Ever thought “I’d really like to sort out the clutter; not a quick fix, but for good. And I’d like our storage to look great too, and suit our house – and us.”? Well, let me introduce Brian. Brian and his wife recently moved from a larger home in Staffordshire, where they’d lived for around 18 years, and relocated to a beautiful cottage in Hawkhurst, Kent.
But there was a flaw in paradise, they discovered. “Like most house moves and scaling down, we found that we had far too many belongings that did not fit in our new home and a distinct lack of storage. We spent some considerable time searching without success for bespoke furniture that met our storage needs and did not require a ‘second mortgage’. We were about to give up when by chance a local soft furnishing shop in Cranbrook recommended a company called Jali, whom they had used.”
As a first step, says Brian, “We looked at the Jali website and drew up some initial designs on its design package. We liked what we saw and decided the next step was to visit their premises in Barham, Kent so that Jali could help us develop our ideas. During that visit we looked at a number of options that would meet our needs, both from a storage aspect and also to house our numerous books.”
Brian was determined to see this project through to the end, despite the fact that period properties can have drawbacks as well as lots of attractive features.
“As with many older houses, walls, floors and ceilings are not always as true and square as modern day builds and guidance was needed as to how the Jali design package could deal with this. Over the coming weeks we spent time reflecting on our requirements, amending measurements and details, finally, with the help of the Jali team, we settled on the dresser that you see below.”
The cupboards after the plinth was levelled:
Trim was added to the cupboard skirting to cover the gap caused by the uneven floor:
… and the shelving installed:
The couple installed and painted the entire unit themselves, and even notched the top section so it would fit snugly round the beam on the ceiling (below):
Finally, the unit is finished and filled with books and treasured objects; Brian’s photo, below, shows the unit with the continuous run of cupboards extending under the window to the right-hand wall.
And a shot by Helen from Jali, below, when she went to visit the cottage recently:
And the verdict? Back to Brian…
“The dresser was well manufactured, it is extremely sturdy and well engineered with everything fitting together perfectly first time. We are so pleased with the end result.
We have nothing but praise for the Jali team who were extremely helpful and competent in translating our needs and supporting us through the process.
Both my wife and I will most certainly order more furniture from Jali and have no hesitation in recommending them to anyone.”
Well thank you Brian – we’re obviously delighted that we’ve helped you solve your storage problem, that you got exactly what you wanted and that you’re so happy with the result.
Once the unit was finished, Helen, our operations manager, went to visit Brian and his wife and took some photos of the unit – and it does look wonderful. To create something similar, try our kitchen dresser designer, available at the link here.
Brian told Helen that he was pleasantly surprised to find the prices of our products cheaper than those of our competitors. And he is so pleased with the quality of his unit, he’s planning to come back to us next year for some wardrobes. Keep an eye on the blog, Brian, as I’ll be featuring another customer’s rather fabulous built-in wardrobes in a couple of weeks. They just might give you some ideas…
