Deciding between the acquisition of ready-made furniture in a showroom/furniture store or choosing to “custom-tailor” it in a specialized workshop according to the space this will occupy, can prove a real dilemma. And each of us will face this situation at least once every year.
We intend to go through a series of reasons both in favor and against each of the two alternatives. Let’s begin with the option of purchasing ready-made furniture from a showroom furniture. In this particular case, at least theoretically, one should have the advantage of a lower price, given the fact that, most probably, the stock of merchandise in that showroom is the result of a batch production process which, obviously involve lower costs. Another advantage of purchasing ready-made furniture is the fact that there should be no waiting time: you saw it, you liked it, you took it home. That of course, if the showroom owns enough stock of goods. In favor of ready-made furniture, we can also mention that, once you go for this alternative, you will not need to consider design ideas, how to configure the furniture piece, what sizes it should have, what colors. You simply pick a certain pre-configured design. As reasons against ready-made furniture, one should be the lack of flexibility in choosing a certain color, certain materials, certain sizes or a certain configuration. Moreover, ready-made furniture being the result of a batch series production, there is a risk that some pieces will not have the proper finishing, resulting in less qualitative goods.
As for the bespoke furniture, we can state from the very beginning that there are no limits in using own’s imagination: one can choose any material (massive wood, lacquered or mat painted MDF, foiled MDF, composite materials, veneer, chipboard, metal), any color, any desired configuration and any sizes. One has practically the possibility of leaving a very personal mark upon the space to be furnished. Another reason in favor of the bespoke furniture is the fact that, talking about a unique product, normally the producer should pay more attention to details and finishing elements, this resulting in a product with higher quality than ready-made ones. An additional advantage of the bespoke furniture is that payments are ….: prepayment and final payment, unlike ready-made furniture in which case payment is fully due. Of course a disadvantage of custom-made furniture would be the waiting time between ordering and having the furniture delivered. This waiting time can prove to be quite long, therefore a good strategy in case one chooses to go for bespoke furniture would be to start ordering 2 or even 3 months before the deadline. Furthermore, one should consider that prices for bespoke furniture might prove to be higher than ready-made furniture purchased from showrooms; the reason for this being the fact that bespoke furniture is not a batch production process.
Either options though, the result can be an exceptional one, and the decision belongs to each of us, based on the particular situation.