Custom furniture without a crazy mark up? Is that even possible in the world of interior design. I honestly never really thought it would be. As an interior designer nyc area a lot of the items that I source for a client are custom made. Why? Because it helps me give the client exactly what they want and it’s higher quality. It will literally be a piece that will stand the test of time. Hence the price tag for these items are typically 3 or more times what a version of it would cost from a big box retailer.

Recently I heard of a furniture company based out of Chicago called, Interior Define, whose whole business plan is offering consumers quality pieces, with customization, at an affordable price point. I had to check them out!

Now who would my guinea pig be? Luckily my sister recently moved into an apt with her boyfriend (Hi Danay & Steve) and while they raided my furniture shed. Yes, that’s right, I have a shed in my backyard filled to the brim with vintage furniture finds they still needed a sofa. Now it needed to be a sofa that each of them would like, great quality, fit their NYC sized apartment and not break the bank. I knew they would open to trying out interior define with me.

Since they would only have space for one main seating fixture in the room we decided that the ideal situation would be a sectional. Again since size was an issue we needed to go with a chaise sectional, but no need to worry as we had plenty of chaise sectional styles to decide from.

While we were narrowing down the style we wanted to go with I ordered some free swatches to check out the fabric in person. This was so important, because everyone’s computer screen is a little different and I wanted to make sure we picked out the best color.

A packaged arrived for me promptly:

I feel like it’s the Oscars all over again with my dramatic envelope reveal photo:

Here are our final 5 picks:

I love color so I had to include two colored options. The first swatch is Sapphire in mod velvet, second option is Robin’s egg in new felt, third option is Dove in pebble weave, 4th option is Tin in Plush Sateen and last option is ivory in heavy cloth.

All of them were gorgeous options. We got rid of the ivory first, because they recently got a dog and we were afraid of the dirt showing. The Robin’s egg was stunning and so bold, but maybe a little bold. We didn’t want to get stuck having to work everything around that color. The two grays were strong contenders not only in their color, but they felt amazing. But a little too safe for me. If you are going to go custom might as well get something that you normally can’t find in stock, right!

We went with the Sapphire in the mod velvet. It felt amazing, was dark enough so that stains wouldn’t show, in some lights it leaned more blue and in others a bit more gray. It ended up being a sort of slate color that I fell in love with!

The sloan sectional caught my eye immediately. It wasn’t too girly or masculine and it looked modern and chic, but large enough to be comfy. Luckily Danay and Steve loved it too. So, after we narrowed down the style and color I also picked out the leg style and color, where the chaise went and the length from a number of options they provided with me.

Swoon! Aren’t L shaped legs in brass just the prettiest details! It only came up to $1,800 and I can’t wait for it to arrive. Since it’s custom made the delivery does take between 8-10 weeks, but that is a typical lead time for custom ideas.  They also provide you with free white glove delivery and a 365 day return policy!

Stay tuned for an additional reveal post when it arrives!