the easiest to modify to your own taste and helps you to create a more cohesive aesthetic throughout your home. Ensure the materials will stand up to modifications, and measure everything three times to make sure it will fit (or look forward to having some fun with a saw).
Consider your own DIY appetite, skills, and available tools at your disposal. At a minimum, you should be willing and able to paint and be able to use a screwdriver. If you’re confident, a drill and a saw will take you a very long way.
One of the most obvious places to start is the kitchen, as it is usually the most expensive room in the house. A fully customised built-in kitchen is the dream, and with full disclosure that’s what I went for, but many of you readers may not choose to sink that much of your budget into your kitchen cabinetry. And you don’t have to - with a little elbow grease, you can keep your costs down and still get that built-in look.
Once you have measured and bought your flat-packed kitchen, and either you or a professional has installed it, you can elevate it to a high-quality finish with a few simple steps. The first is paint. Painting your own kitchen units is time-consuming but not difficult. You could even add some panelling to the doors before painting to really add that expensive look, with only the cost of some MDF strips. The next is to add hardware -- beautiful handles and knobs are a fantastic low-cost way to uplift the most basic cabinet door. You may have some slight gaps between cabinets or between a cabinet and a wall - you can add a small strip of panelling here, or you could choose to add some shelving and create a spice rack or a narrow bookcase.
Wardrobes are the next major built-in expense in most homes. It’s hard to find exactly the right size wardrobe to fit your space, and sometimes your space may be very awkward, such as under eaves. I’m also a personal fan of floor-to-ceiling wardrobes, and achieving that usually requires a customised finish. Again, simply painting and adding gorgeous hardware can make a huge difference here. You can also add mirrors, rattan, panelling, or even fabric to doors to achieve the exact design you want.
I adore how my wardrobes turned out and frankly, I think everyone should copy me. I designed my ideal layout with the Elfa System from the Organised Store. Ikea has a similar system called the Boaxel. These are affordable and highly flexible systems that you can configure in any way you wish. I then had doors custom-made from the Panelling Centre in Dublin. The overall cost was less than 25% of the lowest quote I got for fully customised built-in wardrobes.
If you are handy with power tools, another option is to buy a simple flat-packed wardrobe such as the Pax from Ikea, and either cut it or add panelling to fit it exactly to your space.
Sometimes, simply adding a strip of panelling to the top and sides of the wardrobe to make it flush with the ceiling and wall can be all you need to make your flat-packed wardrobe look sleek and customised. In more awkward spaces you may need to cut down some of the back or sides of a wardrobe to fit it in under a sloping roof for example. You’ll need to sand and paint the edges in this case, and potentially add panelling to the doors to give them a proper finish. You should also be sure you’re not damaging the structural integrity of the wardrobe -- fixing it to the wall can help here.
I hesitate slightly on this one because I adore beautifully made tables and chairs, and if budget allows I’ll always choose handmade items. But budgets are fickle beasts, and it’s not always possible to find exactly what you want.
The sky's the limit when it comes to customising tables - you can replace the legs, repaint to your heart’s content, add a brass strip, and even sand the edge of a wooden table to create a natural-looking living edge. You can add a hinged flap to create an extendable table, or you could recover the entire surface with contact paper to create a marble-top effect. Children’s play tables can be repainted with chalk paint or whiteboard contact paper to help unleash their creative sides, and side tables can be kitted out with blankets and even curtains to create a stylish bed for your pets.
Chairs can be easily customised with paint, of course, and by replacing the fabric. I did this with some chairs in a previously rented apartment; I bought a square metre of fabric per chair, unscrewed the seat, and used a staple gun to stretch and attach the new fabric before screwing the seat back onto the chair. Simple and highly effective.
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