If you want a piece sized to your wall, your records, or your room, we build custom pieces for people across Michigan, and ship them further afield. Here is how it works.
The process
Before you reach out, browse our Special order designs: their estimated prices give you a feel for what a piece of a given size costs.
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Reach out. Send us a note through the Contact page with:
- where you are located;
- the type of piece: a bookshelf, a wall unit, a corner piece, a TV stand, a desk...;
- the overall dimensions you are imagining: width, height and depth;
- any other details, such as a specific layout of cubes and openings if you already have one in mind;
- what inspired you: a piece from our collections, a photo, a corner you want to fill.
- We talk it through. We go over the dimensions, the finish, and what the piece needs to hold. Then we give you an overall budgetary number to manufacture your piece and an estimated shipping cost, so you know whether you would like to move forward before anything is committed.
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Design fee: $150. The design fee covers designing your piece, by hand and in CAD (computer-aided design) software, making its renderings and preparing your quote. It gets you a visual quote:
- the final, detailed dimensions of your piece, overall and for every cube opening;
- renderings of your piece staged in a space similar to your own;
- an AR (augmented reality) preview you can open on your phone to see it at full size in your space;
- the final price of your piece, and a quote to ship it.
- Go ahead. If you move forward, we send you a secure payment link for your order, with your $150 design fee applied to it, so the fee is a first step, not an extra charge. We begin processing your order 24 hours after receiving and capturing your payment; until then you may cancel (see our Returns and cancellations policy).
- We build and deliver. We give you an estimated ship date with your quote. The piece ships flat by UPS Ground like everything else we make.
How a custom piece is made
A custom piece is made exactly as the pieces in our shop are, to the dimensions we agree with you. The steps, in the order they happen:
- Drawn in CAD, to your measurements. Your piece is drawn at full size in CAD: its overall size, every cube opening and every shelf depth. That model is what you see in the renderings and the AR preview, staged in a space similar to your own; your own room and belongings are not modelled. Changes are made here, on the drawing, before a single part is cut.
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Finish and texture. The pieces in our shop come in five commonly available finishes, in Arauco's Taction texture. A custom piece can be made in any Arauco Prism colour and any of the Prism textures: see the 2024–2025 and 2026–2027 Prism lookbooks for the range. (We are not an Arauco distributor; these are links to Arauco's own resources.) If you have a special material in mind, we can also source others, such as Baltic birch plywood or solid bamboo.
Please note: we do not stain or paint. On a case-by-case basis, we may be able to apply a drying oil or wax oil finish, for an additional charge.
- Milled on the CNC. We mill your piece on the CNC, so every part and every joint is cut accurately to the dimensions it needs.
- Edge banded and finished. We edge band your piece and do any finishing you request. Laminates, including the Arauco Prism colours, need no finishing; and, as noted above, we do not paint or stain.
- Test fitted. We test assemble your piece to make sure everything goes together as it should.
- Packed and delivered. Stacked flat with foam between the layers in boxes made to fit, then shipped by UPS Ground, with illustrated assembly instructions and the measured drawings of your own piece. Self pickup in Michigan may be available for custom orders. On request, we can also look into shipping your piece pre-assembled, or shipping it with on-site assembly.
The full process for every piece, with pictures, is on our How it's made page.
Custom pieces are made for you alone, so they are not returnable; we take care to get the design right with you before we cut.