When you have a design consultation with your designer, the subject of custom furniture design may arise. If you are looking for furniture that is one-of-a kind, or you have a unique space that you are trying to decorate, you may find yourself needing custom furniture design. Custom furniture design can have a couple different meanings. One is just modifying the standard size offered (length, width, depth or seat height) or providing custom fabric for an existing piece of furniture. This is fairly common and only adds around 20% to the overall cost. The second type of custom design is when your designer approaches a furniture manufacturer and asks them to create a new design. This is not something they have built or sold previously and was created by the designer or inspired by a photo provided by the client. The designer will create detailed sketches of the design, along with dimensions and fabric specifications and present to the manufacturer for approval. If the manufacturer accepts, it will typically cost much more and could take anywhere from 4-18 weeks, depending on the complexity, time of year and location. Furniture manufacturers never consider custom designs created by the consumer and will only work with professional interior designers or architects. Some companies will not produce any custom furniture as it is seen as high-risk. It is always non-returnable without exception.