Customizing the Dimensions and Layout of Your Barnwood Furniture
When shopping for furniture, it can be frustrating to find a piece that you love, only to discover that it is too wide for the available space, not deep enough for your storage needs, or arranged differently than you would prefer.
At Unique Custom Furniture, many of our handcrafted furniture designs can be customized to better fit your home and the way you plan to use the piece. Rather than beginning with a completely new design, customers will often select an existing barnwood TV console, kitchen island, buffet, hutch, or other furniture piece and ask us to adjust its dimensions or make minor changes to the layout.
This allows you to enjoy the character and craftsmanship of one of our established designs while creating furniture that works more naturally within your room.
Customizing the Width, Depth, and Height
One of the most common customization requests we receive involves changing the overall dimensions of a furniture piece.
Depending on the design, we can often adjust the:
- Width
- Depth
- Height
A TV console, for example, may need to be wider to properly balance a large television or fit a particular wall. A buffet may need to be slightly narrower to provide enough walking space in a dining room. A kitchen island may require a different depth or height to work within an existing kitchen layout.
These dimensional changes can make the difference between a piece of furniture that simply fits in the room and one that feels as though it was designed specifically for that space.
Before contacting us, it is helpful to carefully measure the area where the furniture will be placed. Remember to consider surrounding cabinets, doorways, heating vents, electrical outlets, walking paths, and the space needed to comfortably open doors and drawers.
Making Minor Changes to the Layout
In addition to changing the overall dimensions, we can often make minor adjustments to the layout of one of our existing furniture designs.
For example, a customer may prefer three larger drawers instead of four smaller drawers. Another customer may want a different combination of doors, drawers, shelving, or open storage. A kitchen island might need more drawer space, while a TV console may need larger cabinet openings for electronic equipment.
These types of changes allow the furniture to better serve the customer’s individual storage and organizational needs without completely changing the character of the original design.
The possibilities depend on the size, structure, and construction of the particular piece. Our team can review your ideas and help determine which changes are practical while maintaining the strength, appearance, and proportions of the furniture.
Why We Usually Recommend a Natural Clear-Coat Finish
While we frequently customize dimensions and layouts, we generally shy away from custom stains and heavily colored finishes on our reclaimed barnwood furniture.
Reclaimed barnwood is very different from newly milled lumber. Each board has aged naturally for decades—and often for more than a century. Variations in wood species, weather exposure, grain, age, and previous use can all affect how the wood absorbs stain.
Because of these differences, it can be extremely difficult to create an even stain color or match reclaimed barnwood to existing cabinets or furniture. Two boards from the same barn may respond differently to the same stain. Applying color can also cover some of the natural variations that make reclaimed wood so visually interesting.
For these reasons, we generally use a clear-coat finish that protects the furniture while allowing the original beauty of the wood to remain visible. The clear coat brings out the grain, natural color variations, old nail holes, weathered areas, and other markings that give each piece its individual character.
Reclaimed Barnwood Is Meant to Complement, Not Match
Customers sometimes ask whether their new barnwood furniture will match their existing cabinets, flooring, or other wood furniture.
The honest answer is that reclaimed barnwood is rarely intended to be an exact match—and that is part of its appeal.
A reclaimed barnwood kitchen island can provide a beautiful contrast against painted or traditionally finished kitchen cabinets. A rustic TV console can add warmth and texture to a more contemporary living room. A barnwood buffet can become a distinctive statement piece within a dining area furnished with other wood tones.
Instead of disappearing into the room, reclaimed wood stands out. Its natural color, texture, and history create contrast and visual interest. Trying to make it perfectly match another finish can work against the qualities that make the material special in the first place.
We encourage customers to think of reclaimed barnwood as a complementary material rather than a matching one. It does not need to be the same color as everything around it to feel at home in the room.
Furniture Designed Around Your Home
Customizing an existing design is a practical way to create furniture that better fits your space without starting entirely from scratch.
To begin, select a piece from our website that is close to what you have in mind. Let us know your preferred width, depth, and height, along with any minor layout changes you would like us to consider. Photos of the room, measurements, or even a rough sketch can help us understand what you need.
Our team will review the request, discuss what is possible, and provide a quote for the customized piece. Once the details are finalized, we can create a drawing showing the dimensions and layout for your approval before production begins.
At Unique Custom Furniture, our goal is to create handcrafted furniture that is not only beautiful, but also functional for your home. Contact us today to discuss how one of our reclaimed barnwood furniture designs can be customized for your space.
