My Curved Bespoke Wardrobe Broke The Internet

Greetings Spendthrifts,

I was completely blown away by the response to my new fitted wardrobe when I posted about it on Instagram last month. Hundreds of comments, DMs, shares, saves – and lots and lots of questions.

Not that I’m complaining! This wardrobe has been a real labour of love [I mean this figuratively of course lol – I designed it myself, but it was built by an excellent contractor] so I am rather proud of the response it’s received. And, unsurprisingly, the bit that most people were interested in – and the bit that took me a really long time to figure out how to achieve – was that curved door.

Having set my heart on a curved door from the outset for both aesthetic and practical reasons, I quickly realised it wasn’t going to be as straightforward as simply finding a contractor and showing them a picture. In the end, I spoke to several potential joiners over the years who either a) didn’t want to take on the curved element (too much hassle) b) had never made something like that before and weren’t sure they could pull it off c) weren’t located near enough to me, d) quoted me FAR more than I felt was justified, or e) some combination of all of the above.

Nevertheless she persisted etc etc., and enough people have now asked me about it that I thought a newsletter deep-dive into the entire project might make for a useful newsletter – and hopefully save you some time and energy if you’re interested in creating something similar in your own home.

So today’s newsletter is a walk through of the process from start to finish, from the references I had on my moodboard and the various methods I explored (and decided against) to achieve the curved door, to the suppliers I used, my various design sketches (janky as hell but they did the job!), photos of the inside (by popular request), and all the fun finishing touches, like paint colours, hardware, etc.

I designed this wardrobe myself down to the centimetre, and the greatest benefit of having had 5+ years to think about it is that every single decision was considered – I’d sketched about 4 or 5 different options of the internal layout over the years before alighting on the right balance of hanging space vs. shelving vs. drawers to accommodate the clothes I own, and make the best possible use of the available space.

I’ve gone into as much detail as I can below, but if you’ve got further questions let me know in the comments and I’ll try to help :)