Whether you’re looking to add extra storage or just spruce up your living room, built-ins are a great way to combine beauty and functionality. Living room built ins can be customized to fit your exact needs and space. And the shelving is always a great place to add style and add your own personality. We love adding built-ins to our projects, allowing us to make the living room feel more custom and not so cookie-cutter and boring. Let’s take a look at some different ideas for living room built-ins.
Living Room Built Ins Around a TV
Adding built-ins around your television in the living room can be a great way to increase its aesthetic appeal and add more functionality to that room. Building the shelves, drawers, and cabinets around a television allows the television to be more integrated into the room. This also gives the room more of a unique look.
Built-ins can offer you extra storage space and also provide areas to display beautiful decor or family photos. You can style the shelves to add personality and visual interest to the room. And you can use the cabinets to hide things like electronic and board games.
Henry DIY’d this custom media built-in for our previous flip house. He designed it with keeping beauty and functionality at the core of his design. Knowing the new owners would prefer a space for a television within the room, he prewired for this, and if they decided against a TV, this area would be great for hanging a large framed art piece. He also made sure to add adjustable shelving and drawers for storage as well as some decorative trim.
Built-in Bench and Storage
A built-in bench is a great option if you have windows on both sides of your fireplace. Benches can provide additional seating for entertaining guests. And the additional storage provides a convenient place for books, magazines, games, or other items that would otherwise clutter up the living room. This combination of elements gives your living space an aesthetically pleasing look. It also allows you to keep things organized and hidden away. Add some throw blankets and pillows. Now the bench can also function as a reading area or a place to relax.
Installing a built-in bench and storage area is not only practical but also helps bring style to your home’s interior design scheme by breaking up a wall and adding some dimension.
Combine Floating Shelves with Cabinets
The combination of cabinets and floating shelves can be an excellent way to add both beauty and functionality to a living room. By installing a few well-crafted, stylish cabinetry pieces coupled with the sleek lines of a few floating shelves, you can create a unique combination. These pieces offer added storage space for items such as books, vases, and picture frames. They also give your living room an attractive layered look.
In addition to complementing the overall aesthetic appeal of the space, combining cabinets and floating shelves are great ways to give it a more modern feel. To further enhance this contemporary style, you can choose to add lighting over your shelving. This adds an interesting visual effect that will be sure to draw even more attention. With the thoughtful placement of these two types of furniture pieces, you can create a truly memorable atmosphere in your living room that is both stylish and practical.
Keep It Classic
Not every living room built-in needs to be elaborate. Keeping it clean and classic when adding built-ins to a living room is the sure way to get the perfect look. This simple design will add character while keeping with the simplicity of a room. A classic white built-in on each side of the fireplace can be inexpensive and easy to DIY. It also still allows for extra storage and decor items that can be added to shelves for display. This simple white-painted oak built-in is an example of an effortless, timeless design.
This simple built-in was in a previous modern farmhouse we built several years back. We chose this design to blend with the shiplap fireplace and walls while still providing plenty of storage with shelving and cabinets. We painted the cabinets the same as the walls, Sherwin Williams Creamy, to keep everything clean and minimal.
