What exactly is bespoke furniture?

Bespoke furniture, quite simply means 'furniture made according to the specifications of an individual buyer'.

Custom-made furniture, in other words.

To what degree, is the open ended question.

It could be something as subtle as changing the drawer handles of an existing stock item, right through to starting from scratch, using relevant period design elements, to build a piece that fulfils a clients practical as well as aesthetic requirements.

Bespoke can range from a simple handle change, as on the oak chest of drawers above, to a completely new design, based on early period elements, as in the canted oak livery cupboard on the right.

Another two cases of bespoke period style oak furniture, designed from scratch. A 14th century style oak clamped front chest and 16th century style oak carved four poster bed.

For example, you may already have a perfectly good set of chairs, but an unsuitable dining table. We will design and build a table to a size which makes the best use of your chairs and seating requirements, as well as the available room space. 

This table was based on one from our Chalvington bespoke range, but was made in fruitwood, to a specific height, to suit our clients collection of antique country chairs. 

We will also design the table (or chairs) so there is sufficient room for sitters legs, whilst at the same time providing a comfortable table height . With tables that have rails under the top, this measurement falls within quite a small band and it is surprising how many companies get this completely wrong (we've seen them) and not leave enough room, or have you sitting at the table like a six year old!

The left hand photo illustrates a set of full upholstered bespoke dining chairs, made to a special width and seat height, to fit our clients 17th century oak table. The right hand photo shows a bespoke pedestal dining table made to compliment our clients antique dining chairs and adjacent pieces, in both colour and size.

As another example, we have a storage cupboard in our standard Chalvington range (we call it a food cupboard) and this has been used on several occasions as a basis for designing a similar piece, but which fulfils that particular clients exact requirements. These would typically cover available space for the piece to sit, storage, design preferences, display and choice of accessories i.e. door and drawer furniture.

How our bespoke Chalvington range food cupboard, was re-designed to make a custom storage unit for our client.

It is important to add that, although our product lists denote certain set sizes, it doesn't mean you are restricted to them. Certainly, for our Chalvington and Wilmington ranges, if you want something to a specific size, as long as it works from a practical and aesthetic point of view, we can do this for you. Usually, small changes like this won't affect the price by much, if at all. Moreover, adding a fourth door and drawer to a three-door/drawer dresser won't necessarily mean you have to pay a third more either.

        
This 4-drawer, 4-door, Montgomeryshire high dresser was bespoke made for our Sussex client. To increase the length by 33% and add another door and drawer, from our 3-drawer, 3-door version, only added 11% to the overall cost. 

Even our Berwick semi-bespoke range has, as the name suggests, a bespoke element to it. Both the refectory and pedestal dining table can be shortened and we can also add extra leaves to turn them into extending tables. We have also added a partition into one of our Berwick closed dresser bases, to create a secure compartment (so the kids can't get at the alcohol!!) and changed the door closers so one is lockable and the other two can be opened without a key (so the kids can get to the DVD's!). As with our fully bespoke pieces, with the Berwick range you can still choose from five standard colour options and three ageing options, plus we can colour match to your existing furniture if required.

Even our semi-bespoke dining tables can be shortened (both the base and top), for the smaller room.

If you're after something bespoke, but live a long way from us, that isn't a problem. Whilst it is great if you can get down to our showroom, we also carry out many successful bespoke projects from instructions taken over the phone and/or by email. Even relatively complex pieces, such as TV cabinets, have been done this way...very successfully as it happens!

A bespoke period style oak TV cabinet designed from measurements supplied by our Surrey client.

Take a look at some of the bespoke pieces we have made, as a result of our clients personal needs, and which have now become part of our growing portfolio. Simply click on the relative categories in this section for various case studies of period style bespoke oak furniture.