I don’t believe a beautiful home needs to be filled entirely with custom furniture. In fact, I usually prefer that it isn’t.
Some of the most successful rooms combine custom pieces with beautifully made retail furniture, vintage finds, art and objects collected over time. The question isn’t custom or retail? It’s where does custom genuinely add value?
When I Choose Custom
When Scale Is Critical
A room may need a sofa that is 104 inches rather than the 96 or 110 inches available from a manufacturer. That difference can completely change the proportions of the space. Custom furniture allows us to control width, depth, height and sometimes even seat comfort to suit the room rather than forcing the room to accommodate the furniture.
When the Architecture Is Unusual
Curved walls, awkward niches and unusually proportioned rooms can be wonderful, but they don’t always cooperate with standard furniture dimensions. A custom banquette or console can turn what initially appears to be an awkward architectural condition into one of the most distinctive elements in the room.
When Material Really Matters
Custom gives us control over timber, stone, metal, upholstery, finish and detailing. Sometimes I know exactly what a room needs but that combination simply doesn’t exist commercially. That’s when custom becomes worthwhile.
When Retail Makes More Sense
Custom isn’t automatically better. There are excellent manufacturers producing beautifully designed and well-constructed furniture, and there is little reason to recreate an existing piece simply for the sake of calling it bespoke.
Retail furniture can also have advantages in terms of lead time, the ability to see or sit on something before purchasing, and sometimes price. I particularly like using retail for pieces where a manufacturer has already perfected something, a beautifully engineered dining chair, for example.
Don’t Forget Vintage
For me, the third category is just as important. Vintage furniture brings something neither custom nor new retail furniture can easily replicate: history. A vintage chair, table or cabinet can stop a newly renovated house from feeling too new.
I don’t necessarily want the vintage piece to be valuable or recognizable. Sometimes it’s simply the shape, patina or imperfection that gives a room character.
Where I Usually Recommend Investing
If the budget requires choices, I generally put more money into pieces that have a significant impact on the room or will be used heavily. A sofa is a good example. Comfort, proportion and upholstery matter enormously because you’ll probably interact with it every day.
The same can be true of a dining table, a principal bedroom piece or an important cabinet. By contrast, not every side table needs to be an investment.
Think About the Room, Not the Label
The biggest mistake is assuming that price or provenance automatically equals good design. A $15,000 custom piece can be wrong for a room. A relatively inexpensive vintage table can be perfect.
My job as a designer is to look beyond the label and ask a different question: What does this room need? Sometimes the answer is something made especially for it. Sometimes it’s something beautifully produced and available immediately. And sometimes it’s something made fifty years ago that nobody else would have thought to put there.
Those combinations are often what make a home feel truly individual. Once a selection is made, the interior design procurement process carries it from approval to installation. Rebecca Duke is Founder and Principal Designer of The R Creative, a Los Angeles residential interior design studio specializing in considered interiors, residential renovations and furniture procurement.
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