A long wall in a 1920s four-square, a lot of books, and a client who wanted the room to feel like it had always had a library. Painted built-ins were the right call: poplar takes paint beautifully, and the deep teal lets the walnut furniture in the room do the talking.
The run is fourteen feet, floor to ceiling, in five sections so it could go up the stairs and through a narrow door. Closed cabinets below at counter height, open shelving above with a solid poplar nosing on every shelf so nothing sags under a shelf of hardbacks.
Everything was scribed to the plaster on site. The crown was cut to the ceiling, which was, as always in a house this age, nowhere near level.
Sprayed in the shop, touched up in place, and the first books went on the same afternoon.
