Copthorne Bedroom suite

Everyone needs a stress-free sanctuary, a part of the home that brings you joy, and I think this bedroom might just be that place. Spacious and tidy was the brief, this was achieved with maximising the usable are with cupboards and drawers. We made sure to have the cabinetry at different depths to give the feeling of space, bed side niche in Oak breaks up the vertical plain on what could otherwise be an overpowering wardrobe. Curved corner panels soften the feel of the overall finish.

The carcasses are made of Oak veneered boards as are the many drawer boxes. The doors and panels are made of moisture resistant MDF, as it is a robust material with no movement. The window seat and bedside niche tops are made of solid Oak which will deal with mugs and cups without showing any marks for many years to come.

The carcasses are made of Oak veneered boards as are the many drawer boxes. The doors and panels are made of moisture resistant MDF, as it is a robust material with no movement. The window seat and bedside niche tops are made of solid Oak which will deal with mugs and cups without showing any marks for many years to come. Finished in polyurethane lacquer to match Farrow and Ball.

Felpham Fitted Bookshelves

This beautiful Oak timber framed property needed a bookcase and small desk space. Although our client loves oak they were unsure how it would sit with the other timber in the property, we decided to go for a strong paint colour on Oak to really show the grain and a solid oak desktop finished in clear PU.

We picked out a small chamfer detail that runs through the house on all of the timber framing and applied this to the doors and cappings. We fixed a computer monitor to the back panel and built a cable tray into the worktop to hide all of the cables and sockets needed, a shallow ‘pencil’ draw allows the keyboard and laptop to be tucked away when not in use

LED lighting softly lights the shelving Made with an Oak veneer carcass, solid oak doors, tabletop and cappings. Finished in Benjamin Moore ‘wrought iron’.

Unique Sussex Home Office

Our clients required something to really make thier home office an ejoyable and productive space. They were open to ideas on function and design but knew they wanted something that would really stand out. The accent colour bought into the surface hit the brief and really made this Sussex home office stand out. This, coupled with a huge range of accessories and features made this home office a room to be proud of.

Bespoke Office Shelving and Storage

From our Sussex workshop we were tasked with building a number of traditional shelving and storage solutions for a generous home office. The use of dark woods complemented the feel of the clients home and their classical taste. An enjoyable project utilising several classic materials, accessories and techniques to acheive a warm traditional feel.

Surrey Bespoke Shelving & Storage

We were asked to build a bespoke shelving and storage solution for a recently renovated Surrey home. Our client has very specific idea around the purpose of the storage solution and needed reassurance that we will be able to match the exceptional quality they have throughout their home. As well as a traditional design, clean lines and bright white finish, we included several internal accessories and lighting to really give the unique personalisation real shine.

The Beauty of Bespoke Furniture Materials

The largest variable in our craft of bespoke furniture is the material itself. Its beauty can be breathtaking and it can also cause us the biggest headaches and the need for a walk!!

We use solid timber, moisture-resistant MDF, veneered panels, Richlite, Corian, Birch ply, particleboard, metals and many more.

Each has its own merit and beauty.

The selection of the timber we use can greatly change the look and function of a piece of furniture and this is one place where handmade bespoke furniture can really shine.

Beyond choosing the wood species which to a degree is a personal choice, during the making, each craftsman will look at the grain, direction, pattern, and colour. This can make or break the final aesthetics of the piece, time, skill, and a human eye is the only way to guarantee this.

I am a big fan of our indigenous species, Oak, Ash, Walnut, etc, they have an untaggable warmth and dependability that sits well with the environment. Many exotic species are mind-blowing in their colour and grain patterns.

Environmental responsibility is a trump card many companies like to play, our timber is FSC certified (we source this from James Latham timber) and we use our waste to heat our workshop. What cannot be burnt is sent to a local timber recycling plant. We don’t feel this is noteworthy as its what should be the norm and not something to brag about, just common sense!!

Covid-19 Working From Home - Office Space

With Covid-19 making a huge impact on our lives. Home working is becoming necessary and most probably will be here to stay for many of us. As the novelty of working from the dinning table wears off and the reality of a proper work environment becomes more obvious it might be time to start looking for a space to carve out your home office or working space.

A whole room to transform into a home office is of course the best option and will lend its self to a great efficient space where even a professional meeting can take place. Once stepping through the door you will be at work and in the right head space.

Unfortunately many of us cant give such a large area to a home office, this is where the fun of bespoke furniture really starts. Starting with a blank slat we can design clever hidden desk solutions, filling cabinets and work stations. The idea here is to hide what is needed in plain site and integrate other storage for the home into the design. 

We have had other clients that just need a simple desk to work from, but need a certain size or more commonly something to work with there current furniture. We often include clever cable management and shallow drawers to store pencils and other bits needed day to day.

Here are several examples of our office designs.

The first is in a small nook in the clients living room, we used the same Oak and Wenge accents as the other furniture in the lounge to help the room flow nicely.  Dimensions of the old furniture were taken to match the new furniture perfectly. As the client is quite short we were able to use the space under the desk to sneak in some extra shelving, as  leg room was not an issue, this a great example of how the extra investment in bespoke furniture really comes into play.

We have to other jobs waiting to be made and currently delayed due to the current situation!

The first is a whole room home office.  With units running the length of both walls, storage has been maximised. In the brief a major point was to hide the safe and drawers for paper work, we have extra deep, shallow drawers which can each take 4 A4 sheets laying flat! The safe is hidden behind a door. Lighting will help soften the large units whilst eliminating the room. The worktops are made of Richlight, a material made of recycled compressed paper, extremely hard wearing and in the maroon we plan to use has a leather look and feel. We have also hidden a waste paper bin and pull out shredder tray on the desk side

This dresser type unit is a great example of integrating a desk into a bespoke furniture. As a returning customer that knows are work well we were given a very small brief. The clients have a beautiful arts and crafts style house and a large main desk in the room already, as we don’t like to try to match old furniture,  as part of its beauty is patina picked up over time, so we have taken some small moulding and design references and expanded upon that, to contrast the cherry desk we will be spraying the unit an off white.

Bespoke cupboards make the most of the unused space under your stairs

Bespoke cupboards are not just for the bedroom

The ever underused space under the stairs, most of us have a small door down one end with little to no access to the majority of the space. Our bespoke wardrobes open up the whole area with drawers and doors to turn a useless dead space into a convenient useful bespoke storage area. We prefer to make the doors out of solid oak as it can be a high traffic area and with kids throwing shoes and toys into the drawers it needs to be robust, the oak also helps add some warmth to a hallway. Some of our customers like to try and hide the doors, opting for flat panels with a push to open mechanism.

If you are tired of the same old mass-produced wardrobes churned out by furniture companies or just have an unconventional space to create storage? Then it’s time to talk to Matthew Roberts Cabinet Makers; for unique bespoke wardrobes crafted from the finest material to meet your specific style and needs. Guaranteed to give your house that wow factor.

The selection of the timber we use can greatly change the look of a piece of furniture and this is one place where handmade bespoke wardrobes can really shine, setting them apart from mass produced store bought solutions.

We are big fans of our indigenous species, Oak, Ash, Walnut, etc, they have an intangible warmth and dependability that sits well with the environment. Many exotic species are mind-blowing in their colour and grain patterns.

It goes without saying that we are take our environmentally responsibility seriously, our timber is FSC certified and we use our waste to heat our workshop in West Sussex. What cannot be burnt is sent to a local timber recycling plant.

Handmade Kitchens To Suit All Lifestyles

The kitchen is the heart of the home, as much of a cliche as that might be. It is where we spend a vast amount of time not just preparing food but its where we all congregate when we have visitors or parties. It’s a place where you really show your true tastes and style and its not an easy fix if you go with a style or layout that is not truly you.

Beyond the social and aesthetic side, it’s a functional space that has to deal with heat, water and the rigors of a busy modern life.

A handmade kitchen can tick all the boxes. We are regularly asked ‘what can we do’ in regards to style and materials, there is not an easy answer to this, only ‘all of them’ and we can mix and match as we please, this creates a truly handmade kitchen to suit your requirements. There are of course certain rules of thumb we like to stick to and tried and true practices, but we really love it when a customer comes to us with a crazy idea.

Handmade Kitchens the process

Regardless of the style, we have one major concern in our design process ‘how do we make this last’, this thought process guides our choices of materials. If we make a framed kitchen with shaker door, all exterior components are made of solid Maple and sprayed. Many companies will say Tulip is fine, but we believe Maple is a much more dense and stable timber, giving a much better life span to the doors.

We spray our kitchens in Polyurethane lacquer, even if the kitchen is to have a final brush finish as PU is such a robust product. This then stops any moisture affecting the timber over the life of the handmade kitchen.

Planning a handmade kitchen is a big decision and one not to be rushed, we are happy to discuss any ideas to find the right one for you, although we are a business our first love and priority is to make lovely furniture we can be proud of. We have a few cabinet examples in our workshop, which we are happy for you to come and look at. from here you can see the quality of materials and workmanship which shines through.

 A recent beautiful handmade Kitchen in Horsham

This handmade kitchen has cock bead frames and shaker doors, face-mounted skirting, and traditional cornice all made of Maple, we used concealed soft close hinges as they have young children and we have found this type of hinge to work better with a young family, rather than the traditional Butt hinge. The carcasses are Oak veneered and the drawers are dovetailed solid oak on soft close runners. We fitted a magic corner, Belfast sink, integrated dishwasher, integrated bin, under cabinet lighting and of course the full height wine rack for that wow factor. The ladder unit was fitted with spice racks and motion-activated lighting for a truly bespoke kitchen.

Handmade Wardrobes

Matthew Roberts Cabinet Makers was commissioned to make matching handmade wardrobes and a chest of drawers for a lovely Scandi style house in West Sussex, the brief was to keep light moving around the room and to pick up the details of another piece of furniture in the home. To make it more interesting we had a hidden doorway to the beautiful new bespoke bathroom installed by Grovesnor Landscape Technologies.

As always are first step in the design process is working out some rough sizes and scales, I call this finding the silhouette of the piece, essentially a frame work which covers the function of the piece, how much hanging space is needed, shelving etc.  We can then lay the style on to this frame work, a function first approach.

Rather than the two pieces matching completely we decided to use different handle styles to be more in keeping with the eclectic furniture throughout the house, taking design and style ques from great mid-century makers as Gplan, Ercol and Eames. 

The units are made Oak effect melamine faced MRD as it is such a durable, stable and cost effective finish. The handle detail, drawer fronts, side panels and tops are made of solid European oak with soft close hinges and runners, we stained and lacquered the oak to be more in keeping with the style. Both handle details were a product of some cleaver machining and tooling with the spindle moulder. The bespoke wardrobe handles needing four different passes through the machine to achieve the profile needed.

With such a beautiful oak floor running through the house we used a slightly different method of fixing the chest of drawers in place as it was to also act as a head board. In this instant we used a silicone to glue pads onto the floor and then fixed the plinth to that, silicone is very strong against sheering forces yet a thin pallet knife will remove them if the clients ever decide to move.

 We love the mid-century style here and were very pleased with how these handmade wardrobes came out.

Timber- www.lathams.com 

Mirror- www.shawsglass.co.uk

Ironmongery- www.isaaclord.co.uk

Bathroom www.grosvenor-lt.co.uk