If you’re looking to upgrade the storage solution in your bedroom, you have many options to choose from. Freestanding furniture gives you the flexibility to move your pieces from room to room, or indeed from house to house. Whether flat packed or ready built, you will need to ensure that any off the shelf furniture suits your needs and your space. On the other hand, fitted furniture is designed just for you and your room, taking the hassle out of finding the perfect fit, style, finish and interior.
One of the main benefits of fitted furniture is that it maximises all space available, reclaiming previously redundant or underused areas and transforming them into useful storage solutions. So if you have a sloping ceiling in your attic, or architectural features such as beams or a chimney breast, a fitted furniture scheme will embrace these elements in its design, moulding itself around the contours of the room to produce a tailored, streamlined finish.
Fitted sliding wardrobes will take this clean, smooth and minimalist aesthetic to the next level. Often designed wall to wall and floor to ceiling, a bank of sliding wardrobes provides the ultimate contemporary appeal. Functionally, these slick sliders really come into their own if your room has a negative slope (ie the ceiling slopes downwards from the direction of the wardrobes) They are also the perfect design solution for the opening to a bathroom en-suite. If other fitted furniture elements such as bedside cabinets, drawer chests or a dressing table are required, these can be designed in the same finish as your sliding door panels.
As a fitted furniture option, sliding wardrobes maximise space, just as fitted hinged wardrobes do. Whilst sliding doors look as though they save space with the side-to-side gliding mechanism as against the requirement to pull them open, a point to bear in mind is that you still need space to pull your item out from the rail in front of you, ie an arm’s length. Space is also required for the two doors to glide in front of each other, equating to another few inches. From a purely visual angle, your room will seem as though sliding doors are saving you space, though from a functional point of view, this may not be the case.
A fitted sliding wardrobe will offer the same interiors choices as its hinged counterpart. So whether you require long-hanging rails for coats and long dresses, double-hanging for shirts, shelving for sweaters, interior drawers for the smaller items, or indeed a mixture of all the options, these will be available from a truly bespoke fitted furniture designer. Additions such as interior mirrors or other fittings on the insides of the doors will not be available though, due to the gliding mechanism.
Whilst many sliding door mechanisms operate via tracks attached to the floor, these are susceptible to problems caused by uneven floors. Here at Hartleys, we have introduced a new system whereby the sliding doors hang from a track at the top of the wardrobe, making the design far more robust and sustainable, avoiding common issues such as the doors coming off the floor level rails. We are currently fitting one of the new tried and tested systems in our showroom extension; you are very welcome to visit and try it out for yourself.
If you have any questions regarding fitted sliding wardrobes, our design team will be happy to help. Our showroom is open weekdays 9.30am – 4.30pm and from 10am – 2pm on Saturdays, or you can call us on 01756 700471. We look forward to helping you find the perfect fitted storage solution for your home.
