A Peek Into the Custom Furniture Ordering Process

As promised in my formal living room update post, I&#;m giving you a peek into the custom furniture ordering process. I&#;ve talked about custom furniture here on the blog many times before (here is a recent resource list, if you missed it), but I&#;ve never elaborated on what that process looks like as a consumer. I figured it would be helpful to share the process from the initial order to the furniture&#;s arrival, so you know exactly what to expect when ordering custom. I&#;m sharing my recent experience with Maiden Home. Click through to learn about how I made my selections, how the furniture is constructed, and what the delivery process looks like.

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Before we dive in, you can also catch a really fun interview I did with Maiden Home&#; they shared it on their blog over the weekend, which was a happy surprise. I answered lots of amazing design related questions, if you&#;re interested to read! Ready to dig into the custom furniture process? Of course this is all based on my personal aesthetic, preferences, furniture needs, and overall experience.

Swatches & Selection

I stumbled upon Maiden Home&#;s site a couple years ago and actually saved the Carmine Sofa to a wishlist Pinterest board back in the day (it was one of the first pieces they introduced). It wasn&#;t until we were shuffling furniture last fall, that I had a need for another sofa. That Pinterest board led me right back to the Carmine and I knew the shape and size would fit our floor plan and aesthetic perfectly. Once I had that component figured out, I had to choose new swivel chairs. I usually start with the size and shape, then narrow it down from there. It&#;s always best to ensure a piece fits your space, and that immediately helps to narrow things down. I try not to waste my time looking at options that work work (size, budget, etc).

I obviously landed on the Dune Swivel Chairs because the nice modern shape beautifully contrasted the sofa, but most of all- because I knew they would be super comfortable. Once I have my selections figured out, I usually go through the details with a fine tooth comb, checking the material list, the construction, the fabric options, and double checking the dimensions. After I&#;m positive the frame is right for a room, then it&#;s onto the fun part of the selection process: ordering swatches.

Having used to work for a design firm, I miss the days of having a fabric library at my fingertips. It&#;s always fun to play designer again and order swatches to look at in my space. When it comes to custom furniture, I always order a swatch before committing. I actually ordered quite a few swatches from Maiden Home, all of them being performance fabrics of some type&#; because obviously we have dogs that also use our furniture.

Once the swatches arrived, I took them into our living room to see how they interacted with the light, how they felt in my hand, and I double checked their specs (like the rub count). FYI- if you want to know more about making fabric selections, check out this post! Eventually I landed on the Slate Blue Mohair for the sofa and a linen-looking Performance Chenille (in color Alabaster) for the swivels. You can check out all of their swatches here, if you want to know what other options I had. They have a handy guide that tells which fabrics are cleanable, liquid resistant, fade resistant, etc.

Ordering & Leadtime

I had my ducks in a row, I was excited about the design & fabrics, and I pressed the order button! The lead-time was 8-10 weeks when I placed my order, and I immediately received a confirmation . Now the hard part&#; waiting. Despite lots of furniture companies having crazy lead times right now, I was pretty impressed with how quickly my furniture arrived. I ordered last November and it got to me in mid January.

It&#;s important to understand that custom furniture is made specifically for you with your preferences- it can take awhile. Your selections can also influence the lead time. I think lead-time throws a lot of people for a loop. Since I used to work in the industry, I&#;m ok with it and I know it&#;s worth the wait&#; but if you&#;re not familiar with the custom furniture process, it can feel annoying to wait SO long. Just know that it&#;s normal! Furniture makers are working as quickly as they can while maintaining their quality and standards. That&#;s something I&#;m willing to wait for.

Construction Updates

Having worked with many high-end furniture makers and showrooms during my days as a designer, I&#;ve done the factory & workshop tours, I know what goes into making furniture, and I really love seeing skilled artisans & tradespeople representing their timeless craft. That&#;s why I was thrilled to receive construction update emails from Maiden Home. It was the happiest surprise! When ordering custom in the past, I&#;ve never had a company do that. It&#;s usually just an order confirmation and a shipping confirmation&#; unless you&#;re working with a designer and they can call for updates.

From framing, springing, cutting & sewing, to upholstery, Maiden Home sent construction updates (and delivery timing updates) as my furniture was being built. I was impressed! It was nice to see who was building my furniture and understand what stage in the process everything was at. Many of the craftsmen & craftswomen have 30-40+ years experience! It honestly made those eight weeks go much faster knowing things were actively happening behind-the-scenes in the workroom.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Custom Made Rattan Furniture. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

Shipping & White Glove Delivery

Once everything is finished, it&#;s carefully wrapped and ready to ship. Custom furniture is usually sent via white glove delivery. I got a call from my local freight company asking me to schedule the delivery. When the furniture arrived, the delivery people unboxed it for me, and even positioned it in our living room (asking me where I wanted it)- they were also respectful of our home (wearing shoe covers, and of course masks). It was a good experience and Emmett & I didn&#;t have to deal with recycling, trash, or heavy lifting.

Obviously once the furniture was in place, the fun began- styling, enjoying it, lounging in our new comfy swivels. Custom furniture does have a higher price tag, but I&#;ve come to find it&#;s a worthy investment. I was especially impressed ordering from Maiden Home this first time because of their quality and pricing. Their entire business model is based on cutting out the middle sources (showrooms, wholesalers, designers, etc), bringing furniture from the workroom to your home (as a regular, non trade consumer). You can read more about their process and concept here, if you&#;re interested.

I got to chat on the with Nidhi, the Maiden Home Founder, and our conversation was so inspiring! She talked about why she wanted to start this business in the first place- how she noticed a gap in the custom furniture market that was accessible & affordable to consumers (without having to work through a designer or shop). She&#;s really an impressive female entrepreneur who cares, and has created many US jobs for skilled furniture makers. I thoroughly enjoyed our chat and will definitely be ordering from them again in the future.

Do you have any custom furniture questions for me? It can be about design, ordering from Maiden Home, furniture in general, whatever you want. I&#;ll do my best to help! I hope covering my design thoughts of making selections and the custom furniture process was helpful. Have a wonderful Tuesday, my friends!

Choosing the right wicker furniture can be an exciting adventure. Homeowners need not suffer the perils of shopping for indoor or outdoor wicker furniture if they give it a little thought and advanced planning. First, consider where the furniture will be placed and used. If the furniture is used primarily indoors, natural or resin wicker will work equally well.

Indoor Wicker Furniture

Historically, indoor wicker (natural wicker) was made from natural materials.  Natural wicker was generally available from wicker dealers without any finish, with a stain and seal coating or painted finish. Some typical finishes are natural, white, whitewash, and brown stain finish.  But natural wicker is being replaced with more modern forms of wicker.  If you like the idea of using natural wicker indoors, go for it. There is nothing wrong with it. Quality A-grade natural wicker is the highest-grade wicker available. If you prefer owning and using natural wicker furniture over resin wicker furniture indoors, that is what you should do. Taken care of properly, it will last for decades.

Outdoor Wicker Furniture

Modern Outdoor wicker furniture is perfectly acceptable for use indoors. In fact, the majority of people today buy outdoor furniture for indoor use. The reasons are many. The appearance of resin or Lloyd Loom wicker is considered equally as elegant as natural wicker. It has a smoother finish and does not have the little fibers that catch and scratch fabric on your skin. The abundance of different finishes for outdoor wicker compared to the limited number of finishes of natural wicker meets the needs of decorators and different home décor situations.

Outdoor wicker furniture is available in as many as ten or more finishes choices from certain dealers. Maintenance of synthetic wicker is significantly easier than natural wicker. It is easy to dust, and dirt and grime are easily removed with common liquid dish soap, warm water, and a little elbow grease. Outdoor wicker never needs to be painted. The color of the finish is throughout the material. Even if it were to get scratched, the color beneath the scratch is the same as on the surface.

Finally, if you don&#;t want to use it inside anymore, you can move it directly outside to the patio without worry. Many parents purchase resin wicker furniture for their children at college. The children then have the beginnings of their resin furniture when they start out on their own. Not all homeowners have the same taste.

Luckily, the wicker industry has a lot to choose from. Consider where you will be placing the furniture inside your house. Choose furniture that will fit properly within the room you plan to use it in. Typically, your choices for matching furniture include a wicker chair, rocking chair, loveseat, sofa, coffee table, chaise lounge chair, ottoman, coffee table, and end table.

Standard wicker designs don&#;t require cushions, but tufted cushion seats can be added for comfort and elegance. Deep seating wicker furniture requires 6-inch high-density foam seat cushions and thick pillow or tufted-style back cushions to sit on the furniture comfortably. Your choice here is simply preference. If you want to go for extra cushion comfort, you want deep seating. Otherwise, the conventional standard wicker design is very satisfactory. Don&#;t worry; deep seating wicker furniture is very acceptable for use outdoors, providing you have chosen outdoor fabric for the cushions.

If you are planning on starting with only a few pieces, make sure you deal with a vendor that will continue to stock the design you started with so that you can expand your collection in the future. Most importantly, choose a design that you like. It&#;s not important what you think others might think of the design of your furniture; you have to live with it and sit on it every day. It&#;s most important that you are satisfied with what you buy. Feel free to mix and match different pieces. Many people enjoy the diversity and uniqueness of each piece of wicker furniture.

Finally, choose custom-made cushions with a choice of quality indoor or outdoor fabric. The fabric pattern can make all the difference in your room&#;s décor. Good cushions will last and wear for a long time. Stay away from inexpensive cushions with Dacron fillers. A tufted cushion is generally a good choice and generally much more desirable for conventional wicker seating than foam cushions unless it is deep seating wicker furniture. For deep seating furniture, you have to use thick foam seat cushions&#;otherwise, whats the point? Consider buying cushions from the same place you bought your wicker if they are quality. If they are not quality cushions, don&#;t waste your money; find a quality dealer. The cushions should be made to fit well. Also, when you need to replace them in several years, you should be able to go back to the same place and buy replacements that fit or buy standard shape and size cushions from another reputable vendor.

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