The Affordable Alternative To Custom Furniture That Still Makes An Intentional Home

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When comparing custom versus off-the-shelf furniture, custom pieces almost always win when it comes to styling. Of course, they do — having the flexibility to make a piece that's the exact fit for your style and needs completely removes the compromises you have to make when you're browsing a store's selection. Mass-produced furniture exists for a reason, however. Making thousands of the exact same item allows a company to keep its costs down, as materials are able to be purchased in bulk, machines can be utilized to take on some or all of the physical labor, and products are able to be made much more quickly. The result? Budget-friendly pieces of furniture that are more accessible to consumers.

Custom furniture is simply out of the budget for many homeowners, and even if it isn't a total fantasy, it can be hard to justify spending tens of thousands of dollars on a couch when there are plenty of perfectly good, less costly options to choose from. If you're still craving that custom look, however, there's one easy way to make a piece look like it was meant to be in your home, and the simplicity of it might shock you.

Making custom pillows for your living room, bedroom, or even dining room seating can go a long way in blending a furniture piece with the rest of your space and making it feel like it was meant for you. Whether you outsource the project to the pros or decide to take on the DIY yourself, the final result will be the perfect accent to tie your room's design together.

The process of having pillows custom-made is similar to that of commissioning custom furniture, though you can expect to pay much less. First, you have to track down someone who is willing to do the job. Companies like Pepper Home provide custom pillow-making services, but you can also find small businesses and individual creators through platforms like Etsy.

Exact steps will vary depending on what you're going for, but either way, it's best to start off with at least a vague idea of what you want. Do you want to match an existing pattern elsewhere in the room? Bring in an accent color? Incorporate unique trims that help make color and pattern cohesive? Once you have a design in mind, make sure you find a pillow maker that's able to make your vision come to life.

From there, you'll likely get to work choosing a fabric, shape, and any other accents you'd like to add on, like piping, pom-pom trim, or a ruffle border. You also might have the option to add embroidery, and if you're going the text route, you'll have to choose your desired font and color. Place your order and wait — it will more than likely take longer to fulfill than something mass-produced, so patience is key.

If you're handy with a needle and thread (or you want to try out an easy no-sew pillowcase cover DIY), making your own pillows is one of the easiest projects out there. You'll go through the same steps of determining your design, picking up fabric, and deciding on any accents, but this time, you'll shop for the materials yourself. To make the process even easier, you could also pick up something like these Meekio ivory pillow covers and dye, embroider, and accessorize them to your heart's content.

A standard pillow cover is just two pieces of fabric sewn together around the edges and turned inside out, so it doesn't take much sewing knowledge to pull off, even if you don't have access to a machine. Once your base is complete, have fun and get crafty with the way you choose to decorate it. This is a great place to allow any skills or hobbies you have to shine, whether you enjoy embroidery, knitting, crochet, or screen printing. The final result might not be quite as polished as if you were to purchase a custom pillow from a professional, but we'd argue that a handmade project will almost always look more intentional and provide more personality than something off the rack.