In a farmhouse no wall is straight and no room is the same as the next. Surveying with a laser rather than a tape measure on the farmhouses we’ve furnished, we find an average of 3 centimetres out of plumb over a height of 2.5 metres, and in a 16-square-metre room those 3 centimetres are the difference between a wardrobe that closes flush and a gap you can see from the door. We design every piece in-house against the real room and build it with Italian workshops that know how to work wood for these conditions, with a single point of contact from survey to handover.
Bespoke in a rural building isn’t a luxury
In the renovation of farmhouses and barns, the usable footprint gets eaten away by thicknesses no floor plan shows: the insulation counter-wall that steals 8 centimetres, the beam that drops to 1.95 metres above the bed, the stone pillar that juts out 20 centimetres halfway along a wall. A standard 180-centimetre wardrobe in that context either doesn’t fit or fits leaving two dead gaps that fill with dust.
We take the survey at five points per wall, with diagonals, and draw the wardrobe’s side panel shaped to the stone. Where the out-of-plumb exceeds 2 centimetres we insert a colour-matched filler strip, between 3 and 6 centimetres wide, which absorbs the difference and stays invisible because it sits at the edge, not the centre. The way of handling crooked walls, recesses and under-stair spaces follows precise rules, and bespoke wardrobes for irregular rooms are designed starting from the narrowest point, never from the average.
Low beams and converted attics
The upper floor of a farmhouse is almost always an attic with a sloping roof, generous height at the ridge but only 1.40 or 1.60 metres at the eaves. There, a 240-centimetre-tall wardrobe simply doesn’t exist: instead we build a low 120-centimetre unit that runs under the slope for three metres, with hinged doors in the upper section and full-extension drawers below, gaining more usable volume than a traditional wardrobe would give.
Under exposed beams the problem is the guest’s head. The rule we follow is to keep 2.05 metres clear over the walkway and the side of the bed where you get up; where that isn’t possible, the bed is moved under the beam so the low point falls above the pillows rather than in the path. Rooms with low ceilings change proportions, calling for wider headboards and low bedside tables, and furnishing rooms with low ceilings is mostly a matter of horizontal lines and where you place the light.
Wood really moves in the countryside
A farmhouse heated to 21 degrees in winter and shut up at 30 degrees in summer, with relative humidity swinging between 45 and 75 per cent, makes any wood move. A 60-centimetre-wide solid oak top expands and contracts by 3 or 4 millimetres over the course of a year: screw it down rigidly across two battens and it splits; mount it with slotted holes and sliding screws and it lasts twenty years.
That’s why in country rooms we combine stable board for the vertical structures with solid wood where the piece is seen and touched, kiln-dried to 8 or 9 per cent moisture content, finished with oil or breathable water-based varnish. In damp ground floors and rooms with earth-facing walls we use boards with low moisture absorption and plinths set 2 centimetres off the floor, so air can pass through. The choice between solid wood and board isn’t a matter of principle, and when solid wood pays off and when melamine-faced board does depends on where the piece sits and who cleans it.
What we make for an agriturismo
Rooms for long stays
Guests at an agriturismo stay four to seven nights and unpack. They need at least 120 centimetres of hanging rail per person, a proper four-drawer chest, a 100-centimetre surface with a socket and light, and somewhere to lay two open suitcases without putting them on the bed.
Breakfast room and own produce
Display counter with a wooden frame and a stoneware or stone top, wooden crates for bread and fruit, refrigerated display cases built into the unit, cupboards for the farm’s own jams and preserves. A 240×100-centimetre communal table, with benches on one side, works better than separate small tables when the room seats fewer than thirty covers.
Dining room and restaurant
Tables with brushed oak or wood-effect laminate tops, painted iron bases, beech chairs with rush or washable-fabric upholstered seats, service trolleys, entrance cloakroom. We make restaurant tabletops with a 4-centimetre solid-wood edge applied on, so a chip can be sanded out instead of requiring replacement.
Service kitchen and pantry
Crockery cabinets, steel or HPL worktops, linen storage units, room-service trolleys. These are the pieces nobody photographs and that decide whether breakfast service runs in twenty minutes or forty.
Outdoor areas, porch and courtyard
Outdoor tables and benches in treated wood or aluminium, shade structures, porch seating, cushion storage boxes.
Sustainability, when it’s a fact and not a claim
An agriturismo that sells zero-kilometre produce and then furnishes with panels that smell of solvent for two months has a coherence problem that guests notice the moment they walk into their room. We work with very low formaldehyde-emission boards, water-based finishes and wood with certified chain of custody, and in renovations we salvage what can be salvaged: old chestnut doors become doors or headboards. It costs more in labour and less in material, and the result isn’t something you buy off a catalogue. The criteria that really count are few and verifiable, and sustainable furniture for hospitality properties is recognisable from the technical data sheets, not the brochures.
How to get a quote
We need dimensioned floor plans or hand-taken measurements of every room, with heights and the position of beams and windows. From there: the site survey, the detailed design and a quote per typical room. Production takes between five and eight weeks; installing an eight-room property is finished in four or five days with two teams, and if the agriturismo is already open we work in batches, leaving the untouched rooms available to guests. The overall cost depends on the number of shaped pieces, and how much it costs to furnish an agriturismo can only be estimated properly once you’ve counted how many rooms are genuinely identical to each other.
Send the floor plans and photos of the rooms as they are now, beams included: you’ll get back a quote to furnish your agriturismo with measurements, finishes and installation timing.
Frequently asked questions
Can you furnish rooms with crooked walls and exposed beams?
That’s the normal case, not the exception. We survey every wall at five points with a laser, draw the side panels shaped to the stone or the beam, and use filler strips where the out-of-plumb exceeds 2 centimetres.
How much does it cost to furnish an agriturismo room?
A complete double room with a bespoke wardrobe, bed, bedside tables and desk area falls between 4,500 and 9,000 euros depending on wood species and finishes. Rooms shaped around beams and recesses cost 15 to 25 per cent more than regular rooms, because every piece has its own drawing.
Does solid wood crack in the countryside’s humidity?
Not if it’s kiln-dried to 8 or 9 per cent and mounted with joints that allow for seasonal movement, meaning slotted holes and sliding screws on wide tops. Problems arise when a solid-wood top is fixed rigidly: after the first winter with the heating on, a crack opens along the joint.
Can you incorporate furniture salvaged from the old farmhouse?
Yes, and it’s often the choice that gives the property character. We restore or repurpose doors, dressers and beams, turning them into doors, headboards or tops, and design the new pieces around them so the finishes work together. This needs to be decided before the detailed design, because it changes the measurements.
Do you work while the agriturismo stays open?
Yes. We organise installation in batches of rooms, usually two or three at a time, with the work area closed off and packaging removed every evening. In communal areas we work after breakfast and before dinner.