Custom headboards and beds: what to decide first
A custom headboard or bed is made to your measurements, in your fabric or your wood and finish, rather than in whatever size and color a catalog happens to stock. At Architexture in Woodland Hills, headboards are among the custom pieces clients order most often, and the process starts on the showroom floor, looking at real pieces before anything is built.
Here is what you decide along the way, and what to think about before you order.
Upholstered headboard or hardwood bed: which are you ordering?
There are two routes, and they use different decisions.
| Upholstered headboard | Hardwood bed | |
|---|---|---|
| Who makes it | Architexture makes its own upholstery | Architexture’s craftsmen build it |
| What you choose | Design, size and details, the fabric, and the finish on any exposed wood | Design, size, the wood and the finish |
| Options named on the site | Countless fabric choices, many finish choices for exposed wood | Any type of hardwood, including alder, oak, walnut and mahogany, stained or painted |
If you want the room to match, the same craftsmen make nightstands in any hardwood and finish. You can see the full range on the custom-made furniture page and the custom hardwood furniture page.
Semi-custom or custom: where does the design come from?
Upholstered pieces come in two kinds of order.
Semi-custom starts from a design shown in the store. You change the detail measurements and the upholstery at no extra charge. A substantial change in dimension, or a fabric upgrade, adds a charge.
Custom starts from a picture. Bring a photograph of a piece you love from a magazine, a catalog or the internet, and it can be reproduced exactly as seen or modified, keeping some elements and adding others.
If one of the designs in the showroom is close to what you have in mind, semi-custom is usually the simpler path. If you have a photo you keep coming back to, bring it.
Why look at it in the showroom before you order?
Because a picture cannot tell you how a piece looks next to your other furniture, or how a fabric feels. Abby Rose, Architexture’s owner and principal designer, describes where she starts with an upholstered piece:
“If it’s a sofa, chair or an upholstered bed, I will ask what type of style and fabric they are looking for. I will then ask them to look at and sit on floor samples.”
Bedroom furniture is on display in the showroom too, so you can see exactly what a hardwood piece looks like and how it relates to other pieces you own or are considering.
There is a practical reason to take your time. Custom pieces are made for you, so they are final sale. The place to change your mind about a height, a fabric or a finish is the showroom, not your bedroom after delivery.
How do you choose the fabric for an upholstered headboard?
In person. The showroom holds a large library of textile and wallpaper samples, so you are choosing from the actual fabric rather than a photo on a screen. Here is how Abby describes the fabric conversation for a custom upholstered piece:
“Then we talk about fabric. Almost everyone these days wants “performance fabrics”, meaning easy to clean. We can then look at what texture they like, linen look, velvet, chenille, boucle texture. Then we talk color.”
Because Architexture is also a design studio, the fabric does not have to be chosen in isolation. The studio helps clients pick a fabric that works with the other furniture and fabrics in the room and with the way they live.
What should you measure before you order?
A headboard or bed has to fit the room, the mattress and the way into the house. Before you order, it helps to know:
- The mattress size the headboard or bed has to fit.
- The wall it goes against, including windows, outlets and switches, and the space you want for nightstands on either side.
- How much headboard you want to see above the mattress and pillows once the bed is made.
- The way in: doorways, hallways, stairs and tight corners.
If the layout of the whole room is the real question, space planning is part of Architexture’s residential design services: Abby will come to the house to look at the shape and flow of each room, or work from floor plans if the rooms are still under construction.
How does it get to your house?
Architexture has a local delivery service that delivers anywhere in the Los Angeles area, and other delivery services that can take custom furniture anywhere in the country.
Ordering a sofa as well? The same showroom-first approach is laid out in how to order a custom sofa.
See the pieces and fabrics in Woodland Hills
Visit the Architexture showroom at 21410 Ventura Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91364, Tuesday to Saturday, 11 AM to 4 PM, or call 818-760-3399 to talk through a custom headboard or bed.