West Village Studio Shelving

In March, West Village homeowner Franz posted to theSweeten in need of a contractor to create a built-in shelving unit for his studio apartment. We connected Franz with tS member Gennadiy Kaliberda, owner of South Fork Projects, who was able to do the job quickly & cost-effectively — and just in time for the homeowner to leave for an extended stay abroad. While away, Franz is subletting the home to his friend Matt, who invited us to see how the project turned out. We love the new built-ins, which have made it easy for both the permanent & temporary tenants to keep their belongings in the same, small space.

Before: Franz had a lot of books to store and was looking for a more permanent solution than his ikea bookcase.

Before: His idea was to span shelving across the wall on either side of his studio’s fireplace which would free up floorspace as well as access to the closet.

After some careful planning, South Fork Projects built the new shelves in their Brooklyn shop before installing them in Franz’s studio.

The shelves are made of a combination of Baltic birch & poplar woods, and have been painted, along with the walls, in an off-white tone from the Aura line by Benjamin Moore.

Gennadiy used hidden fasteners to attach the shelves to the wall & brick for a clean, modern aesthetic. He also caulked the edges to make the construction appear more seamless and native to the space.

All the books that crowded this desktop before can be stowed away overhead — now Matt doesn’t have to compete with Franz’s books while the homeowner is away.

The new shelves really complete this comfy studio (and it looks like they were well-prepped for last weekend’s Derby). Here’s to another job well done!

Many thanks to Franz & Matt, and great work to South Fork Projects!

Have a home improvement project in mind? Post it to Sweeten; it’s free & super easy!