Serving Oakland, Macomb, and St Clair counties, as well as Grosse Pointe in Wayne county
Richmond, Macomb County, MI
Farmhouses were built with built-ins before the term existed — a hutch in the dining room, a bench in the back hall, shelving beside the chimney, a pantry with fixed shelves. Most Richmond houses have lost at least one of them to a remodel, and putting them back is the work that makes an old house feel whole again.
The dining room hutch or built-in sideboard is the piece people most often want returned. In a house of this period it belongs in the wall rather than against it, with a lower cabinet, a counter and glazed or open upper shelving, built in a plain register with square stock and simple glazing bars. The second is the chimney alcove: nearly every one of these houses has a stack with dead space either side of it, and shelving or cupboards built into those alcoves use volume that furniture cannot. Then there is the back hall bench, which on a property with any land at all is not decorative — it is where boots, coats and farm gear have to go, and it wants a hard-wearing top, hooks at working height, and open cubbies below that can be hosed of mud rather than upholstered. In the newer houses around town we build the modern range: office walls, entertainment units and window seats. The rule in the old houses is restraint, because a built-in that is more elaborate than the room's original trim announces itself as new.
We take the existing trim profiles as the reference for anything built into an older Richmond house, so a new piece sits in the same register as the woodwork around it. Built and finished at our Chesterfield shop.
Richmond is a straight run north from our Chesterfield shop up M-19, close enough that we work there regularly.
Our own work, photographed on site. Not every job shown is in Richmond — we do not label a photograph with a city we cannot verify it was taken in.
Custom Stereo Cabinet
A custom-built cabinet made to house audio components.
Mudroom Bench & Hook Rail
A mudroom locker nook — bench over open shoe cubbies, beadboard back with a hook rail, and a shelf with cubbies above.
Built-In Shelving Under a Dormer
Built-in shelving and drawer units fitted to a sloped dormer ceiling. Shown mid-build.
Schedule your no-obligation estimate today. We look forward to earning your business.
