The Detroit News // June 2025
Custom touches: Leveling up with personalized decor
Bespoke details can add distinction to your home. Some customized elements may be more affordable than you think, such as mirrors and glass, wood furniture and accents and pillows and rugs. Here are some options from local sources who design personalized pieces like these.
Creative transformations
Custom touches can modify a piece in more than one way. That was the case for Margaret Skinner, interior designer and principal of Margeaux Interiors in Birmingham, who reupholstered and repurposed a bench that went from the bedroom to the basement where it became a banquette. “There is also a fabric-covered wall with molding that acts as a ledge and adds architectural interest,” she says. “They give personality to a corner that really can be basic.”
Molding and wainscoting add dimension to any space. “You do have to pay for labor and materials, but you can paint the whole area one color to give the illusion of being more substantial,” she says.
Skinner also incorporates metal into custom elements like a ready-made piece that accentuates a base for a bespoke bar. “You can take a ready-made outdoor screen to use in a completely different manner,” says the designer who is working with one for a metal privacy wall in a bathroom. “You can take ready-made panels and frame them with wood and mount them to the floor. They can go all the way to the ceiling.”
