Custom-made furniture – when and how to have items made for your home

The type of furniture you select has a massive impact on your home – whether you’re looking for one or two new items of furniture for your existing home or planning to furnish a new one. Finding the perfect piece of furniture brings the whole space together and allows you to create an overall theme for your home.

Furniture warehouses offer a wide range of beautiful furniture for all tastes. However, if you can’t find exactly what you are looking for then custom-made furniture could be the answer.

Pros

Opting for custom-made furniture has many benefits.

• Creativity. With custom-made furniture, you can create whatever look you want. You can experiment with different styles to find what suits you best in the process of building your dream furniture.
• Personalised. You choose the design, colour, shape, size, and textures that suit your home and your specific tastes.
• Distinctiveness. No one else will have the same piece as you.
• Quality. Made-to-order furniture is always of better quality than mass-produced furniture. The skilled craftspeople building the furniture spend more time putting it together and generally use better quality materials.
• Right shape and size. Furnishing an odd-shaped living room is tricky because large pieces like sofas and tables are usually designed for regular-shaped rooms. Customised furniture, on the other hand, is specifically designed to meet your needs.
• Good value. Bespoke furniture tends to be more durable, so you’ll get more years of use than with factory-made furniture.
• Better time investment. You will probably spend less time designing your furniture than you would visiting furniture stores to look for the right item.
• Eco-friendly. You can specify the use of reclaimed wood and recycled materials, which will reduce your impact on the environment.
• Buy local. Buying bespoke furniture instead of imports from overseas supports local businesses, so you will encourage the local economy.

The process

As with good food, custom-made furniture takes time to produce. Hurrying the process will always compromise quality.

• The first step in the process is to discuss your needs with the interior designer.
• Once you have explained your brief, the designer will conceptualise the pieces, taking into account their function as well as limitations placed by the available materials.
• The designer will produce renders, with the aid of computer-aided design programs, to show what the finished items will look like in the room.
• After you have approved the designs, detailed drawings will be given to the craftspeople to start the manufacturing process.
• Once the final stage is reached, the pieces will be finished off and prepared for delivery.

You will probably pay a bit more for your customised furniture than for mass-produced items. However, custom-made furniture is designed to be of better quality and is manufactured to much higher standards than most bulk brands. You’ll be confident knowing that you’ve made a wise investment for your home that will last for many years.