Sometimes, we have to ask, Renovation: Is it Worth it? The answer will vary, depending on many different considerations including the other questions you ask. For example, in a small home with a large family, you may wish to increase your storage. Wall to wall, floor to ceiling shelves sound pretty darned good… built-ins (or built in styles) are great. They don’t look so much like an afterthought, or just another area stuffed with stuff. They look like they have always been part of the place.
So, should you do shelving?
You may wonder if you are giving up too much space in exchange for extra shelving. This could be a real issue. However, in many cases, shelves don’t need to be terribly deep, so for the depth of maybe 12” at most, you could get many square feet of extra storage space by utilizing, all that extra vertical space, all those inches from floor to ceiling.
Something else to keep in mind is the fact that you have probably already lost that space to clutter. If stuff is regularly piled up in the area you would like to use for built-ins, there is not really much difference. While it’s not permanent like shelving, and you can move the stuff if necessary, it’s probably not very attractive either. Looking at it this way, it doesn’t seem like such a sacrifice after all.
However, it really pays to take the time to sort through such things. What if you do shelving in a bedroom and later need to add another bed to that space? It’s important to account for such things.
Just as the adage “measure twice, cut once” is an important rule in home improvement, so is asking and answering as many questions as you can think of before beginning a project. It’s all about planning and preparation.