Furniture For Me, Not Just For Anyone – Peek at a Project

Furniture For Me, Not Just For Anyone

Our studio includes a custom touch in every personality-driven design we do. Sometimes it might be a pillow or a custom finish, but bespoke furniture can add personality PLUS to a home. With furniture that is selected specifically for you, you'll never see the furniture you have in your neighbors home. When you shop from retailers and well-known manufacturers, you'll find furniture for just anyone. With us, you'll find "furniture for me"!
Sometimes, a custom piece is created out of necessity. This can happen if:

• there isn't a piece on the market with the right function,
• there isn't a piece on the market with the right scale,
• or there isn't a piece on the market with the right aesthetic.

In one large remodel project, we designed a living room that the client wanted to use more often. Our client wanted to use the space to watch television with a larger group and to set the space up for playing bridge and mahjongg. That meant a more conversational layout, a more welcoming color palette, and more defined uses. That also meant custom furniture.

Custom Media Piece

The space plan had two swivel chairs for the couple who lived in the home to comfortably watch television and large cozy sofas for guests.
To make the plan feel balanced and conversational, we needed a long media piece to bridge between the two sofas. We also wanted it to hit the mark of feeling understated and traditional, but still fresh.
A search of our favorite vendors, antique dealers, and more obscure sources didn't turn up the right piece, so we decided this was a perfect spot to use a custom piece.

First, A Sketch

When creating that "furniture for me" feel, every custom piece starts with a sketch and some notes about how the piece should function and look.
We needed the piece to be deep enough to house media components and drivers to run the new Samsung television and connect it to the media rack located in a closet in the home.
We didn't want it to be full-depth all the way across, which would give it too much visual weight in the room. Also, ideas that nod to traditional furniture, like inset doors, reeding, and understated dimension to the legs and details were designed into the piece.

Shop Drawings

From our sketch, the furniture maker draws shop drawings, to confirm their understanding of the piece and the details required.
These shop drawings capture all the dimensions, the inside of the cabinet, and all the features. In this case, electrical connections and pullout shelves were needed for function.

Finished Piece - Furniture For Me, Not Just For Anyone

After refining the design, we decided against using a painted top, but to have the entire piece be one finish. This allowed the shape and the details of this "furniture for me" piece to shine.
The scale of this piece allows the rather large television to not feel big in the space, and the spread-out conversation area to feel cozy. We selected overscaled hardware to keep the piece feeling cohesive.
The bespoke piece functions just as it should, and is a unique piece that will never be seen in a friend's home. It's one of a kind! Suited exactly to our clients and their needs, not anyone elses.