The Importance of Custom Furniture
Custom furniture isn't just about getting exactly what you want. It's about getting something that will actually last.
Clients come to us all the time with questions about how the process works, what it costs, whether it's worth it. We love those conversations. Because once people understand what goes into a truly custom piece, the decision becomes pretty clear.
What surprises people most is the value. More often than you'd think, custom furniture is comparable to what you'd spend at Restoration Hardware or another luxury retailer. But the difference is in the quality and the intention behind it.
That's why we prioritize custom furniture in every home we design. It's not a luxury add-on. It's how we make sure the homes we create are still beautiful twenty years from now.
The sofa example
Take a sofa. Before fabric ever comes up, I'm thinking about style and scale.
What feeling are we wanting to evoke? How does the client use the sofa? Is it for lounging and watching TV or a formal place to sit and chat with guests? How high are the ceilings? What else is in the room? All of that shapes the piece before we've even talked about a single material.
Then we get into the details. Seat height. Leg style. Fill. Depth. And then of course, the fabric. Does it need to be performance to stand up to daily use? These choices may sound technical but they're really about the experience the person will have using it every day.
For example, my taller clients tend to want a deeper sofa where they can really stretch out. My shorter clients like to be able to sit back and still have their feet touch the floor. In this case, a few inches of seat depth sounds like a small thing, but it’s not. This attention to detail makes sitting on your sofa (something you use every single day) an experience that has been designed around you.
This is something most clients don’t realize they can have until I show them the pieces we’ve designed for them. That’s usually when it clicks what custom really means, and how it can change their home (and life) for the better.
What goes into a single piece
Take a sofa and a console table. Here are the ways we can customize a piece for a home:
Custom Console Table
Style
Dimensions — width, depth, height specific to the wall and space
Material (wood species, metal, stone top, combination)
Wood stain or paint finish
Hardware style and finish
Shelf vs. no shelf
Drawer vs. open storage vs. cabinet doors
Leg style (tapered, turned, metal, lucite)
Edge profile on the top
Whether it's freestanding or built-in looking
Custom Sofa
Style
Frame construction and size
Seat height
Seat depth
Arm style and height
Leg style and finish
Cushion fill (down wrap, high-resiliency foam, all-down)
Bench cushion vs. individual seat cushions
Tight back vs. loose back cushions
Welt (self, contrast, or knife-edge)
Fabric or leather selection
Contrasting trim
Pillow quantity, shape, and fabric
And then there's the craftsmanship itself. By the time these pieces are loaded onto the truck, it has passed through the hands of sometimes up to 30 people. Framers, upholsterers, sewers, finishers. That's what quality actually looks like and it's exactly why these pieces last generations.
My favorite ways to customize upholstery
Arm style
The arm is one of the first things you notice about a sofa or chair and it sets the personality of the entire piece. A tight, low track arm feels very clean and modern. A rounded English arm feels collected and traditional. It's one of the easiest ways to make a piece feel completely unique to a space.
Fabric
Choosing the fabric is obviously the most fun part because we choosing the color, pattern, texture, and it’s durability. The fabric is what makes someone stop and ask about a piece. It's also where we think about practicality. Pets, kids, how the room gets used—all of that factors into what we choose.
Contrasting trim
When I don’t want a neutral sofa to feel forgettable, my favorite way to customize it is by adding a contrast trim along the edges which makes it feel more unique. The payoff is way bigger than the cost. See the sectional below.
Custom pillows
Every home we design has custom pillows. They're not cheap, and I won't pretend they are. But the impact they have on a room is undeniable. With the right pillows, a room looks intentional and designed. Worth every penny!
My (current) favorite custom piece
Here's a recent example that shows off how custom pieces can improve your daily routine.
We were working on a bedroom for a project in Mexico. The client wanted a TV in their room—totally normal ask. But the wall across from the bed was floor-to-ceiling windows looking out to the ocean. Obviously, we had no intention of covering that.
The solution was to build a custom bed that floats in the middle of the room and integrated a TV lift directly into the footboard. The TV comes up when you want it and disappears when you don't. The view stays completely open. The client got everything they wanted.
That's custom furniture at its best. Not just beautiful, but built around your life.
Why we include it in every project
Custom furniture is something we prioritize for every single client. It's part of how we make sure a piece actually works for the room and for the person living in it. It's a lot of small decisions made on purpose. And when they're all made well, the results speak for themselves.
