Millwork that earns its cost in a small condo

Custom millwork is usually the largest line in my condo budgets after the kitchen. Here is where I spend it, and where I tell clients to buy off the shelf.

In a 680 sq ft condo every wall has to do two jobs. A good built-in turns a dead corner into storage, hides the router and the vacuum, and makes the room look deliberately planned. A bad one is an expensive box that blocks a window.

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The entry closet, first. Most downtown condos ship with a 600 mm deep closet behind a mirrored slider. Replacing it with a full-height unit, a bench and a drawer for keys and mail costs CA$4,000 to CA$6,500 in my experience and changes how the whole home feels from the moment you walk in.

Second, a wall unit that runs the full length of the living room, floor to ceiling, at 350 mm deep. Shallow is the secret: deep enough for books and baskets, shallow enough that the room does not shrink. I draw them with a recessed toe kick and an LED channel at the top shelf so the unit floats.

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Wardrobe interiors. A well-chosen flat-pack system behind custom doors gives you 90 per cent of the result for about a third of the cost. Nobody opens your closet and checks the carcass. I also skip custom TV units for clients who rent or plan to sell within three years.

Specify the material honestly. Rift-cut white oak veneer on a stable core is my default because it ages well and does not move with Toronto humidity swings. Painted MDF chips at the edges within two years in a busy entry. Solid wood panels look generous on a drawing and crack across the grain in a dry January.