You're not going to believe this transformation.

Here's the before: a perfectly fine room, but essentially a plain white box. A blank canvas, so to speak.

And here's the after...

​(Brace yourself... it's going to be great.)

Yes, this is the same room! You can tell by the floor, which hasn't changed.

Of course, this seemingly magical transformation didn't all happen at once. Let's rewind a bit and tell the story of a once-boring condo living room that became the perfect cozy sanctuary thanks to an electric fireplace.

​It all started in these new units at 55 South Market Street in downtown Asheville.

And when I say "downtown," I mean DOWNTOWN.

As in two blocks from tacos...

...chocolate...

...and the place where all driving directions in Asheville started, back before GPS was a thing.

With a location like that, it's not hard to believe that these condos sold like hotcakes. (So much for my plans for a downtown pied-à-terre...)

And in keeping with the trendy location, the builder designed trendy interiors centered around simple Shaker-style white and gray kitchens, with plain white walls and white trim in all the other rooms.

However, our clients wanted a little more warmth and texture in their new home. They called in Leslie Huntley with Roost Interior Design... and Leslie called us in to help her add some bookshelves.

The homeowners had also requested an electric fireplace to bring in a little radiant heat during Asheville's chilly mountain winters. We collaborated with Leslie to design a hearth that would coordinate with the nearby kitchen.

She specified a deep violet-gray for the shelves, which was offset by the newly-painted taupe walls for a tone-on-tone effect.

Back at our studio, we built and painted the unit, then pre-assembled it to preview the effect.

Notice the poles getting in the way near the ceiling! Our workshop was built from a vintage tobacco barn, and we're too sentimental to take out the old poles. But you get the idea, anyway.

As you can see, the cabinets were fairly large and very heavy, so we enlisted Faith's dad to help load them up...

...and bring them onsite to install them.

Glenn is great to work with. He's the most meticulous carpenter I know.

The electrician and tile guy each came in soon afterward, and the final result was quite nice. The electric fireplace is surprisingly realistic. Instead of trying to fake a flame, the manufacturers made a glowing-log effect, as if the fire has died down a little bit.

It puts off a nice, warm wave of heat which will be great in a few weeks when the first frost hits.

By the way, check out that smooth finish. Leslie specified satin paint, which is a little bit unusual for trim and moldings like this. But it does have a very mellow effect.

Hopefully the French Broad Chocolate Lounge does local hot chocolate deliveries... it seems like this would be the perfect place to drink it on a cold winter night.

If you've got a "plain white box" room that you'd like to transform into a cozy retreat from the world, give us a call. We love this stuff!

I've had a beautiful set of white built in shelving posted on our Gallery page for awhile now, but I was going through my photo archive recently and realized that I've never shared a "behind the scenes" blog post to show you how it was made.

The building process is the thing that sets our handmade bookshelves apart from the pre-fab stuff. Unlike pre-made furniture that's usually installed as separate units with seams in between, custom shelves can be created as one large unit, with no seams or gaps. That's because we personally install the shelves, so we're able to add the small touches that tie everything together.

Let's start with a picture of the finished bookcase with all the books in it, so you can see what we were working toward.

Next here's the empty room to compare it to. It's a bit of a visual surprise to see that this bookcase wasn't always there... it looks like it was built with the home, but of course it's quite new.

By the way, I learned something when we designed this piece. If you compare the "After" picture to the "Before" picture, you can see that without the bookcase, the room was dominated by the big fireplace, which seemed a little too large for the small space.

It's hard to get a sense of the size of the hearth from this photo because the ceilings are fairly tall, but that mantel is about six feet up! You can get a better idea of its height from the scale drawing which Faith made for the room.

Somehow the bookshelves made the room seem bigger, even though they actually reduced the floor space. The takeaway is that if you have a large element in a room and you can't easily change it, you can try balancing it with other large elements.

And these bookcases are definitely on the large side. The ceiling is nine feet up, a little higher than standard. This added some design challenges, because standard materials come in eight-foot lengths.

In the end I decided to build each of the three bookcases as two smaller units: a short section at the bottom with a taller section on top. (I could have built it another way, but I chose this option because it brought more structure and stability to the project, which is an important consideration on tall bookshelves like these.)

Once the cases were assembled, I cut out the individual shelves. I love projects like these, where there are lots of identical pieces. You can get into a nice rhythm of work and the time just flies right by.

Building the cases as smaller units also made the delivery and assembly run smoothly and efficiently, despite the narrow hallway I had to enter through.

You may notice that the sides of the bookcases seem fairly slender in this process photo. That's because I hadn't trimmed the unit out yet.

I covered the whole side of the unit with a long floor-to-ceiling board, and trimmed out the faces of the case with white painted wood. This gave the shelving a more substantial look, and it also added strength and solidity, which is very important when you're going to be putting hundreds of pounds of books on it!

Last but not least, I added crown and shoe molding to tie the unit in with the rest of the room. We went with a simple Shaker style to coordinate with the lines of the fireplace mantel.

I also cut out the baseboard behind the shelves so I could install them right up against the wall. Then I secured them to the wall for even more stability, and caulked the seam between the shelves and the wall.

That personal touch is what makes the shelving read as a continuous part of the room, as if it had always been there. And it helps that we custom painted everything to perfectly match the existing white trim.

The homeowners were so happy with the large unit that they had me come back and put in another, smaller shelf on the other side of the room.

I love the way they look with the books in them. There's something comfortable and warm about a home library.

If you want a cozy library of your own, give us a call. We can do white built in shelving, or freestanding wooden bookcases, or anything else you have in mind.

I recently finished a built-in home office desk made from one of my favorite woods: Cherry. Look at that color!

While I was building it, I had ample time to contemplate the things that set custom-made furniture apart from pre-made pieces. One thing that makes this piece special is the care that I used when I was choosing each piece of wood.

Cherrywood has a LOT of variation, as you can see even in these unfinished boards.

The big left-hand board is fairly bland, while the one right next to it has an arrow-like pattern of ribboning. (This is another reason I love cherry... it can have a lot of depth and interest in the grain.)

As I added the first coats of poly, you could really see the difference.

When I built the drawers, I chose pieces that made a continuous wrap-around pattern, so they're as pretty on the inside as they are on the outside.

The sides of the desk also wrap around to match the header.

I got an especially pretty piece for the top. It's hard to get photos of wood grain, so you'll just have to use your imagination when I say that it had complex patterns that threw back gleams of light.

The desk really transformed the wall, which went from small and bland...

... to big and bold!

The cherrywood will darken over time and become redder as well, so this desk will just get better with age.

If your home office could use a little pizzazz, we can do that for you. And we'll pay attention to all the little details, too.

... ESPECIALLY if you already love white rooms.

But before I show it off, allow me a quick comment. In the past decade or so we've seen a lot of people paint their furniture, especially those who prefer airy, contemporary rooms in a neutral palette. And don't get me wrong... I love painted furniture and some of my favorite projects have been painted plain white.

But dark, rich brown wood has its place in light-colored rooms. It makes a beautiful foil against the white walls, and it can have complex grains which bring texture and interest to what would otherwise be a bland space.

Walnut is one of my favorite dark woods. It's got a chocolatey purple undertone and a grain pattern which, while subtle compared to oak, can often include arched patterns that add an Art Deco touch.

​Case in point: our latest project.

A custom built-in AV cabinet in a bright, contemporary living room.

Or do you like it better without doors?

It's really hard to capture the beauty of this wood in a photograph, because grain patterns move with the light. They glimmer and shimmer.

​But here's my best attempt:

There's a satiny ribbon effect that really catches the eye.

By the way, the shelves are adjustable in height to allow you to store larger items like stereo equipment or a hidden TV. I love the versatility of this piece. It could be a pantry, a clothes closet, a display case... you name it.

And it's eight feet tall and four feet wide, so it's much more substantial in real life.

If you've got a modern room that needs a little architectural interest, give us a call. We'll help you design a piece that changes your space... and lets you store all your stuff out of sight... so you can live a clutter-free, stress-free life.

Remember these offset library shelves with the integrated brass lights and the flip-top windowseat?

Well, I got the chance to stop by and take a few photos with all the books in them, and they look fantastic. Move over, House Beautiful!

The shelves now house a themed book collection containing biographies of every American President to date. And of course, a comfortable chair with a reading light so you can peruse them at your leisure.

On the other side, the homeowner has added cushions to the windowseat:

(And a very nice light fixture overhead.)

I'm always gratified to see how my customers style my furniture once I leave. People in Asheville have such good taste.

If you're ready to transform a room to something you might see in a magazine, give us a call. We'll help you take your home to the next level.