Why Come Up With Your Own Design?

We can never deny the fact that there are hundreds of modern furniture designs being made and sold in the market today. It is true that these furniture styles are the best that creative minds has to offer, but you might not like it very much when your next door neighbor have the same designs as yours.

In truth, coming up with your own design gives your home a unique feel that can’t be copied by any homeowner and furniture designer in the world. Since your own taste and preference are what shaped your custom-made furniture today, it is a guarantee that you are the only one in the world that has it.

The uniqueness that custom-made furniture brings to your home is the best improvement project that you can ever come up with. In truth, choosing this option will not only help you avoid spending thousands of dollars on designer label furnishings, you won’t have to dish out extra effort that comes with choosing a design and finding the right shop that has it on sale.

Let Your Creative Juices Flow

There are two ways to come up with a design for your own custom-made home furnishings. You can draw one up from scratch or you can borrow the styles of existing furniture designs and styles being sold in the market today. In fact, many homeowners today are “borrowing” these ideas in coming up with a new concept for their own use.

The first step is to draw up your ideal furniture on a piece of paper. If you find some designs on the Internet, or around furniture shops in your area that catches your attention, try to integrate it into your drawing to see how it would look. The gist here is to use your creativity to the fullest. Avoid rushing on this project if you don’t want to end up with a finish product that you will likely regret investing over.

Now that you have the blueprint for your new furniture, you can visit furniture shops in your area that can manufacture your design with the materials that you want it to have. Try to compare their prices if you want to cut down on costs. But if you want to get the perfect quality home furnishing, it is advisable that you look for the best furniture makers in the business to give you what you want.

Anything produced from the late 19th century is classed as modern furniture. Though defined as modern furniture, it has been superseded by contemporary furniture design, which sometimes draws upon the ‘modern’ styles and shapes from decades ago. It is inevitable that we revisit older looks to inspire new ideas. Like fashion, interiors enjoy a new lease of life with a revival, so it’s only natural that contemporary furniture designers have taken influence and inspiration from modern furniture designers that came before them.

A good example of a piece of modern furniture that has enjoyed such resurgence is the Le Corbusier chair from 1928. Le Corbusier was a Swiss born French architect, designer and artist – turning his hand to anything creative. Whatever he dreamed-up though, had to be modern and minimalist. His signature chair, typically Bauhaus, had a simple yet solid stainless steel frame, very square and angular in shape, almost like railings – echoing the architect in him. Caged within the frame were square-edged leather cushions. Today this piece is still being produced, together with matching 2-seater and 3-seater sofa versions, as well as a chaise-longue adaptation.

The Barcelona chair is another iconic piece of modern furniture, designed only a year after the Le Corbusier masterpiece, but by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. This chair is revered for the fact that it was initially designed for royalty – the Spanish King and Queen at the World Art Fair Exposition in Spain in 1929. The Barcelona design is a perfect specimen of balance, function and form. It had a no-fuss curved steel construction, designed to effortlessly take the weight of the sitter, a feature supposedly plagiarised from the Roman folding chair. The seat cushions were hand crafted with full grain and stud-buttoned leather. Still a very popular item, this piece of furniture is reproduced today and is available as a standalone piece, with matching stool or there is a daybed option.

These examples of modern furniture are timeless classics and anyone who owns an original from the 1920′s is incredibly lucky. It also seems that in this day and age, pretty much anything can be considered fashionable. Perhaps we have come past the point where things go in and out of fashion and we can now enjoy whatever we like – whether it’s modern furniture, contemporary furniture, oriental furniture or traditional English furniture – rather than being dictated to and restricted by the latest fad.

Contemporary furniture is also called the twentieth century furniture because it blends materials like steel, chrome and glass along with the traditional wood as the base material for making of the furniture. Contemporary design of furniture is simplistic and practical. It lacks the grandiose and the glamor of the Victorian era and it’s design is almost an anathema to the original Victorian styles. The evolution of furniture design has been marked as furniture periods in the history of furniture design. Periods such as the Age of Oak, chestnut, walnut, federal and nineteenth to the twentieth century are marked in the design and history books.

It is often said that contemporary design furniture is not meant for museums or warehouses but marketplaces and homes. This is the most significant attribute of contemporary furniture that it addresses the need to be unique and modern and yet comfortable. Contemporary design draws strength from the basic ideology that furniture has the ability to influence the environments that it is placed in and that means that it will complement and also draw symmetry from the locale, design and built spaces that it is housed in.

Some common attributes of the contemporary furniture design are:
• Smooth and clean edges – No ornate cuts and designs.
• Asymmetrical appeal – The shape, cut, layout, assembly or furnishings, something will bring an asymmetrical finish to contemporary furniture. This differentiates it from the modern furniture which basically uses only new age materials and fabrics in the design.
• Furnishings and feel – The furnishings will be sans designs, motifs or pattern. The colors will be largely neutral such as blacks, whites and tans. These colors lend to the environment and also draw from colors of accessories, lights and other linen. The feel of the furniture will be different and sometimes may blend wood with leather or glass or chrome, steel or even stone. All this makes it unique. The contemporary design of furniture originated from Scandinavia and was also popularized by the Danish. This furniture is contemporary and can be blended well with modern furniture as well as ancient artifacts and heirlooms in and around the house.

It is easy to mix and match old and new by deploying contemporary furniture to your homes as they are understated pieces that emphasize on comfort and style but not necessarily on detailing, color and glamor. Blending contemporary design into old rooms can bring about a nice retro effect and create an entirely modern living space.