This week we’re delighted to bring you another success story –  this time, children’s bedroom storage with a real touch of magic.

We’ve talked before about the problems caused by lack of domestic space – UK houses are the smallest in Europe. And even the space we do have can present a real challenge, because of a room’s shape, size or features that get in the way of a clear run of shelves or cupboards. This means that off-the-peg furniture often doesn’t fit or doesn’t make the most of the room we have.The options? Expensive, often disruptive on-site projects by bespoke joiners or cabinet makers. Or there is Jali…

The latest contented customer to contact us with details of a finished Jali-assisted project is Sue. Are you sitting comfortably? Then she’ll begin…

A magical space…

“We’d just converted our loft into a shared bedroom for our two children and I was in the process of working out how to fit all of their toys, clothes and books up there. We’re great lovers of children’s books and I wanted to create a magical space where they could easily view and access their stories. Because of the sloping ceilings, the only realistic place we could think of for bookcases was around the dormer window, so I decided to make a feature of it and create a child’s window-seat as part of the design.”

Here’s the space Sue had to work with, and the first part of the installation:

“We’d used Jali twice before to make custom bookcases and cabinets for our master bedroom and living room alcoves, so it was the first place that sprung to mind when I needed another custom bookcase. I noticed that there were various new options available since the last time I’d ordered and it took me a little while of playing around with the designer app before I came up with a solution that looked perfect for our space.

What I love about Jali is that every single measurement is customisable, from the depth of a shelf to the height of a skirting board, and I can play around at will and save as many versions of the design as I want, before finalising.

In a tight place…

I needed the unit to squeeze neatly into a tight space behind a door frame, without any gaps and without losing a single mm of shelving space. (You know you live in a spatially challenged residence when you find yourself haggling over a millimetre!) Before placing the order I phoned the Jali helpdesk to ask someone to sanity-check my design and that proved to be really helpful, as Mark was incredibly patient and gave me a couple of ideas for minor tweaks that would give me a few more mm of shelf space here and there.

In the end I placed an order for three separate parts: a wall-to-wall bookcase unit and two sets of flexi-shelves to stand above it, on either side of the window. Once it was all assembled and painted it looked like a single built-in unit and we were very impressed!

The measurements turned out absolutely perfect. As a finishing touch I made a foam seat cushion for the window seat, which used up some lovely map fabric I’d been hoarding and tacked up some fairy lights… and of course added all of the books! The kids have been enjoying rediscovering books that they found hard to access previously.”

Hey presto!

Amy from Jali spoke for us all when she told Sue that her photographs were “wonderful and you are a STAR mum. The whole team is really impressed and think your children are very lucky.” Children’s bedroom storage can be a real headache – too ‘twee’ and children will quickly grow out of it; too ‘on-trend’ and they won’t feel it’s really been done for them.

I think Sue has got it absolutely, down-to-the-last-millimetre right – I totally understand her desire to use every bit of her limited space. Her photo, above, clearly shows the limitations of door frame, right, and dormer window space, left. (And l love her joy at finding the perfect use for hoarded fabric – for example, I have a roll of French 1920s apricot colour, silk-velvet ribbon I am definitely now going to use this Christmas).

And talking of Christmas, a word of advice to help avoid that last-minute panic. If you need your Jali furniture to be delivered before Christmas, please make sure you order by 5.30 on Friday 2 December, for delivery by 22 December.

-Annie

We’re delighted to pass on a new way to use fretwork, discovered by our clever customer Jenny. She ordered a panel in pattern 2172 and placed it above a doorway, to create a beautiful version of a transom light. As it lacks the glass of a traditional transom, it’s not suitable for use on exterior doors, but for interior use it’s perfect. It (obviously) lets in the light from the next room, is easy to install and provides a real wow factor at very little cost.

Jenny multiplied the delight by using the same pattern, 2172, in her wardrobe doors (below). At Jali, we totally approve this decision. It chimes with the ‘Fusion’ trend that we’ve covered in blogs before, here and here, and gives you a really easy, budget conscious way to create a fresh and eclectic look.

Now, as we’re all too aware, it’s one thing spotting something that you really like the look of, but quite another trying to make it part of your actual home furnishings without huge amounts of effort and expense. And what happens if you order online and things go wrong?

So I’ll let Jenny describe her experience.  “As you already know, I am thrilled with the results now the doors have been fitted (above), but would also like to say how pleased I have been with the customer service and would not hesitate to recommend your company to others.

The doors have greatly improved the appearance of my room and complement the existing decor perfectly, so well done Jali!”

What can we say except thank you, Jenny, for the photos and the recommendation – and the brilliant new way to use our fretwork…

-Annie

Well, they’ve done it again – our canny customers just can’t stop creating unique and fabulous furniture with our products! This week’s success story stars Bev and Roger, who used Jali to solve a tricky modern storage problem. I’ll let them take up the the story…

“We wanted a stylish piece of furniture to house the TV and all the associated paraphernalia that goes with it these days – easy (or so you would think!). But not if the only wall available also had a full length radiator.  After designing the desired unit  we searched for someone to make it reality and found Jali.

It was vital that the dimensions were spot on as the unit had to fit between two doors, accommodate two radiators as well as having enough space for the TV. From our first contact via email, Mark at Jali was fantastic; he understood exactly what we wanted and was extremely patient, answering all our questions and making several adjustments.

We arranged a visit to go over the final plans and also took the opportunity to see displays of various designs in Jali’s showroom in Kent – we were extremely pleased to see that we would be getting a high quality piece of furniture at an amazing price!

We found it really quite simple to put our Jali units together (the difference between Jali and other flat packs was that we had excess fittings rather than any missing!). It was definitely a two-man job due to the weight of the dresser unit.

As the photo shows Jali delivered exactly what we wanted AND at a great price! We have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Jali to everyone and will definitely order more radiator covers to replace our existing (flimsy) ones from well-known DIY stores.”

Bev and Roger also told us that the only hard part was having to cut out the back of the central base unit to accommodate the radiator pipes (as they knew would be the case) and getting the angles spot on for the base plinths. But, they said, they got there in the end and feel really pleased.

We’re delighted too – there’s nothing nicer than helping people solve their space and storage problems and achieve the results they’ve been dreaming of. Mark from Jali (we also think he’s fantastic) definitely had a bit of a glow about him on hearing Bev and Roger’s compliments. And as we head towards Christmas, we’ll be even busier than Santa’s elves, solving your home design problems, one modern storage unit at a time…

-Annie