5 Things That You Can Have Custom-Made

From bathrooms to bedrooms to kitchens, you can have something custom-made for any room in your house.  There are many items that can be custom-made for the home, such as curtains, furniture, built-ins, and cabinetry.  I enjoy adding custom-made pieces to my designs because of the complexity they add to a room.  My recent projects including custom-made items are a master bathroom with custom vanity, custom bookshelves for bedrooms and home offices, and something a little out of the ordinary, custom desk skirts.  

Custom-Made Bathroom Vanity

 

Custom-Made Bathroom Vanity

This master bathroom custom vanity is made from a wood called Sapele or African mahogany.  It is naturally golden to dark reddish-brown, but we stained it to a darker brown to contrast beautifully against the marble floors with gray veining.  Sapele is a more cost-effective option to Genuine Mahogany and is a very close match in visual appeal, wood processing, and durability.  The irregularities in both grain patterns give them an exotic look leading to their popularity around the world.  A great addition to the vanity was a pull-out drawer cut out under the sink so no space was wasted.  It is great for storing hairbrushes, combs, razors, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.  Bonuses such as this are just one of the reasons why I love custom-made cabinetry!

Custom-Made Kitchen Island

Custom-Made Kitchen Island

For this kitchen, I designed a custom island.  As you’ll notice, it is not a perfect rectangle, giving it more character.  My favorite enhancements are the prep sink, having multiple sinks in a kitchen is a game-changer, and the microwave drawer is way more appealing to the aesthetic than a countertop microwave or one that hangs above the stove. Also, there is plenty of storage space!   The drawer under the microwave can be great for organizing your Tupperware and we installed shelves on one side for a collection of ironstone pots and cookbooks.  Lastly, the faux paint finish on the island was carefully colored to match the exquisite marble slab on top.

Custom-Made Cabinets

Custom-Made Cabinets

This is one of my favorite custom cabinet projects!  All of the cabinets are stunning cherry and stretch from floor to ceiling for maximum storage.  We placed glass mosaic tile as the backsplash and a warm granite countertop to compliment the cabinets.  Furthermore, the wine cooler had a perfect home in the kitchen because of all the cabinets being custom made.

Custom-Made Built-In Bookcase

Custom-Made Built-In Bookcase

I designed a built-in bookshelf with a desk for a young man’s bedroom to blanket the wall across from the foot of his bed.  Joinery crown molding was placed at the top and baseboard molding at the bottom, both continue onto every wall in the room.  The integration of an upholstered memo board behind the desk can hold photos and important notes or reminders. 

The below picture is from my home office, where you’ll see custom-made built-in units.  I created this layout to house my fabric books in the upper cabinets and added doors to the lower shelves to keep clutter out of sight.

Custom-Made Desk Skirts

On the other side of my office are my two desks.  I had desk skirts, also called table coverings, made to disguise wires and computer modems and create extra storage space.  The gathered skirts are made out of 100% linen fabric by Pindler.


Repurposing Slip Covers in Virginia

At Kelley Astore Interiors we believe and are working towards, making interior design more sustainable. It’s a difficult balance to strike: on one hand, you want to be mindful and avoid excess waste, but on the other hand, you want each design to be perfect in your eyes and in your clients’ eyes. But humans make mistakes and change their minds – and that’s where we have to get creative and consider repurposing. Recently we upholstered two down-filled custom-made chairs and one ottoman for a client in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. They were originally covered in mauve fabric with a black floral design. I actually really liked this fabric on the chairs. However after they were made, and placed in the sitting room, we realized that the fabric was not the right choice for the design.

The rest of the room was a very neutral color palette, featuring a lot of earthy and beige tones. The walls were painted in a beautiful Farrow & Ball shade called Oxford Stone 264, which is a lovely sandy color. Against the walls and the rest of the decor, we found that the original fabric was a bit old-fashioned and stuck out in a way that we didn’t want them to. After speaking with my client, we agreed that the room wanted a more subdued and lighter fabric than what was originally chosen. Something that would compliment and blend into the rest of the design rather than becoming an eyesore. But we had already upholstered them – did this mean we would need to start over and reupholster all of it? That would take a lot of time and money…but more importantly, it would result in a lot of extra waste we didn’t need to produce. What else could we do?

The Solution

This is when I realized a simple, quick, and easy solution: instead of starting over and re-doing the entire project, we could have slipcovers made! So that’s exactly what we did. This meant that we could completely transform the way the chairs and ottoman looked without wasting unnecessary time, effort, and materials. Together we browsed through a variety of different fabrics and settled on a gray/black and off-white ticking stripe patterned fabric from Pindler (my favorite place to source fabrics!) We were able to bring samples of this fabric into the space, and we knew that it was perfect.

My workroom ladies got busy stitching the slipcovers, and they were done in no time. Afterward, we installed them over the original cushions. After a quick steam, the chairs and ottoman were completely transformed. Looking at them, you would never be able to tell that slip covers were being used. My client absolutely loved the modern edge of the striped fabric. To add color and balance back into the design, we paired them with lovely little red cushions. I think the chairs and the room look absolutely fantastic. My client was happy, and the best part of all was that very little waste was created in the process! I will definitely continue using this trick in the future.

Try it yourself!

If you love all things design and fabric, be sure to check out our latest article on our 2021 Autumn Color Palette featuring plenty of fabrics from Pindler. To pass the time this fall, why not learn how to make your own slipcovers to easily transform a furniture piece you already own? This trick really does open up so many opportunities, and I couldn’t be happier. 


Scott Antique Markets: A Designer’s Dream

As a designer, a large part of my job is sourcing furniture and decor for my clients’ designs. I’m always striving to find unique and beautiful pieces, and going antiquing seems to be the best way to guarantee this. Scott Antique Markets is one of my absolute favorite places to source home furnishing and decor.

Why Antique?

There are numerous benefits of choosing to invest in antique pieces.

Quality & Durability: Most antique pieces were handcrafted long ago. They were made by skilled craftsmen with care and precision which is often lost in flat-pack furniture and commercial retail. When someone fabricates a single piece, you know it’s been given more attention than something made by machines on an assembly line. The piece has made its way through history which speaks for itself in terms of quality and durability. When you invest in antique pieces you know that they’ll last you life time. Not only are they physically durable, but antique pieces don’t go out of style. So you can have confidence when buying an antique that the piece will last you a lifetime.

Investment: Antique furniture and decor keeps its value. In some cases, it even increases in value the longer it’s around. If you purchase an antique piece today and later decide you want to change it, selling the piece should be no hard task. You may even make some money from it!

Sustainability: Buying an antique is one of the best forms of sustainability. Rather than sending the piece to a landfill, it gets to live on with you. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 9.69 million tons of furniture was taken to landfills in 2015 alone. Choosing to buy antique pieces instantly cuts down your personal contribution to this. Antique pieces are the epitome of the “reuse” in “Reduce, reuse, recycle!”

Individuality: Whether it’s a rug, a chair, a vanity, or a vase, if it’s antique, it’s unique! I take pride in the fact that my designs for my clients are always bespoke, personalised and unique. One of the easiest ways to do this is sourcing antique pieces. Because they’re not mass produced, no one will have the exact same piece as you, bringing a lovely individuality into any design.

Scott Antique Markets: All You Need to Know

The Market only opens once a month, so be sure to plan ahead! The Atlanta Market is opening from February 11-14th, so make sure to book a morning or afternoon off to make it there! If not, they’ll be open again next month. They also have a location in Ohio, which is due to reopen in November of this year. For a full timetable, please visit their website. Be aware that admission is $5, to be paid at the door only. But with the variety and amount of beautiful pieces to browse, it’s worth every penny.

The Scott Antique Markets were started by Don Scott who worked for nearly 20 years buying and selling antiques around the country. He was working as an exhibitor when he decided to create his own Antique show with a large focus on Customer Service. The Scott Antique Market in Atlanta was born and shortly afterward they expanded to open a market in Columbus, Ohio. Having been to the market since I was a young teen, I can confirm how wonderful their customer service is!

I usually take a list from a client of pieces that need to be sourced for their design. The home furnishings are sourced from all over Europe. And while they do sell New Home furnishing, their antiques are definitely my favorite to look at!

Here are some of my favorite pieces I saw last time I was at the market!

Favorite Pieces - Part 1

Favorite Pieces - Part 2

Interested in renovating? We’ll go to the market for you! Head to our services page to see how we can help you create the home of your dreams!


Kelley Astore Interiors

Expert Interior Design & Renovation Services of Every Style.

Where We Work

Northern Virginia, Washington, DC,
and the Greater Washington Area

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