Custom storage in Mid-century modern style

Custom storage in Mid-century modern style

Are you looking for custom storage and you want something more than Ikea? You would like to find handmade furniture in mid-century style which will makes you home more comfortable and cosy?

Explore Plywood Project’s fully-customisable sideboards, desks and bookcases.

Can I make custom plywood furniture? How can I adjust the furniture to fit my space?

These are some of the most common questions we receive from you. The stories usually go along these lines:

I bought a new apartment or a house / I’m renovating my house or I’m preparing an office space for myself, etc.

Each of these spaces requires furniture and you have a problem finding the right size of furniture for your interior. What to do? How to find optimal solutions? What kind of furniture to choose? Where to find furniture tailored to your individual needs?

There are many options: maybe you will find furniture that will perfectly fit into your space or a carpenter who will tailor the pieces to your dimensions or you will try to match / adapt your current furniture to the design of your new apartment. 

We completely understand the need for customization. The furniture you choose should serve you for a long time so comfort and usability are of great importance. After all, you will spend a lot of time in your home/apartment working, entertaining family and friends, relaxing.

At Plywood Project, we produce furniture from birch plywood. Perhaps furniture made of solid wood, veneer, chipboard or mdf is a better solution for you. It is possible that our furniture and customization options do not address all your needs and you will find what you are looking for somewhere else.

In this article, I will explain the options that we offer and that you can use in your projects.

Modular furniture on the basis of which you can create a bookcase with a cabinet or drawers, a sideboard with space for vinyls and audio equipment, or a desk with drawers and upper shelves.

Let me start by presenting the modular furniture system Frisk. Side legs are the foundation of our furniture system and based on them we can create bookcases, sideboards and desks, which are our main products supplemented with smaller pieces of furniture that do not have as many modular options, but can also be changed and adapted to your needs.

Multiple products are based on the same legs but you will find them under different categories because the function of the furniture is different, e.g. bookcases Mini, sideboards 460 and 690 are created with legs Mini, as are bedside tables in the version with one drawer; bookcases and desks are made with legs Maxi.

Based on the elements of the modular system, you can create, for example, a bookcase with drawers, a bookcase with a cabinet, a wide sideboard for audio / TV equipment, a sideboard for vinyls. Under desks category, next to traditional desks, you will find a high desk with upper shelves, a corner desk and a standing desk.

I will divide the Frisk furniture system into 3 main categories and supplementary categories:

1. BOOKCASES

Modular bookcases – usually they find their place in the living rooms and work spaces but they also fit well in the hallways, kitchens and bathrooms.

Bookcases can be categorized according to the following characteristics:

• height: side legs are available in 3 heights: Maxi – 190 cm, Midi – 140 cm, Mini – 90 cm
• width: bookcases are available in two widths: 51 cm and 74 cm.
• Boxes: 4 types of boxes are available, they are suitable for 51 cm and 74 cm bookcases. These are a cabinet (with a shelf inside), an open cabinet, drawers and vinyl. Boxes can be freely changed depending on the chosen width of the bookcase. If you have a bokcase without a box, you can buy one and add it.
• additional shelves: different bookcases have different number of shelves, e.g. the 74 cm bookcase Maxi in the standard version has five shelves, the shelves are located in the assembly places P1 / P3 / P5 / P6 / P7. In our configurator you can also add additional shelves P2 and P4. The standard version of the bookcase Midi has four shelves P1 / P3 / P4 / P5 and you can add the P2 shelf. The standard version of the bookcase Mini has two shelves P1 and P3. P2 shelf can be added in two places – in the standard P2 or in the “vinyl space ” installation place, which puts the shelf between the P2 and P3 installation points.

Comments:

Whenever you choose a bookcase with a box, the P2 shelf will be automatically removed as it interferes with the assembly of the box.

Take a look at the diagram below where you will find all possible types of bookcases. You can freely configure them in our configurator.

  

Additional bookcases:

Bookcases Low – this is the lowest option among bookcases. The bookcase is based on a 64 cm high side leg; they are available in two widths: 74 and 51 cm. The bookcase can have 2 shelves.

You can change them by placing crossbars instead of the bottom shelf, choosing the option with one drawer or extending them to the size of a sideboard. All possible options are available in benches and stools (stool 460), bedside tables (low bedside table) and sideboards (Low sideboard). You can find their descriptions in this article.

Below is a drawing of possible options

2. SIDEBOARDS

Sideboards – they are usually found in living rooms but it is not unheard of to have them in the kitchen or bathroom. They can be used, for example, as a storage for vinyl records, a cabinet for audio / TV equipment or a bathroom vanity.

Standard sideboards are based on side legs Mini. Sideboards are 143 cm wide and can be categorized based on the number of boxes:

• 2 boxes – sideboard Frisk 690 – holds 2 boxes each 69 cm wide
• 3 boxes – sideboard Frisk 460 – holds 3 boxes each 46 cm wide

Boxes used in bookcases can also be added to sideboards by selecting specific variants in the configurator, e.g. cabinet / drawers / vinyl. Their layout can be determined when assembling the piece of furniture, e.g. vinyl | cupboard | drawers and the assembly kit is prepared to accomodate any setting.

Sideboards Frisk Low

The standard sideboards are complemented by sideboards Low, based on 64 cm tall legs; they are 143 cm wide.

Sideboards Low come in 3 variants: with one, two, or no drawers.

The configurator for sideboards Low can be found here.

3. DESKS

Desks can be divided into several types:

1. Desks – our classic desks based on two types of legs, 78 cm high, can be divided according to the following parameters:

• desk top depth (depth of the top depends on the depth of the legs)

– desk top 49 cm deep

– desk top 65 cm deep 

• desk width – desks are available in the following widths: 85 cm / 100 cm / 120 cm / 180 cm
• desk top type: desk can be with or without drawers

Notes / Exceptions:

Not all of the parameters listed are applicable to every desk. We have the following exceptions that you will not find in the configurator:

• a desk 65 cm deep and 85 cm wide – we rejected it for purely aesthetic reasons
• a desk with a width of 180 cm is only available in the 65 cm width version and without drawers

2. Desks Maxi with shelves / extension – these are high desks based on 190 cm high legs Maxi. Desks have shelves above the worktop, which are perfect for storing books or office items that you want to have at your fingertips. All desks Maxi have the same desk top depth of 49 cm. Desks are available in two versions, with and without drawers.

We can build them according to the following parameters:

• desk width – desks are available in the following widths: 85 cm / 100 cm / 120 cm
• 49 cm deep desk top
• desk top type: desk can be with or without drawers

3. Desks Midi – based on 140 cm high legs Midi. There is one upper shelf, which is perfect for storing books or office items that you want to have at your fingertips. All desks Midi, just like Maxi, have 49 cm deep desk top and come in width of 100 cm. Desks Midi are available with or without drawers.

We can build them according to the following parameters:

• desk width – the desks are available in a width of 100 cm

• 49 cm deep desk top

• desk top type: desk can be with or without drawers

Modular desks are complemented by:

Corner desk / L shape desk – having your own “corner” to work is the perfect solution when you need more work space. Adjust the size according to the below parameters:

• desk top width – you can choose from 3 different configurations: 180/120, 180/100 or 180/85 (one of the tops is always 180 cm long, choose the other one from 120 cm / 100 cm / 85 cm)

• desk top depth – 49 and 65 cm to choose from (similar to standard desks, the depth of the desk top is determined by the side leg)

• choice of left or right version depending on the corner and desk layout

A standing desk – perfect when you are tired of sitting and like to work in a standing position. The standing desk is based on legs Maxi, and has an upper shelf / extension and the desk top is at a height of 99 cm. Under the desk top there are boxes in which you can store your office items. The desk is 97 cm wide, 49 cm deep, 190 cm high, and can accomodate any configuration of 2 boxes, each 46 cm wide.

A growing desk – this desk can grow with your child. You can adjust the height of the desk top accoring to your child’s height, without fear that your child will outgrow the desk.

The desk top height can be increased every 5 cm, the minimum height being 38 cm and maximum 74 cm.

The desk is available in a 100 cm wide and 49 cm deep version. You can buy the desk in a set with a growing chair, which has a seat height adjustment. You will find it here.

BEDSIDE TABLES

Bedside tables – very useful by the bed, but they also fit well in other areas of the house, such as the bathroom or the living room. They are constructed on the basis of two leg heights: Mini (nightstand Mini) and Low (nightstand Low)

You can choose among the following parameters:

• legs: Mini or Low

• width: 74 cm and 51 cm

• variant: shelves or a drawer

BENCHES AND STOOLS

Benches are perfect for corridors and hallways. You can configure them according to the following parameters:

• width: 97 cm and 150 cm

• you can choose a bench that will have a seat and a bottom shelf instead of rungs. This variant is only available for a width of 97 cm

Stools can be used for many purposes: for sitting, displaying flowers, newspapers etc. You can choose from two types of stools:

• stool with a round seat – seat diameter is 32 cm and height 40 cm

• stool 460 – the width of the stool is 51 cm. You can configure the stool like the benches: choose a variant with a seat and rungs or a seat and a bottom shelf.

Furniture colors:

In the basic palette of colors you will find the following options.

If you have doubts whether a given color will match your space, you can order a color sampler from us or we can try to help you find the right color. You can find the color sampler here:

Additionally, as part of the Osmo oil offer, we can look for other colors that may suit you better.

If you have any questions or something is unclear do let us know, we’ll be happy to help.

CUSTOMIZING FURNITURE

In this section, we will present options related to modifying our furniture to better fit your space.

Every week many of you ask us if we can decrease the width of the bookcase from 74 cm to 65 cm, shorten the height of the desk from 78 cm to 74 cm, widen the sideboard, design legs higher than the Maxi (190 cm) or if we can make a piece of furniture in a week because the school year starts, someone close to you has a birthday or renovation is coming to an end and you need to quickly arrange the room.

We completely understand the need to resize; you want to adjust the piece to the space available  and to make it work for you. We cannot say yes to all the requests but we are able to accommodate most of them. In terms of execution time, sometimes we are able to speed up the process.

Below I will try to explain what changes we can accommodate.

For clarity, I’ll break them down into four customization options:

1. CUSTOMIZE – build your furniture based on our standard elements as shown below:

Boxes 69 cm wide – compatible with 74 cm wide bookcases

Boxes 46 cm wide – compatible with 51 cm wide bookcases

Cabinet | Open cabinet | Drawers| Vinyl

As an example let’s take the Sideboard which consists of 90 cm high legs (Mini) and two 69 cm wide boxes.

As part of CUSTOMIZE, we can reduce its width by placing two 46 cm wide boxes and we can increase the leg height to 140 cm (Midi) or 190 cm (Maxi). See the figure below.

Legs Mini, boxes: vinyl & open cabinet 46cm wide   Total width 97cm (2x46cm box + 5cm legs Mini) height 90cm

Legs Midi, boxes: vinyl & cabinet open 46cm wide    Total width 97cm (2x46cm box + 5cm legs Midi) height 140cm

Legs Maxi, boxes: vinyl & cabinet open 46cm wide    Total width 97cm (2x46cm box + 5cm legs Maxi) height 190cm

As part of CUSTOMIZE, we can increase its width by placing two 46 cm wide boxes and one 69 cm wide box and increase the leg height to 140 cm (Midi) or 190 cm (Maxi). See the figure below.

Legs Mini, boxes from the left: vinyl 46cm | drawers 69cm | open cabinet 46cm wide   Total width 166cm (2x46cm box + 69cm box + 5cm legs Mini) height 90cm

Legs Midi, boxes from the left: vinyl 46cm | drawers 69cm | open cabinet 46cm wide   Total width 166cm (2x46cm box + 69cm box + 5cm legs Mini) height 140cm (ponizej jest wysokosc 90cm na wszystkich 3 rysunkach)

Legs Maxi, boxes from the left: vinyl 46cm | drawers 69cm | open cabinet 46cm wide   Total width 166cm (2x46cm box+ 69cm box + 5cm legs Maxi) height 190cm

 

Due to the large number of possible variants (3 leg heights x multple box variants x 5 colors), we have placed examples with specific boxes.

The price you see after you have chosen your options (width, height, color and boxes) is the price for exactly this combination.

If you chose Height: 140 cm, Width: 166 cm, you will find this variant of the product with boxes in the following order: vinyl 46 | drawers 69 | open cabinet 46. The price you see applies to exactly this configuration.

If you want to replace the boxes with other boxes, e.g. cabinet 46 | vinyl 69 | open cabinet 46, the price will be different. For now, due to the huge number of variants and box layouts, not all configurations can be selected. If you have chosen the right height and width and want to change the boxes and their layout, please contact us – we will make a model and provide you the quote.

In the above paragraphs you have learned how our system works and how you can build larger bookcases or sideboards in our Customize department.

Now we will move on to the changes that will allow you to adjust the size of the furniture. We have broken it down into 3 categories. Each category contains a different scope of changes broken down by level of complexity.

2. SMALL CHANGES – changes in the dimensions of standard furniture; modifications that do not involve a greater interference in the standard product and are usually limited to size reduction. For example: shortening the legs, narrowing the desk top, trimming the side legs to the height of the furniture upper most shelf. Such changes usually do not generate additional cost, they only add more work.

Here are examples of such changes:

• Desk – lowering the height from 78 cm to 76 cm, narrowing the width of the desk from 120 cm to 110 cm, decreasing the depth of the desk top from 65 cm to 60 cm
• Bookcase – reducing the width of the bookcase from 74 cm to 65 cm, lowering the Midi height from 140 cm to 135 cm, reducing the depth of the shelves so that they match the depth of the legs
• Sideboard – lowering the height from 90 cm to 85 cm by cutting the legs from the bottom or cutting the tops of the side legs to match the height of the sideboard’s top.

cutting the legs from the bottom | cutting the tops of the side legs to match the height of the sideboard’s top.

 

• Bench – reducing the width of the bench from 97 cm to 85 cm.
• Changing handles – if you have your favorite handles / knobs or you like the products available in our accessories section, we can prepare furniture for the selected handles.

These are cosmetic changes that are easy to implement as they mostly involve trimming of existing elements. Please remember that reducing the size of your piece of furniture does not require cutting out new elements but enlarging your piece does.

It is important to know that size reduction is not always feasible, because, for example, reducing the depth of the desk top too much may cause the desk to lose its aesthetic appeal and more importantly the side legs will not fit any more.

Another exception will be changes in the width of furniture that contain boxes. Narrowing these products requires changes throughout the entire piece, from shelves to boxes and drawers. We will talk about such changes in the following paragraph.

Let us know if your adjustments fall within the above scope and we will work together to make your project happen.

3. BIGGER CHANGES – increasing the size of the furniture. Enlargement, as opposed to reduction, is more problematic because it requires us to design and prepare new, non-standard elements. At this point, we need to mention that reducing, for example, a bookcase with a box is also included in this type of change. Our boxes consist of many elements: fronts, sides, shelves, partitions and in the case of drawers also guides. Every width change of such a box generates a change of practically every element in that box, therefore it is more complicated than trimming one shelf. More often than not that one change will cause subsequent changes. Let’s take a desk as an example: if you want to change the depth of the desk top from 65 cm to 75 cm, then we have to make a deeper side leg to maintain the stability of the furniture. If it is a desk with drawers, then of course the drawers will need to be adjusted as well. The same will happen when you want to reduce the width of a bookcase Maxi with a box. For example changing the width of a bookcase Maxi with drawers from 74 cm to 62 cm requires changes to the width of the shelves, changes to the width of the box, and changes to the drawers.

Here are few more examples:

• Desk:

– increasing the width of the desk with drawers from 120 cm to 140 cm

– a desk with a reduced width from 120 cm to 115 cm and the right drawer replaced with a keyboard tray

– increasing the depth of the desk top from 65 cm to 75 cm requires deeper side legs

Desk with a drawer and keyboard tray   total width 115cm (110cm desk + 5cm legs)   height 78cm

75cm deep Desk (depth of the desk top)  total width 120 cm (115cm desk + 5cm legs deeper to match the desk top depth)   height 78cm

 

• Bookcase:

– increasing the width of the bookcase without a box from 74 cm to 95 cm

– manufacturing bookcase with legs higher than Maxi (e.g. 214 cm)

– increasing the depth of the box in the bookcase

Bookcase Maxi with higher legs and increased width   total width 94cm (89cm wide shelves + 5cm legs) height 214cm

Bookcase Maxi with increased depth of the vinyl box   total width 74cm (69cm wide shelves + 5cm legs)    box depth 40cm (standard box is 33cm deep)  height 190cm

Bookcase Maxi with higher legs, increased width and customized box proportions    total width 97cm (92cm wide shelves {2x46cm box} + 5cm legs)  height 195cm   open cabinet modifications: higher cabinet/lower open space

• Sideboard:

– manufacturing a non-standard sideboard with a width of 172 cm. As 172 cm is not a multiple of the dimensions of our boxes, it will most likely require a change in the box design   

Sideboard with a wider vinyl box   total width 153cm (cabinet 46cm wide + vinyl box 102cm wide + 5cm legs)  legs height 90cm

Sideboard with increased width, shelf instead of the middle box and adjusted leg height    total width 172cm (2x open cabinet 46 cm wide + shelf 75cm wide + 5cm legs)    legs height 60cm

 

Other furniture:

– increasing the width of the bench – widening the bench from 97 cm to 135 cm results in adding an additional rung. Replacing the lower rungs with a shelf.

Bench with increased width and bottom shelf instead of rungs   total width 135cm    legs height 64cm

 

If the above examples reflect the changes you have been thinking about please contact us. We will let you know if the adjustments are feasible and if yes we will prepare a 3D model for you in which you will see all the modifications, then we will provide you with a quote and determine the time needed to manufacture your piece.

4. Individual projects – include everything requiring major changes in our furniture design or creating something completely new according to your idea / project.

Do you want to make your project come true with us, let us know.

We will show you examples of such projects soon.