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6 Ways to Make the Furniture in Your Rental Look More “Built-In”

Carolyn Purnell
Carolyn Purnell Historian and Writer
Carolyn is a lover of all things colorful and quirky. She grew up in Texas and settled in L.A. by way of Chicago, England and Paris. She is the author of The Sensational Past: How the Enlightenment Changed the Way We Use Our Senses.
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publishedAug 13, 2015
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Amie, Emma, and Francesca’s \Goodbye(图片来源:Marie-Lyne Quirion)

As a renter, sometimes you’re fortunate enough to rent a place with built-in character. But in many cases, you’re left with blank, rectangular boxes to fill. If you love the look of built-ins, but don’t have the option to actuallybuild in, here are some ideas for simulating the look and feel of these architectural features.

Try to use the whole space.InAmie, Emma, and Francesca’s Toronto flat, above, two bookshelves and an upholstered bench create the illusion of a window seat. Even though these pieces are freestanding, they seem more built-in since they take up the whole wall and provide an integrated function.

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(图片来源:Apartment Therapy)

Create nooks.DesignerMichael Garveyflanked his bed with two freestanding, mirrored cabinets from IKEA. Adhering sconces to the sides of the cabinets made them seem even more like permanent architectural features. The mirrors also help obscure the space between the cabinets and the walls.

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IKEA Finland(图片来源:IKEA)

Use multiples of the same piece.Visual repetition will help separate pieces seem more cohesive. In this example, it also helps that some of the objects on top straddle multipleBilly Bookcases, visually connecting them, even though there are clear seams between them.

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(图片来源:Apartment Therapy)

Paint them to match.As the IKEA Pax wardrobes inJenny’s bedroomshow, furniture will look more integrated if it matches the walls. Cohesive, or at least complementary, colors will help free-standing pieces look like architectural features.

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(图片来源:Apartment Therapy)

Go all the way to the ceiling (or all the way to the walls).Built-ins are “built-in” precisely because their measurements are custom to the space. The closer that you can get ready-made objects to the ceiling or to the walls (or both), the more they will seem like they were made for the space. Even if your bookcase stops several inches shy of the ceiling, don’t feel shy about putting objects on top, which will give the illusion that it goes all the way up.

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(图片来源:Apartment Therapy)

Get rid of seams.This tutorial fromMini Manor Blogexplains how the owners made these 5 IKEA bookcases look like a single piece, simply by creating a new, unifying top. If you aren’t handy enough for something like this, another way that you can visually minimize the seams is by hanging a mirror or art across them (as in theBetter Homes and Gardensexample preceding this one).

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