In short: the design sequence
Bespoke storage is designed in this order: an inventory of items, internal fittings for those items, a carcass adapted to the walls and ceiling, and only at the end the fronts. Start with nice doors from a photo and you end up with shelves of the wrong depth and a rail too low for coats.
The principle is the same for a bedroom wardrobe, an entrance cupboard, a storeroom or bookshelves. Other articles cover built-in wardrobes, walk-in closets and entrance halls. This one sets out the general method we apply to all bespoke furniture in a flat or a house.
An inventory by frequency of use
Split your belongings into three groups: daily, occasional and seasonal. Daily items belong between knee and shoulder height, with no step ladder and no bending. Occasional items go higher or lower. Seasonal items go in top cupboards and at the back.
You do not need to count every shirt. It matters more to measure the bulky things: suitcases, the vacuum cleaner, the ironing board, boxes of Christmas decorations, sports gear, a pushchair. Those are exactly what never fits a standard wardrobe and ends up in a corner of the room. And leave spare capacity, roughly one section: belongings grow over time, and a wardrobe that is 100% full on the drawing overflows from day one.
Internal dimensions
Clothes on hangers need about 60 cm of depth. Short items such as shirts and jackets need roughly a metre of height, so one section can take two rails, one above the other. Coats and dresses need a section about 1.5 m tall with a single rail.
Shelves for folded clothes work well at about 30 cm spacing; any higher and the stacks topple. Drawers beat shelves for underwear, socks and accessories, and for shoes use pull-out shelves with a lip. Draw each section with dimensions and a note of what goes in it. That drawing, not a magazine photo, is the brief for the joiner.
Check the furniture when open
Draw the furniture on plan with doors open and drawers pulled out. Check where you will stand with the bottom drawer open, whether a door hits the bed or another door, and whether there is enough clearance. A clean front in a picture can hide a section you cannot actually get into.
Hinged doors need space in front; sliding ones do not, but they only ever open half the unit at a time. In a narrow corridor in an Eixample flat that difference is decisive. A drawer behind a hinged door has to clear the hinges, and that is checked on the drawing, not on site.
Walls, ceilings and concealed doors
In Barcelona's older buildings the walls are rarely straight, and Eixample ceilings are often above three metres. That is where floor-to-ceiling furniture pays off: the top section takes seasonal items and the wardrobe does not gather dust on top. But it is measured only after plastering and levelling, or the gap at the ceiling ends up covered with a filler strip.
If you want the wardrobe to read as wall, the fronts sit flush with it, handleless and in the same colour. In the child psychology centre in the Eixample we made 24 concealed doors on this principle. In a home it demands the same precision: gaps, hinges and push-to-open mechanisms are chosen in advance, and the wall around the unit is brought to a perfectly flat finish.
What to fix in the order
The order should list carcass and front materials with thickness, finish and edging, hardware with manufacturer and series, the internal fittings section by section, and any interior lighting and sockets. Clarify who takes the final measurement and when, how junctions with walls and ceiling are handled, and who installs.
Cable for lighting and a charging socket inside the unit go in before plastering, so furniture lighting is decided at the renovation design stage. In our renovations bespoke furniture has its own line in the quote. When comparing offers, check that the content is the same, not just the final price.