Design: Made to treasure

Buying a bespoke piece is an easy way to make your home stand out – and it can be cheaper than you think, says Kate Watson-Smyth

Decorating your home should be an opportunity to express your individual style, but all too often we opt for uniform looks. Spending a little money on something unique can really make your room stand out, and there are interesting designers out there who are offering bespoke services at genuinely competitive rates. We're not talking about large pieces of furniture costing thousands, but the odd lampshade there and rug here can make all the difference.

LAMPSHADES

It's hard to find companies that make bespoke lampshades in the UK, since China now controls 90 per cent of the market. But Lisa Wrigley, based in north Wales, still offers this service. You can choose from 30 different shapes and a range of fabrics, trims and beading or use your own material. Call and discuss your order, particularly if you have your own material, then she can match it to the appropriate shade. Orders take two weeks and cost from £15 to £200.

Lampshades UK: 08454 307 400; www.lampshades.uk.com

RUGS

Dudley Edwards, a former painter, and his wife, Madeleine, an illustrator, are based in North Yorkshire and run Amazed, which fits old-fashioned rugs and wall-hangings. The firm will visit you and discuss your requirements and taste and take photographs of where the rug will be sited and then come up with a design and send you a photograph of the room with a computer-generated image of the rug. Orders take eight weeks and prices vary depending on whether you want a plain rug or a colourful one with a design. Prices for wall-hangings start at £365 per square metre.

Loophouse is a design studio in London that specialises in custom-made rugs. Choose from dozens of designs and then change the base colour or the patterns. Loophouse will produce the artwork, create a sample and then make a rug in nine weeks. Prices start at £395 per square metre for up to eight colours. For 13 colours, add 5 per cent; for more than 13 colours, add 10 per cent.

Amazed: 01937 588 000; www.amazedltd.com

Loophouse: 020-7207 7619; www.loophouse.com

WINDOWS & WALLS

Concept Coverings will digitally print a personal image or design on to wallpaper or a mural (from £65 a roll) or you can choose from its gallery of 100 customisable designs. So if you've been poring over the samples for months and can't find the right design in the right colour, this could be the answer.

House Couturier also offers bespoke wallpaper and murals. Choose from more than 50 designs or take in a sample of fabric and match it to a design, which can then be made into either wallpaper (from £164 a roll) or material (£94 a metre).

Taking the concept of customising your soft furnishings to the next logical level, Camilla Kemp's London-based company 55 Max can take a personal image or one from their collection or Getty Images and transfer it on to a roller blind or wallpaper or fabric, including leather. Turning a photo montage of your family into wallpaper (£45 a square metre) is popular. Transferring an image on to a set of roller blinds in a bay window can be effective, and material can also be made that can be stitched on to furniture.

Concept Coverings: 01254 680 266; www.conceptcoverings.co.uk

House Couturier: 020-7371 9255; www.housecouturier.eu

55 Max: 020-7625 3774; www.55max.com

UPHOLSTERY

The interior designer Ben Rousseau will create anything from laser-etched glass banisters to furniture, but he is also known for his upholstery work. Take him your old chair and he will reupholster it and cover it in a material of your choosing. He has recently created a material in collaboration with a graffiti artist and is working with the designer Ozwald Boateng to create a Chesterfield sofa with Swarovski-crystal buttons. He has also used Paul Smith pinstripe suit material to recondition antique chairs. For a standard armchair, you can expect to pay around £1,000.

Ben Rousseau: 020-8747 3829; www.rousseau.co.uk