Making the Most of Awkward Spaces: Bespoke Fitted Wardrobes for a Loft Room

‍Loft rooms can make fantastic bedrooms. They can also present something of a challenge when it comes to furniture.

Sloping ceilings, changing rooflines and those awkward little corners where nothing off the shelf quite fits can leave a surprising amount of potentially useful space going to waste.

This recent Clark & Prince project is a good example of how bespoke fitted furniture can turn those awkward areas into practical, attractive storage.

Clark and Prince - Bespoke Fitted Wardrobes for a Loft Room

‍Designed for the room – not the other way round

With standard wardrobes, you're generally working with predetermined heights and widths. When the ceiling starts to slope, the furniture stops.

Bespoke furniture allows us to approach things rather differently.

For this project, the wardrobes were designed specifically around the shape of the loft room, following the roofline and continuing into areas that would otherwise have been difficult to use.

The result is a substantial run of floor-to-ceiling fitted wardrobes which feels as though it has always been part of the room.

Rather than trying to disguise the unusual shape of the space, the cabinetry works with it.

Making every bit of space useful

One of the most important parts of designing bespoke wardrobes is deciding what happens behind the doors.

There's little point creating an enormous cupboard if the space inside isn't particularly useful.

Here, the internal layout changes according to the space available. Full-height sections provide hanging space for shirts, jackets, dresses and longer garments, while other areas incorporate shelves and drawers.

As the roofline comes down, the storage changes with it.

Even the irregular triangular sections beneath the sloping ceiling have been put to work.

That's one of the real advantages of made-to-measure fitted wardrobes: every section can have a purpose.

Calm on the outside, rather more going on inside

With such a large area of cabinetry in a bedroom, the external appearance matters.

The doors on this installation have deliberately been kept clean and understated, creating a simple continuous elevation which sits quietly within the room.

There's no conventional surface-mounted door furniture either.

Instead, long recessed timber hand openings have been incorporated into the doors. They're practical, but they also provide a subtle contrast against the painted finish and give a hint of the timber interiors behind.

Open the doors and that contrast becomes much more apparent.

Warm timber interiors, shelving and drawer fronts give the wardrobes an entirely different character inside.

It's a small detail, but one that helps tie the whole design together.

And then there’s the lighting

Integrated lighting makes a significant difference to fitted wardrobes, particularly in a loft room where some sections can naturally be quite dark.

Lighting has been incorporated within the wardrobe interiors so that shelves, drawers and hanging areas are illuminated when the cupboards are in use.

Apart from looking rather good, it has a very practical benefit: you can actually see what's at the back of the wardrobe.

It's another example of something that can be considered at the design stage when furniture is being made specifically for a room.

Bespoke doesn't have to shout

Perhaps one of our favourite things about this particular project is what happens when all the doors are closed.

Very little.

The wardrobes simply become part of the room.

The simple painted fronts, consistent lines and carefully shaped upper cupboards follow the architecture without dominating it. You could easily forget just how much storage is hidden behind them.

And that's often exactly what good fitted furniture should do.

Got an awkward space?

Sloping ceilings, alcoves, chimney breasts, corners and unusual room shapes don't necessarily have to be problems.

In fact, they're often where bespoke furniture comes into its own.

At Clark & Prince, we design and manufacture bespoke fitted wardrobes, bedroom furniture and storage solutions around the individual room and the way our clients want to use it.

Whether it's a loft conversion, an awkward bedroom or simply a space where standard furniture isn't making the best use of what's available, we can design something specifically for it.

Because sometimes the awkward bit of the room turns out to be the most useful bit of all.

Contact us for more information.

Clark and Prince - Furniture Makers - have over 25 years of experience building custom made furniture for domestic and commercial properties. Our workshop is based just south of Luton and we will work anywhere in the South East.