Custom touches: Leveling up with personalized decor

Bespoke details can add distinction to your home. Some customized elements may be more affordable than you think, such as mirrors and glass, wood furniture and accents and pillows and rugs. Here are some options from local sources who design personalized pieces like these.

Detroit Glass & Mirror, based in Wyandotte, works with residential and commercial clients in Metro Detroit and beyond on custom projects that range in price. “You can do a basic mirror, or a floating mirror on the wall with a light behind it,” says Tim Kwiatkowski, owner. “We go from mild to wild.”

As he explains, prices increase for specialty items like tinted and antiqued mirrors. “The more customization, the higher the cost.”

Glass shelves can be tailor-made for a bar area or to showcase a special collection. “People like to use them for display,” says Kwiatkowski who made some for a client to highlight sizable Lego sets. “We can do edge lighting as well as a frosted appearance with LED lights on the backside, and you can change the color on your phone.”

Other unique pieces include glass signs with sports themes for man caves or basements. “There are so many cool options now,” he says.

Kitchen cabinets with glass fronts can feature decorative or clear styles. Additional custom options include glass railings for pools and decks and mirrors and glass for workout rooms.

Switchable glass offers a flexible element for a bathroom. “You can take any glass window and get a film that is electrically charged. When you want privacy, you flip a switch on and it actually frosts the glass for people who want the view by day and more privacy at night,” says Kwiatkowski.

Frameless glass shower doors remain a popular option. “We offer coated glass now for showers that have a lifetime warranty and offer ease of cleaning,” he adds.

Shower door components can go beyond the bathroom for a wine cellar under the stairs or a glass barn door between two spaces. “A lot of people are so used to buying shower doors from big box stores, but those are built to fit a perfectly plumb and level opening,” says Kwiatkowski. “Ours are custom built to each opening, so you are getting a better end product that is not much more in cost. When people hear the word custom, they often think expensive, so they don’t even attempt to explore the options.”

As an interior designer, Patricia Warner, who owns Patricia Interiors LLC in Shelby Township, often incorporates custom touches into her work, such as window treatments. “A lot of our clients are doing shades because they don’t want heavy draperies, so we do side panels on the windows that don’t draw shut,” she says. “That saves a lot of fabric and can be added to existing blinds on a board or a small rod.”

Custom pillows can make a space feel special. “They’re so personal and unique,” says Warner who likes to customize other accents as well. “We did a Roman shade in a bathroom for a client who had a little stool for a vanity and we did a coordinating fabric for the seat.”

Smaller elements like these can enhance a home as they did for a niche that became a comfy window seat with a custom pad and pillows. Warner also has carpet cut to size and bound for custom accent rugs that can be a more affordable option than some other styles.

This approach worked well for a client who requested an expansive rug for her great room. “She wanted the rug to be bigger, almost like wall-to-wall carpet,” says Warner. “It picks up the tones in the room.”

Custom features can also benefit a bedroom. “Fabric changes the sound in the room,” she says. “When you have blinds, hardwood floors and not a lot of pictures, a room can be cold. A custom fabric headboard adds a soft element to a bedroom and you won’t need a footboard.”

Custom touches can modify a piece in more than one way. That was the case for Margaret Skinner, interior designer and principal of Margeaux Interiors in Birmingham, who reupholstered and repurposed a bench that went from the bedroom to the basement where it became a banquette. “There is also a fabric-covered wall with molding that acts as a ledge and adds architectural interest,” she says. “They give personality to a corner that really can be basic.”

Molding and wainscoting add dimension to any space. “You do have to pay for labor and materials, but you can paint the whole area one color to give the illusion of being more substantial,” she says.

Skinner also incorporates metal into custom elements like a ready-made piece that accentuates a base for a bespoke bar. “You can take a ready-made outdoor screen to use in a completely different manner,” says the designer who is working with one for a metal privacy wall in a bathroom. “You can take ready-made panels and frame them with wood and mount them to the floor. They can go all the way to the ceiling.”

Kyle Dubay and his partner Bo Shepherd, who co-own Woodward Throwbacks in Hamtramck, create unique pieces from reclaimed wood, such as tables, credenzas and bars that are comparable in cost to some retailers. Better yet, customization requests may not raise the price. “For us, a specific size table is not a big deal because we’re already making it from scratch,” says Dubay. “Someone might say, ‘I love this, but I want it a foot longer or six inches narrower.’ You can request different colors and sizes. The cost will reflect the size, but the increase is generally not that much different to get it made specifically for your needs.”

Floating shelves and mirrors are among the custom accents they offer. “Mirrors add some character,” he says. Woodward Throwbacks also sells vintage furniture that includes refinished and altered items. “We have some amazing quality pieces you can’t replicate,” adds Dubay. Other selections, from antique hardware and doors to stained glass windows and barn wood, can be a good option for those who want to create their own bespoke touches.

Customization requests can have advantages. “These pieces are made specifically for you and you are directly involved in size and color decisions, so you feel like a part of it more than shopping a brand store,” he says.

Bespoke pieces can also have a lasting impact in your home. “There is the moment of the story that people get to tell like: ‘This was made for me for the TV to sit on it the right way.’ It all comes with a story behind it; that is what you talk about when you have a dinner party. Those added stories are special,” says Dubay. “Maybe people don’t ask about custom because they are worried about the price part, but you’d be surprised what you can get made around here. There are so many talented people in the Detroit area. It’s a little bit of a process, but it’s worth the commitment.”

Jeanine Matlow writes the Smart Solutions column in Homestyle. You can reach her [email protected].