Modular Furniture Making, Design selection, Hand-made, Factory made, material selection, finishing options, Carpenter selection
From the beginning of human civilization, furniture is one of the most essential parts of our life.
And in today’s time with the explosion of world population, urbanization of the mass, and hence decreased per capita land, most families are with no choice but to opt for small houses. And the majority of the urban population are living in flats, apartments, duplexes, or small individual houses.
Hence furniture and basically customized modular furniture is the need for every home and its households!
But when it comes to designing customized modular furniture for our homes several questions pop up in our minds Like
How come we effectively make furniture for our home so that we could use our space effectively?
Is there any space-saving furniture we can make?
What are the materials we are going to use?
How to get beautiful modular furniture designs?
Is it expensive or can we make modular furniture on a budget?
What is customized modular furniture?
We have already discussed furniture planning and furniture selection. So, let’s move to the customized modular furniture part.
Before that, if you are planning a phase for your home interior then go through “How to plan your interior” and also “Do it yourself guide”. This will help you to plan effectively.
Customized Modular furniture
Modular furniture is the combination of various modules or sets of items, which are arranged in a way to create a flexible workspace for you. It is customized according to your usage and requirements. In short, you can say it saves your time, effort, and space. Apart from that it provides you with a better look and adds value significantly to your whole design.
And the most interesting thing about modular furniture is: that you can customize it to fit anywhere according to your space, you have the option to select various materials and finishing for it, plan according to your budget, easy to dismantle and transport.
So now let’s move to the next part where we can discuss the way to make or arrange Modular furniture for your home within your budget.
Select a design for your Modular Furniture
The first thing you do before modular furniture making is to select the designs. You can visit a couple of designing farms or furniture showrooms and go with the 3D designs. They can help you to find out the perfect design, color, and material.
Or you can take inspiration from social media and online magazines like Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and interior designing websites.
what I am suggesting is to go with a simple design with soothing colors and don’t add too many things to a design to make it look loud and heavy.
How to make Customized Modular Furniture for your Home?
1st let’s assume that you have no idea or very little idea regarding modular furniture making, but you are planning some modular furniture for your home like Modular Kitchen, Wardrobes, a couple of beds, a TV unit, a modular sofa, or some other space-saving furniture and you have an allocated budget in your hand to execute all this.
So now is the time to pick up a way to design or make all the required Modular Furniture within your budget.
There are basically 3 ways you can pick, to make Customized Modular Furniture for your Home.
Handmade Modular Furniture.
Handmade Modular Furniture with factory finish Shutters.
Fully Factory finish Modular Furniture.
Handmade Modular Furniture
If you are doing your interior designing work then there are things you have to customize at your home with the help of a carpenter. So, you too can use them to make your modular furniture, or else you can opt for an experienced contractor or an interior designing farm.
A technically good carpenter can help you to make beautiful modular furniture and provides you with a factory-finished look with proper edge binding and all. You just have to provide him with all the required materials. They will charge you on square feet basis to make it for you. It is one of the cheapest ways to make modular furniture.
However, sometimes it is difficult for you to find a good carpenter. In that case, you can assign a contractor or an interior designing farm to make it for you. They charge you on square feet basis for various modular furniture and provides you a detailed quotation before execution. This may cost you a little more but saves your effort and time.
Handmade Modular Furniture with factory finish Shutters
If you want a better look for your modular furniture and the carpenter in your area is not skilled enough to provide you the desired look then you can go with the factory-finished shutters. Also, there are finishing materials that cannot be handmade like glass or acrylic finished shutters.
Factory finished shutters are the doors used for various modular furniture like modular kitchens and wardrobes which are machine pressed with properly edge finished with the edge binding machines, which significantly enhance the look and provides a great finish to the entire furniture.
There are various dealers and modular furniture manufacturers who can charge you on square feet basis for the shutters and provides an all-India delivery. The price varies according to the materials Like the acrylic, glass, ceramic and veneer finished shutters cost you more than Laminates. You also can take the help of contractors or interior designing farms to make it for you.
Here you can use the carpenters to make the basic structure and then you can order the factory-made shutters by providing them with perfect measurements and fixing them. It can cost you a little more than that of handmade modular furniture but provide you with a better finish.
Check out the above modular kitchen which combines a handmade structure with factory-finished shutters.
Fully Factory finish Modular Furniture
If you have the budget on your side and can spend more on your modular furniture then you can opt for this option.
Here you just have to contact any furniture dealer or interior designing firm or modular furniture manufacturer and discuss them with your requirements and budget. They will measure your area and provide you with a detailed quotation with material details and also the 3D plan. With your approval, they make the whole thing (both Caracas and shutters) in their factory and assemble it at your home. You can choose various finishing options, materials, and designs according to you.
Check out the above factory finish modular Kitchen.
Basic Material Selection for Modular Furniture
When we decide to make any modular furniture the 1st thing that hits our mind is the basic or core material to be used to make the structure. (We are not discussing here the finishing part).
There are various materials available in the market to select from and many of us get confused during the material selection. It happens as there is no one to guide you to pick up the right materials according to your need and when you go to the market or to the dealers to select the materials, they usually push you the products they have depending upon their profit margin.
Don’t worry, here we are going to discuss every product for modular furniture so that it can help you to plan accordingly and saves your money and time.
Wooden Modular furniture
For ages, wood has been an integral part of furniture making. Now the trend of wooden furniture is decreasing mainly due to the lack of quality wood, lack of wooden carpenters, and the arrival of various new age products and finishing materials that are less expensive compared to wood and provides a modern look.
For quality wood furniture, you have to consider a good variety of wood. In India mainly Sissoo and teak wood are used for furniture making on a large scale.
The wooden furniture is always providing a vintage look and there is no material that is as durable as the wood.
The main disadvantages with the wooden furniture are it’s quite expensive and you can’t experiment too much with its looks, mainly with the finishing. Hence in most cases, people prefer to use various wooden items for decorative purposes like a wooden center table, a small wooden cupboard, a decorative wooden stand, a wooden dining table, a wooden wall, and other decorative items, etc rather than modular furniture.
Apart from that, it is quite difficult to find a good carpenter and execute perfect wooden modular furniture. If you are truly a wood furniture lover then it is better to order it from the market or make it through a modular furniture manufacturer than to customize it at your home.
Plywood Modular furniture
Plywood is the most widely used material for modular furniture making. It is also known as compressed wood or engineered wood as various layers of thin wood are compressed with adhesive and chemicals to form plywood.
Most of the modular furniture we have seen and used mainly consists of plywood. From modular kitchen to modular wardrobe, from modular bed to coffee table all the furniture consists of plywood as the basic structure.
There are two varieties of plywood available. One is solid plywood and the other one is blockboard.
Block boards are made either of solid hardwood or pine wood and are mainly used for long doors of various modular furniture. It is available with various sizes like 5Ft x 3Ft, 5Ft x 4Ft, 6Ft x 3Ft, 6Ft x 4Ft, 7Ft x 3Ft, 7Ft x 4Ft, 8Ft x 3Ft, 8Ft x 4Ft etc and with a thickness of 19mm and 25mm.
And the solid plywood is mainly used for the structure making of various modular furniture and is available in various thicknesses like 4mm, 6mm, 9mm, 12mm,16mm, and 19mm for various purposes. The available size of the solid plywood is the same as the blockboard.
Apart from this, there are other types of plywood available mainly for designing purposes called Flexible plywood or curved plywood. It is basically available in 8Ft x 4Ft sizes and with a thickness of 6mm or 9mm.
Mainly there are 3 grades of ply available in the market.
One is the 710 grade(marine grade) which is also called BWP grade (boiling water Proof) and is the best quality.
The second is the 303 grade which is also called BWR grade (boiling water resistance) and is the second quality.
The third one is the MR grade (Moisture Resistance) which is the lower grade.
There are numerous companies like Centuryply, Greenply, Sylvan Ply, and many more providing all India service with various product lines for each grade.
What I can suggest you is to go with the 710-grade ply for permanent modular furniture for your home and go for the other two where there is a temporary need and you don’t want to invest much. It is better to use plywood for the structures only and for doors and outer finishing area we will discuss another material that provides a better finishing and look.
HDF Modular Furniture
HDF (High-density fibreboard) or hardboard is one type of engineered wood that mainly consists of wood fibers. It is very much similar to particle board (low-density fiberboard) and MDF (medium-density fibreboard) but much stronger and harder than the two.
It is very much popular in modular furniture making due to its durability and smoother surface. Unlike plywood, it has a linear surface. Hence it is mainly used for furnishing purposes like modular furniture shutters and the outer visible area of any furniture.
It is cheaper than plywood and comes in plain, one side pre-laminated, dual side pre-laminated (in white color). Hence it does not require inner lamination during furniture making.
HDF is available only with 8Ftx 4Ft sizes and with various thicknesses like 3mm, 5.5mm, 7mm, 7.5mm, 11mm, 12mm, 16mm, 16.5mm, 16.75mm, 17mm, and 18mm.
The brands mainly operating with HDF materials are Century called Century premium plus.
Action Tesa is called Action Tesa HDHMR
and Green panel is called Green Panel club grade Hdf
What I can suggest is that you use HDF boards wisely during modular furniture making. It is not as durable and moisture friendly as 710-grade plywood.
Use HDF boards in modular furniture shutters and go with the plain HDF board rather than prelaminated HDF. Prelaminated HDF bends easily when we paste the other side with the outer laminate, whereas the plain HDF board does not bend for years when You apply laminate on both sides of it simultaneously.
Also, the thickness of the HDF plays a great role during Shutter making. 16mm or 16.75mm thickness of HDF is generally used for wardrobes and other modular furniture to maintain a minimum gap in between the shutters. For structure or modular cabinet making you can use 16mm, 16.75mm, 17mm, or 18mm.
And it is better to seal the edge of HDF modular furniture shutters and HDF cabinets properly with edge binding tapes to resist moisture.
Also, you can use HDF boards door frame paneling, wall paneling, partitions, and other small decorative furniture making. Use it when you paint (Deco paint) any furniture as the smooth and linear surface goes well with paint and laminate as well and enhances the overall look significantly.
MDF Modular Furniture
Like HDF, MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) is also an engineered wood. It is one of the cheapest materials used for furniture making. Most of the cheapest furniture pieces available online are made up of either MDF or particleboard.
It is mostly available in 8FtX4Ft sizes and with various thicknesses like 2.1mm, 3mm, 3.3mm, 4.75mm, 5.5mm, 7.3mm, 7.5mm, 9.75mm, 11mm, 12mm, 16mm, 16.5mm, 18mm, 25mm, etc.
This is not a durable material like Plywood and HDF. So, what I am suggesting to you is, do not use it for modular furniture or at least for daily use furniture.
It is basically used for temporary purposes furniture which is available cheaply and mainly used in commercial interiors. You can use it wisely during the furniture making to save cost or minimize the furniture expenses. Like small shelves in furniture, in drawers, decorative wall shelves, in a puja unit.
Also, it goes well with the paint (Deco paint). So, you can use it on a small piece of furniture to color it or you can provide a new look to your old furniture by nailing thin MDF sheets with them and then applying paint.
You can use it in decorative jail or other decorative designs.
WPC Modular Furniture
WPC board (wood polymer composite) is another material used for modular furniture making. Nowadays it is popular and many people prefer to use it for their modular furniture making, mainly due to the termite and waterproof features.
It is widely available and costlier than plywood. WPC board mainly comes in 8FtX4Ft size and with various thicknesses like 6mm, 9mm, 12mm, and 19mm.
There is no substitute like WPC when it comes to termite-proofing furniture making.
It is a very nice material, but what I am going to suggest to you is it is not ideal to go with the WPC board for Modular furniture making due to its low screw holding capacity. Even though it is available with various density levels, there are complaints with higher density levels WPC boards that the screws are getting loose over a period of time and hence the hinges are not intact with the shutters or structures of various modular cabinets.
If your area is prone to termite and it affects the furniture even after the paste control then you have no option apart from the WPC material.
Yes, you can use WPC sheets for the backside of the furniture (the side fixed to the wall) to somehow prevent the furniture from termites.
You too can use it for furniture for exterior or waterfall areas. WPC board is also popular for decorative Jali designs.
Modular Furniture Furnishing materials
In interior design, furnishing plays a vital role and you are spending a lot of your hard earned money on furniture making. In the end, you definitely require furniture that looks beautiful and pleasing.
There is a lot of finishing material available. So how are you going to pick the best one?
The first thing is to check out the modular furniture designs with various finishing which we already discussed in the above design section.
Keep your usage and requirements in mind and the most important part is your budget.
Look in customized modular furniture making somehow the expenses on structure remains the same, and the finishing part may take a huge chunk from your pocket. For example, if you go with the laminate, your expenses are nominal but if you choose Acrylic or Glass finishing the expenses is huge and differs a lot.
Let’s discuss various finishing in detail.
Laminate finishing for Modular furniture
Decorative Laminate is the cheapest and what I can say is the best option to go for. It is available in a wide range of colors with various patterns like Gloss, Texture, and Matt. It is durable for years and requires almost no maintenance. It is anti-scratch and you can clean it by simply wiping it out.
It is available with an 8ftX4ft size and thickness of 0.8mm and 1mm. There are some brands providing thicknesses of 0.7mm or 0.72mm, but what I suggest you is to ignore the thinner ones. It is always better to go with 1mm laminates, if not then you can pick from 0.8mm.
There are some good brands operating and you can pick them up from Century laminates with the brand name century lamp, greenply Laminates with the brand name of greenlam, Merino laminates, Royal Touch, and Virgolam from Virgo.
There is also another variety called PVC laminates available with a thickness of 1.2mm provided by some brands you can use. It is not as durable as compared to the proper laminate but it is popular due to its flexibility and design. In some cases, you can use it too.
The best part of the laminate is its available easily, goes well with every piece of furniture and most the carpenters are an easy hand with it. A proper edge binding of the same color matching with the Decorative laminate will provide a great finish.
Veneer finishing for Modular furniture
After Laminate, the wood veneer is the second most popular material used for furniture making. A veneer is a thin slice of natural wood glued to the panels of MDF or plywood to make it usable for furniture making.
With the unavailability of rare natural wood, a veneer is a substitute. Those who want a natural wooden look for their furniture may opt for the veneer. It provides a finish like natural wood. It is simultaneously glued and pinned to the furniture and requires a polish (PU polish). You can go either for matt polish or glossy polish.
It’s costlier than laminate but provides a beautiful finish. The veneer wardrobe and other veneer cabinets really look amazing. You can repolish it every 5 to 10 years and it will provide you with a brand-new look again.
You can use veneer in various interior work and furniture making. It is available in most areas and is provided by top brands like century (Century Veneers), Archid Veneers, and Greenply veneers.
It is available in 8Ftx4Ft sizes, generally with a thickness of 2mm.
The major disadvantage of veneer is, that it is a bit costlier. You have to spend for the veneer purchasing and also for the polishing. Also, it is not scratch resistant but you can clear the scratches by repolishing.
Acrylic finishing for Modular furniture
Acrylic is a chemical compound and belongs to engineering plastic product groups.
Nowadays most of the people are eager to do furniture with acrylic finish mainly due to its look and finishing. No doubt it is providing you with a fabulous look but it is much more expensive than most of the finishing. It is available with a matt and gloss finish.
There are some brands like Euro Pratik that provide acrylic sheets, but it is always better to go with factory finish acrylic shutters as it is not easy to fix acrylic with your furniture by hand, and also the handmade acrylic work does not provide a desirable finishing. Remember one thing during buying the acrylic shutters, the glass finish acrylic shutters are best as its edge are better finished and provide a better look than the normally finished acrylic shutters.
It is mostly used in high-end premium modular kitchens and modular wardrobes. You should go for acrylic finishing if you have a Humpty budget in your hand.
Acrylic is not rough and tough as laminates and is prone to scratches even though there is an anti-scratch variety available. If you make furniture with acrylic finishing then you have to use it delicately.
Back painted Glass finishing for Modular furniture
Back painted glass is another premium finishing used in modular furniture making. It is basically used for furniture shutters. Here one side of the glass is painted and then fixed with the help of aluminum profiles specially designed for it. You can choose a wide variety of colors for your furniture shutters.
It is not available easily like other finishing materials and there are very less no of carpenters that are used to it. Other disadvantages of it are, you cannot lock the shutters and it gets cracked if anything heavier falls on it. Hence it is mainly used in modular kitchens, the upper cabinets, and other furniture except in wardrobes or the furniture where the lock is necessary.
Also, it is a costlier option like acrylic and needs delicate usage too. Apart from this it provides a beautiful finish and looks stunning.
Carpenter for modular furniture
A good design and a costly material do not make modular furniture beautiful. It’s the carpenter who executes all. If you are going for hand-made modular furniture then there are plenty of carpenters available everywhere but if you pick up the factory finish thing or a costly material then you have to find out a perfect modular carpenter.
Due to this, in most cases, customers prefer to go with interior designing farms or modular furniture providers. You can take the help of the modular shutter suppliers you contacted for your shutters. It is always wise to arrange the workforce first and then go with the furniture selection.
What is modular furniture?
Modular furniture is a set of items or modules or furniture fixed together according to your usage, flexibility, and requirements so that it is easy for the user to operate. It can be easily dismantled and fixed again. For example, a Modular kitchen, Modular wardrobe, or office table set is a type of modular furniture. They are designed in a way according to your convenience.
Which is the best material for modular Furniture?
For modular furniture, you can choose natural wood, plywood, or HDF as the core material. For finishing Laminate is the best option if you used plywood or HDF as the core material. A simple PU polish goes well with the natural wood.
Is there any type of Modular furniture?
It is correct to say there are different varieties of modular furniture like modular kitchens, modular wardrobes, modular beds, Modular tables, modular sofas, and many foldable furniture.
What is a modular furniture price?
The Price of the modular furniture depends upon the material used, the fittings you selected, and the finishing you chose. It may vary from furniture to furniture and it may be different for various locations. So it is difficult to assume the price without knowing the above details.
Is there anything you want to know? please mention below. We are here to help you.
