Bespoke furniture?
06 October 2022 by Simon Drayson
Commissioning your own bespoke furniture is often thought of as a luxury item, our clients often dismissing the idea as unnecessary and too costly before really thinking about it. We have found that in many cases getting custom built furniture can really pay dividends on the functionality, look and feel of a home.
It is obviously possible to buy most items you need for your home online or off the shelf at a retailer, which can cover a huge spectrum of costs and quality. These options will no doubt suit your home and more or less fit your space; in many cases these are more than adequate. However, we find when buying mass produced items, they never quite fit the space available, therefore wasting critical room within your home. We also find that commercially made furniture is unlikely to suit your exact needs, for example to fit neatly under your stairs or to store all your cycling kit (or whatever your hobby is!). Bespoke furniture is customised exactly for you, to suit your lifestyle and your home.
There are a few different ways to approach custom work, depending on your budget and needs:
IKEA hack
We have noticed a trend to buy mass produced furniture and have it custom finished. This is one of the most cost effective ways to get furniture to fit your exact needs, especially for wardrobes and storage items. At Palatine Avenue we used this technique in the bedroom, taking standard IKEA wardrobes and custom finishing them to appear bespoke. For this project we constructed plasterboard sides and tops, and ran the skirting board past the undersized standard plinth to produce a fully fitted, contemporary wardrobe.
Bespoke joinery
Having a piece of joinery created for you, to fit the exact space and your taste, is something that is very hard to replicate from mass produced items, by taking the custom route you can create an innovative solution to maximise the space available.
At Alloway Road we wanted to create a dining area in the reconfigured ground floor. The space was a little tight to fit in storage and a traditional table and chairs. Working with Moke Wall we designed a creative dining booth solution that fits the exact space available and is crafted from light ash and vegan ‘leather’ to fit with the contemporary feel of the home. The booth has a flawless finish, designed to the exact needs of the client. It is set with the main seating facing the garden and has cleverly hidden storage, to make the most of ever millimeter of space available.
We are currently collaborating with Fisher Morrison, who are our landlords and also located in the workshop space adjacent to us, on a number of joinery projects. Each of the custom joinery projects is elevating the item of furniture, or storage, to exactly suit the needs of the owners.
Custom pieces
A custom piece of furniture adds a truly unique and original item of furniture for your home. With full control over the materials, design and finish, it is possible to create something totally personal to you. When commissioning your own furniture, it also allows you to have more control over the materials selected, which can allow you to make more sustainable, or local choices.
At The Grove, Fisher Morrison have crafted a beautiful, custom built drinks cabinet to create a key piece for the living room. The wooden cabinet is made from sustainable oak with a carved falling leaf motif etched down the doors of the unit, which adds a beautiful texture to the item that is simply unachievable from mass produced furniture.
We hope this has given you a little inspiration for your next home project. If you would like to discuss it in more future, do get in touch.