March 20, 2025

10 Unique Design Ideas for Bespoke Handmade Furniture

The world is your oyster when it comes to bespoke handmade furniture - there are endless designs at your fingertips just waiting to come to life in your home. Whether you’re looking for a contemporary handmade dining table to act as the focal point of your room or an uber-functional TV stand ready to hold a multitude of electronics, we’ve pulled together some of our favourite design ideas for your completely bespoke handmade furniture.

Go for a live edge finish

The Bespoke Carpentry Co. - Live Edge Dining Table

Take rustic to another level with a live edge finish on your bespoke handmade furniture. Rather than cutting the edges of the wood to create sharp, clean lines, a live edge dining table features the natural edge of the slab, as if your tabletop has just been plucked from nature.

Be it a chunky dining table, a bench or a coffee table, a live edge can be the perfect design option for someone looking for peak rusticism. Reclaimed handmade furniture is already unique, but a live edge is even more so - no two pieces of live edge furniture are the same. Combine your live edge furniture with natural materials like cotton, linen and fur to fully embrace the rustic vibe.

Live edge furniture can come in many different finishes, with the dining table above featuring chunky reclaimed pine railway sleepers with a whiskey stain.

Mix metal and wood

The Bespoke Carpentry Co. - Live Edge Dining Table

When combined with beautiful wooden furniture, metal frames or hardware can help you achieve a modern, industrial style. Metal table legs, cupboard door hinges or draw handles all add more dimension to your handmade wooden furniture, creating a much more contemporary look than an all-wood number.

In the photo above, you’ll see we’ve combined a black steel box hairpin frame with a chunky pine live edge table top, but that’s far from the only option. Clear steel can also be used, and there’s plenty of frame options from a thick, bold X-frame to the more dainty hairpin legs. For cool-toned woods or finishes, stick to the silvery finish of the clear steel frames. Warmer tones, on the other hand, work better with the black steel.

One massive benefit of combining metal and wood is the durability. You get the structural strength of the steel without losing the beauty of the wood.

Go big or go home

In the picture above, you’ll see one of the biggest dining tables we have ever created at The Bespoke Carpentry Co. Seating a big family of 10, we were thrilled to take on the challenge of creating something both beautiful and functional for its new owner who truly embodied the phrase ‘go big or go home’. We used a black X-frame for stability and a chunky pine table top stained with a dark walnut colour and the result was fantastic.

If you find yourself huddling around a too-small table when you have the family over for dinner - or if you’re all too used to the feeling of having to sit with a table leg between your legs - something just as big could be perfect for you. Bespoke handmade furniture can be made to your exact measurements, no matter the size.

Combine your big wooden dining table with a matching bench to further save room - our benches are all designed to complement their table counterparts and tuck nicely underneath when not in use.

Opt for contrast

The Bespoke Carpentry Co. - Premium Solid Ash Table

Contrasting tones can make a huge statement, like in the photo above, where a solid ash table top sits stylishly on a black steel X-frame. The naturally pale tones of the grade A reclaimed ash staves stand out against the dark legs - this contrast is a fundamental concept of interior design which helps to create visual intrigue and depth in different areas of your space.

Lean into this concept even more by dressing your table with contrasting shades or colours or complementing it with chairs or a bench featuring contrasting colours themselves. Embracing contrast is a great way to modernise the look of your space, with the opposing tones highlighting each other and helping the other to stand out.

Keep it open plan…

The Bespoke Carpentry Co. - Reclaimed Wood TV Stand with Copper Legs

Pieces of furniture which are more traditionally used for hidden storage - like this coffee table - can feature a more open-plan look which essentially converts them into a functional piece of decor. Like how you might create a display on your mantelpiece, sideboard or shelves, you can combine items like books, plants, baskets and ornaments to give your space a look that is both stylish and homey.

This deliberately-styled lived-in look is a popular way of styling rooms that brings your personality to the room without making it look cluttered. You can also get the best of both worlds, like our client has done in the photo above, by using complementary baskets or boxes to store the not-so-stylish pieces of life like remote controls, phone chargers or boxes of tissues.

…or keep everything neatly tucked away

The Bespoke Carpentry Co. - Solid Wood TV Stand with 2 door storage

If you’re not a fan of the ‘purposefully cluttered’ look, get your bespoke handmade furniture made with built-in storage hidden by stylish cupboards. In the wooden TV stand above, you get two separate cupboards to hide everything unsightly and keep your living room looking clean and clear. This TV stand also takes some design advice from idea number two on this list - the doors feature black steel T hinges as a bold statement against the warm finish of the wood.

The beauty of bespoke handmade furniture is that you can opt for any design - it’s your choice, whether you want your things on display or you want to hide away a multitude of sins behind some beautiful cupboard doors.

Have fun with shapes

Rustic Wooden Coffee Table with Magazine Holder

Solid Wood TV Stand - S Shape

At The Bespoke Carpentry Co., we love coming up with new designs and ways to make your reclaimed wood furniture stand out. For something completely unique, play around with some different shapes - we’re all familiar with the classics - a rectangular desk, a round dining table, a square coffee table. And whilst we love these old reliables, sometimes we like to get creative with them - check out the coffee table and TV stand above.

The rustic wooden coffee table combines form and functionality with a built-in magazine holder in the shape of a diamond. The TV stand features a modern S-shape design, providing various sections for you to display your TV box, games consoles and more.

Enjoy lighter woods…

The Bespoke Carpentry Co. - Rustic Solid Wood Coffee Table with Hairpin Legs

This hairpin leg coffee table in the finish Belgium Grey is absolutely beautiful, and shows just what you can do with a lighter wood like pine which takes so well to a variety of finishes. Whilst pine is naturally more warmer toned, woods like ash tend to naturally display a cooler hue. Either way, these lighter woods provide a bright, modern alternative to the traditional wooden table.

…or darker woods

The Bespoke Carpentry Co. - Premium Solid Walnut Dining Table

Darker woods like walnut provide a bold statement of luxury to any room. The bespoke handmade table above features American black walnut staves, reclaimed and lovingly restored. As we mentioned before, opt for contrasting colours when styling your table to give it even more of an impact in your space. Vibrant colours, like green or burgundy, follow the dark walnut’s rich lead, whilst neutral tones - beige, cream, pale grey - give it a simple backdrop in which to shine.

And lastly…

Make it uniquely yours

All of our completely bespoke handmade furniture benefits from the fact it is not mass produced, and is instead carefully handmade to order for you. Whilst we sometimes offer ready-to-ship handmade furniture, most of our pieces begin their transformation from planks to products after you’ve placed your order. This means we can customise it to your desires, including the dimensions, shape, finish, and frame.

Cool-toned finishes like Belgium Grey are a fantastic choice for industrial or minimalist styles of furniture. Stains like dark oak and walnut bring a layer of sophistication to your space. For more ideas and inspiration regarding your furniture’s finish, view our full Finish & Colour Guide as well as our Guide to Stained Wood Furniture.

As well as finishes, you also have a choice of table legs when designing your bespoke desk, dining table, or coffee table. Our range of table leg designs include those both made from wood and metal, and include:

Bespoke Handmade Furniture From The Bespoke Carpentry Co.

Here at The Bespoke Carpentry Co. we offer a beautiful range of bespoke handmade furniture that celebrate the beauty and uniqueness of reclaimed wood. Our experienced carpenters take our hand-selected pieces of genuine reclaimed wood and rework it into stunning pieces of furniture, made-to-order and perfect for any space.

To get started, browse our range of pre-designed bespoke handmade furniture online, give us a call on 01305 849386 or fill out our online contact form.