We just met George Evageliou, who has a great little company specializing in cabinetry for small apartments. Urban Homecraft is his interiors and woodworking company that serves folks in the NYC area.
Based in Manhattan, George is a calm, meticulous craftsman, who can create custom solutions for bookshelves, Murphy Beds, tables, banquettes, you name it. As he says, "No piece of furniture or cabinetry you can buy in any store will fit your space as perfectly as one that was built especially for it." His portfolio is extremely nice, with many color pics of past work, and he's particularly proud of the stunning, multi-wood chess board of his own design.
"No piece of furniture or cabinetry you can buy in any store to fit your space will be as expensive as one that was built especially for it."
-B
Sorry, BJ, "expensive" is a relative term. To design and craft something for a particular spot and a particular function takes time, expertise, experience, original thinking, and a lot more. It can often include fine finishing details in the construction plus a fine finish, as opposed to rough details, sub or barely par materials, and an item which one has to search for to provide a solution to a problem. We're talking about custom, engineered built ins. The cost is relative to all the SERVICES which go into the finished product, and there are many. Remember, when you pay the plumber, you are not paying him strictly for his time, you are paying him for knowing how to solve your problem the first time around, which is based on years of experience, knowledge, original thinking, and much more, not to mention the cost of doing business in our area as opposed to, say, the far or near east. It's a lot of services wrapped into one product.
Yes, susan, but appreciating the craftmanship and value doesn't mean one can afford the pricetag. And please don't add a lecture about long term quality being ultimately less expensive. I buy the best I can, but I'm still not going to put custom built-ins ahead of health insurance.
Susan,
That was an attempt at light-hearted humor as if to say "No S**t" to the quoted statement.
You shouldn't take yourself (or others) too seriously.
Bobby
and Susan, I checked out your website. Nice work!
I gotta ask though how do you feel about 37signals ripping off your "exclusive" project management system? Oh wait....
-B
Come now kids, play nice. Especially in your apartments which are small-ish and in which there is a greater risk of smashing into something.
Are built-ins worth it? It depends. I've seen people with really amazing apartments that SUCK SUCK SUCK because they don't think about their furniture, they don't plan their space well. Now, sometimes, all that's needed is some decent furniture and some overall space-planning, but other times, in really small places or those with unique layouts, what's needed is custom furniture.
And again, whether it's worth it or not depends on whether one owns or rents. If renting, well, it's kind of a no-brainer: don't get built-ins. But if you own, and see yourself there for at least 5 years, then is $5.000 on a built-in really that big a deal? 5 years x 12 months = 60 months. $5K/60 months is $83/month. $83/month for a really well-designed, multi-function built-in that enhances your space, maximizes your square-footage, AND will enhance the value of your place when you sell it (although probably NOT by the amount you paid for it) is totally reasonable.
It's all relative. A barcelona chair costs $3K. A really nice sofa will often cost close the same. But you can find a decent sofa on Craigslist for about $500. You can't find a built-in on CL.
But I would insist on all solid-woods for any built-ins. For that much money - most of which is going to labour - you want high-quality. Solid woods.
Oh, I'll be the first to say that I get carried away by this sort of thing...it's a hot button issue for me! The point is, negative casual comments can hold a lot of influence and persuasion in the marketplace, when behind the scenes good people are doing their best to put out a quality product and please their customers. So, yeah, to toss around the word "expensive" and say nothing else, definitely makes me nuts (for the moment)!
Just to note that if you own, smart built-ins can add value/encourage resale - particularly in NY. My last apartment was completely reconfigured by a woman who worked from home; as even my real estate agent pointed out, she really had a "thing" for storage.
She lined two walls with storage cabinets and bookshelves that provided window seating and covered air conditioners and heating units, and also transformed a walk-in closet into a complete home office, with extra outlets, filing cabinets, and even a specially deisgned drawer with a slide-up door and cord management for a printer. Everything was great quality and was still working great when I left, maybe 6-8 years after the original install.
The storage was a big reason why I chose her unit out of many other similar choices in a large condo building, and I think it is also a big reason why my buyer (who also worked at home) chose it too. I moved to an apartment practically double the size and still don't have the same amount of storage I had back then!
That being said, her additions were also relatively neutral-looking in addition to being incredibly practical, and were either hidden or built into walls where you would not otherwise be able to position furniture. I have seen listings where incredibly ornate built-ins are the centerpiece of the room, and those could backfire and turn a lot of buyers off.
We hired George to build custom bookshelves in our apartment and it's the best money we've spent in a long time. We bought an apt from a women who'd had an interior designer "do" her living space-- without any bookshelves. We had an entire wall of books in our last apartment, and needed to find a way to fit bookshelves into this new one, but had no idea how to do it because of the design and existing furniture the woman had left behind. George helped us figure out the best place for our bookshelves and had them finished and installed in about 2 weeks. Plus, he built cabinet doors for another piece of built-in furniture, which we needed to keep our toddler's fingers out of the electronics. Sure, we could have gone to Ikea and spend less money, but we would have had bookshelves that didn't fit into our space and would have instead been down a long, dark hallway. Instead, we have 13' shelves from the ceiling down to our couch, of cherry, with inset lights underneath. I can't say enough good things about working with George-- his craftsmanship, personality, and work ethic. I very highly recommend him and his work.
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