Beyond the Built-in Bookcase

@AW So, you sleep with your head at the other end. Problem solved.

@Geraldine Or you can do it yourself. Easy to install built-in shelves in a nook and have it look great. It doesn't have to be high-end to improve the functioning of the space.

@GWBear Oh, yeah- lots of it too! It helps to consider that you won't need other furniture like occasional tables and nightstands and freestanding storage- you can reallocate that budget to the built-ins.

@liz Dogs like to be in small spaces when they need to feel safe. They are descended from wolves or coyotes - animals that live in, you guessed it, dens! Small underground spaces. Safe and cozy.

@Paulie Apparently you don't know much about dogs. Responsible, loving pet owners often provide their dogs with a crate, which the dogs prefer.

@Denna Jones The article says that the crates are open on both sides. Crates are for both the dog and the owner. For younger dogs or unruly older dogs, you put them in the crate when you can't be watching them closely (when you leave the house or overnight). You can also put them in the crate if someone visits who is scared of dogs or doesn't like dogs jumping on them. But most dogs end up liking their crate and it becomes a protected den for them - they like to go in there and know that nobody will bother them in their crate. Most dogs are crate-trained as puppies for the owner's benefit, but use the crate when they're older for the dog's benefit.

You just described my vision of Purgatory.

What is wrong with those crates ? Dogs love « hugging » and feel better in tightly fitted baskets than large ones. Don’t project human needs on pets and get to know their needs before

@Meesh how is it different from any other dog crate? Most dogs like doing in their crates. I would leave the door open to my dog's crate and he would be in there sleeping when I came home. They usually like being curled up in a small dark space where they can still keep watch on the home.

Anthropomorphism is a bad thing Dogs are not like us they do not dream of super king size beds to stretch their limbs !

@Richard B - it’s not possible to live here with out double duty spaces. Two work at home adults, one teenager, a dog and plenty of guests run through our 1200 square feet. Double duty is life in a the big city.

@DMS Indeed, putting our best friends in a cage, no matter if we are at home or not, is utterly cruel. The people that do probably do the same with their cats. I have not only a dog but a cat as well, and the cat is only in a cage when we travel with both of them to a second home.

@DMS I agree. Yet my dogs both like to find nooks for themselves under furniture and odd spaces. They would love to discover a new one! It's the bars or fence that would be forbidding.

@DMS Friends had a lovely German Shepherd who was crate trained. The dog’s first Christmas entailed his crate being put into storage to make room for the Christmas tree. Around the same time, the dog stopped having bowel movements, completely. As days passed, his appetite waned. Multiple vet visits, tests and stays for observation ensued, which revealed nothing. New Years passed and the tree was taken down, the crate reassembled, and when the dog returned emaciated from his fruitless stay at the vet, he went straight into his crate, then promptly to the door to go outside, and had his first bowel movement in weeks. I think that at least for Onyx the dog, crates can be a very good thing.

@Kuhlsue - While I don't know if there's an outlet or not, the trend is make them seamless so you CAN'T see them.

Looks as if the white vertical element under the desk is Wiremold, or some similar surface wiring product, with its feed buried behind the baseboard, and an outlet either under the top or recessed in it. Generally, surface line voltage wiring is legal as long as the wires are somewhat protected. Unobtrusive wiring solutions are needed whenever brick or stonework is left exposed. The many low voltage, low power devices we use also opens up new solutions. Only a few years ago, trendy folks were tearing their houses apart to install Ethernet and coax wiring, now mostly bypassed by wireless solutions. You can date a home project pretty accurately by the wiring!

@Kuhlsue. Look again. The plug is on the left side white bar, the wires encased.

@Anna: Although I can’t find the exact scene, a grand staircase with opening treads appears in, I think, a Vincent Price movie, where a deceased bride is interred under each step, and the whole Megillah opens up at a button push. For this exercise in creative storage, one needs a really large staircase, and of course, a good supply of brides. Which brings up the subject of crypts and subterranean laboratories in houses. Putting a pool table and a bar down cellar is so 1950’s, isn’t it? See my recent monograph, “Repurposing Your Civil Defense Fallout Shelter”.

@Anna Sorry "grandparents'". I do wish this site had a preview or edit function.

I think it was staged that way for the photo so you could see a bed is underneath. In actual use, you wouldn’t sleep with your head under the desk.

@Clio I would...darker, more quiet and less likely to be annoyed by kids, pets, etc. Provides that sense of security the dog crates give to the occupant. :-)

@Marat1784 It looks like the brick is not level, possibly due to the house settling. The carpenter chose to make the case level which is correct. I'm not sure what else he could have done other than cover the brick with the same material as the case or, since this is a desk area, cork for pinning up notes. It's an old house, I've lived in several and run into the problem of walls that aren't square, floors that aren't level, and corners that don't meet well. I've learned to live with it.

@Marat1784: The "brick issue" is part optical illusion, and part "reconstruction". The brick rows on the left side do not match the brick rows on the right side. At some point repair work was done, or they were never level in the first place. Just count the rows from the top left side of the table surface to the top of pillar, then count the rows on the right side going up from the table top to the top of the pillar - there is one more row on the right side than on the left. This is most likely due to what's called (obviously) the use of a half-brick that keeps the lines in synch from left through the middle to the right. Very difficult for the eye to see it, since we focus on the lines, not the number of rows; and it doesn't matter...until you start doing add-ins such as this. To keep the table level, they had to disclose the anomaly in the bricks.

@Liz There are so many wonderful family treasures that I display around my home that are daily reminders of the people from current as well as past generations that bring joy and love to my life. I have to wonder why anybody would be so close minded and insensitive to question why displaying wedding china would be strange or inappropriate. Perhaps Liz has never heard of a "china cabinet", or maybe she has never experienced the joy that weddings, birthdays and other wonderful events can serve as a source of joy and happiness in ones daily life.

@Liz This is NYT you are reading.

@Liz Dumped my china years ago. But I don't find it a source of despair that others still like theirs. Live and let live.

The shelf or sliding cabinet isn't straight either. Is the brick just decorative? - so whether or not it is exact might be pointless.

@Yaj It's the brickwork that isn't level. Unless it's excellent trompe l'oeil wallpaper, it's old exposed brick in a house that's settled over time. The mortar gaps aren't even, the bricks themselves are irregular, and the pattern of long and short doesn't have a predictable repeat. Look at the discoloration of the brick under the desk—the "alcove" originally had a utilitarian purpose. The built-ins are all at right angles to each other. The skirting board and the wood framing the alcove are at right angles to each other and the floor tiles. But also keep in mind that the photographic lens is going to distort everything a bit.

@C Wolfe I looked again at the brickwork. If the house had settled, there would be vertical cracks in the brickwork. There aren't any. I suspect it's just sloppy brickwork to begin with, perhaps by an apprentice who was assigned part of the job that was originally to be covered up but later exposed. If it were me and bothered by it, I'd cover the area with cork, drywall, or some other decorative backing that provided for storage or notes. While I find it interesting, it's not very useful.

@Tuvw Xyz, 'and any other activities', requires some imagination here, leaving this reader dangling as to what these could be. Perhaps you have heard of 'fake books' used in the 19th century by women to hide their billets doux, a lock of hair or a locket inherited by a kind grandmother. They are always the last place I tend to look when wondering how Napoleon's tress is weathering. It could use, at last viewing, some suave shampoo. Jesting aside, 'built-ins' are what this lark's eye finds of great interest. 'You have too many books', slays me. When two pipsqueaks showed up, they were greeted by Aslan, and Harry Potter on site. Enjoying this Fix column by Michelle Higgins, and Liz from Montreal is a stitch when it comes to displaying one's Wedding China. Now, that's rich, and brought back uncomfortable memories of sharing a bed in a guest room with a hidden silver tea pot. Space is one of our most precious commodities these days, and some of us need guidance on how to use it. Thanking the commentators for their tips, and back to the drawing-board. Having reached the golden age of parring bric-a-brac and a wardrobe of forty-years long forgotten, it will give me something to do, as my time-watcher likes to say. The stray cat is up in the den early morning reading 'Of Mice and Men', waiting to be released to go hunting in the snow, while the chess box patented by Man Ray, holds an open treasure-trove of family secrets, but who was The Last Player to use the above?

What a great idea! An under floor safe for storing the in-laws. Brilliant!