England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland
Interior Design
IS BESPOKE DESIGN WORTH IT?
Studio Dean interior design weighs up the pros and cons and give some great examples
A great interior designer will often offer bespoke solutions for your home, because an off the peg solution is ok, but not perfect for you, and this simply will not do. We always say “we don’t have a catalogue; we have imaginations and that is what you pay for”. The result is a home that is elevated from ‘ok’ to unique and exceptional, due to the bespoke details that will make your life easier and more beautiful, every day.
Bespoke furniture is always the best value option because you are getting a superior product, and sometimes it can even work out cheaper due to clever design, local suppliers and craftsmen and fewer overheads. Sometimes we can recreate and scale down super luxe designs that would cost a fortune add install it into your home at a fraction of the cost. There is less waste too as we just order exactly what we need.
PROS OF BESPOKE FURNITURE
-
Customised functionality
-
Perfect fit
-
No compromise
-
Exclusive
-
Craftsmanship
-
Flexible cost
CONS OF BESPOKE FURNITURE
-
Time
-
Cost
-
Inflexible design
-
Margin for error
The process of planning, measuring, designing and building a bespoke design is lengthier than an off-the-peg solution, and can cost more due to economies of scale, design expertise and artisan craftsmanship. The end result, although perfect for you, will have to suit you for years to come, as you probably won’t be able to move it around. As the design is incomparable, and there is no template, there is the possibility for mistakes, but these are often easily rectified and not to your expense.
EXAMPLES
You can see examples of bespoke fitted wardrobes, unique storage solutions, fitted desks and work spaces, fitted seating across all of our work. We nearly always offer bespoke options because they give perfect results, which our clients usually opt for after we carefully weigh up the pros, cons, budget and ultimate outcome with them. Read on for some more niche examples of how clever, bespoke solutions can elevate your interior design, maximise your space and make life easier.
BESPOKE STYLE
We were recently engaged to plan and execute the interior design and architecture for a full house renovation in the Lake District by a happily married couple with totally different styles. Julie is a self-confessed modernist and minimalist, who would love a calming house of pure whites, clean lines, no clutter and minimal furniture. Steven would love to live in an old-fashioned private members' club style house, with elaborate wood panelling, Chesterfield sofas, deep colours and fabrics and interesting curios. So, how did we create a bespoke style that they both truly love?
As the house is brand new, bringing in gentleman's club style would have been a pastiche and felt inappropriate. Julie’s minimalist style might have worked, but it would have alienated Steven.
We designed bespoke modern panelling as a nod to both Steven’s vintage vision and Julie’s minimalism. One we designed something that they both truly loved, this bespoke panelling became the theme that pulled the full house design together. We used it all over the project, in different colours and finishes. Because it was carefully designed to perfectly reflect both client’s tastes, it worked again and again everywhere in the house.
The key to elevated bespoke design is in the details. We painstakingly planned the panels to ensure each wall was perfectly proportioned and the panels repeat perfectly. It exudes quiet luxury due to the small details we built in to not be noticed. We made sure the beading between each panel was identical in width, and tracked lighting in seamlessly where needed. These details add up to overall perfection, which you can feel as soon as you walk into every room.
BESPOKE HEADBOARDS
You can buy a lovely headboard and matching side tables for your bedroom and they will look good. But they will never look exceptional, because they are also sitting in a hundred other bedrooms, looking equally as good. A bespoke headboard can transform a room, by cleverly zoning a sleeping space and elevating the rest of the room’s interior design. You can also create customised functionality, such as storage for magazines or medication, lighting at the perfect height for your favourite reading position, charging points or a fishing rod at arm’s length – whatever you need. Once you have the perfect functionality, you can choose the material and style of the headboard and make it as grand, minimal, squishy or bobbly as you like. We love designing bespoke headboards for spare rooms, which work with two single beds, that can be pulled together to make a super king, or apart for a twin room, depending on your guests.
STRUCTURAL ROOM DIVIDERS
Most homes have fun little structural quirks which it would be too costly to remove, such as supporting walls, pillars and pipes. The simple solution is often to box around these and pretend they are not there, but not us! We will always incorporate these oddities into our design and make them add value, or if not, blend in seamlessly to your interior design. We have worked with structural pillars to create bespoke, showstopping features which create a broken plan space with different zones. These include media stations, open fireplaces, bespoke seating and TV walls.
NOOKS
There are spaces in every room that could be used better. We love turning these into functional nooks, which can be closed off after they have served their purpose to keep clutter at bay. These are often breakfast nooks, so that the morning rush doesn’t destroy your kitchen, sometimes with their own taps, so that tea-and-coffee-making creates minimal havoc throughout the day.
We have also designed laundry nooks in kitchens (where a laundry room wasn’t possible) with bespoke hanging rails and heaters so that washing and drying can be contained. We delight in adding secret dishwashers to living rooms, bars and snugs, so that glassware doesn’t have to be carried through the house, and you can keep your nice matching set together in one place.
HOW TO AVOID MISTAKES WITH BESPOKE FURNITURE DESIGN
Bespoke furniture design is always an untrodden road, but expertise and experience will guide the way. One key to our success it careful measuring and planning. We plan out every detail of the house with CAD drawings first to make sure the clients are totally happy with the end result before we even open our toolbox.
