As many of my customers do understand the value of the product they are receiving, I am compelled to share what they are getting when they order a custom bed from me vs. a company like Restoration Hardware.
First and foremost, I think RH makes a great product. I love their styles and the fabric they have to choose from is above par. The only areas that I found that needed improvement were their tufting and the overall stability of the construction RH bed.
FACTORY MADE vs. CUSTOM MADE
Certain things take time to do the right way, and there are no short cuts. I have learned a bit about furniture manufacturing by touring factories and seeing how the process works, and why these pieces assembled in factories are often, in my opinion, compromised pieces. Factory assembly only allows a worker so much time to finish their part of the project before it moves onto the next person in the assembly line whether or not it was completely ready. This is where I continually see the flaws in large retailers products. So, in order to hopefully lessen their mistakes and capitalize on time, the factories implement ways (short cuts) to create similar looking products in less time using machines and cheap labor.
SEWN IN TUFTING vs. DEEP BUTTON TUFTING
- One of these shortcuts is "Sewn in Tufting" can only look somewhat authentic from a distance. It still requires an upholsterer to pull the buttons through the headboard. However, even if the upholsterer pulling the buttons is a skilled craftsman, he is only as skilled as the previous workers that gave him the frame and the sewn tufted fabric. This is where you end up with puckers and strange pockets of loose material in the tufts. Authentically deep button tufted headboards have a tight and even consistency.
THE SHAKE TEST
Most beds I find in furniture stores do not pass this test. The test is pretty simple: Walk up and shake the headboard vigorously. If it moves easily, and the bed frame also moves, it does not pass. To solve this in my beds and headboards, I have taken the best of the best processes, hardware and materials that I have found and implemented these processes into my manufacturing.
NAILHEAD TRIM
There are 3 kinds of nailhead trim, and only 1 is correct.
1. The first wrong nailhead trim, which is basically a fake nailhead trim, and that is "the strip". The Strip is nailheads connected end-to-end along a strip and affixed to the furniture every 5 holes with a real nailhead.
2. The second is individually applied nailheads, but NOT in smooth flowing lines. Most people would be better off not seeing any nailheads at all than seeing a jagged, broken spaced line of nailheads.
3. The only correct type of nailhead to apply to any furniture is individually applied, in straight flowing lines and evenly spaced.