What Is Bespoke Furniture?

Bespoke furniture is any piece of furniture that is custom made. The furniture can be made to the specifications of the customer, both in size and in features. Any type of furniture can be made custom, which means bespoke furniture can range from tables and chairs to cabinets, bed headboards, and even doors. The term "bespoke" is rarely used in the United States, but it is commonly used in the United Kingdom and some other parts of the world. In the United States, such furniture is instead said to be custom or custom-made.

Furniture makers will often offer bespoke furniture as a purchase option for a customer. This process usually involves one or more meetings with the furniture maker to discuss the design and features included with the furniture and ensure the customer gets exactly what he or she wants. Bespoke furniture is likely to cost more than prefabricated furniture, however, so it is important for the customer and the furniture maker to reach an agreement on the maximum cost of the piece. A homeowner with carpentry skills can make his or her own bespoke furniture as well, further adding to the ability to get exactly what he or she wants from the piece.

In most cases, bespoke furniture is made exclusively from high-quality materials, such as hardwoods and some metals. Cheaper materials such as plastics and particleboard are generally avoided, though DIY projects are available for making furniture with these materials. A person doing a DIY project can certainly build the furniture from any materials he or she desires, but again, many people opt for high-quality woods or metals.

One of the advantages of bespoke pieces is the builder's ability to construct the furniture to specific sizes or shapes. This is useful for homeowners with rooms that have odd angles, nooks, or other spaces in which prefabricated furniture will not fit. The bespoke pieces can also be built to accommodate a person's height or physical limitations; a person in a wheelchair, for example, may need furniture made at a lower height to make access to tabletops or countertops possible; a very tall person may prefer larger pieces of furniture not available as prefabricated pieces.