Monroe Oak Solid Timber Wardrobe, Made to Measure in London

The Monroe Oak is the classic frame in the honest material. A plain shaker on 75mm stiles, cut from kiln-dried solid oak and sanded by hand, it is finished to order — oiled, lacquered or tinted — so the last decision about how it looks is made in your room, not in a factory. The arrangement shown wraps the bed: tall wardrobes either side, top boxes bridging the headboard, bedside drawers built in, and a dressing table on the return.

One thing should be said plainly, because it is where a solid oak door earns or loses trust. The frame — the two stiles and two rails — is solid oak. The centre panel is oak veneer on a stable core, and that is deliberate: a solid oak panel that wide would move with the seasons and split the finish, so it is made the way period joiners made it, with a floating panel that can breathe.

How it works: 20mm kiln-dried solid oak stiles and rails, joined with profiled tenons rather than dowels, around a floating oak-veneered centre panel, with a 1mm bevelled edge cut in the solid. Slim black bar handles are shown against the pale grain.

Natural oak in a small or sloped room, as here, does what a painted door cannot: the grain gives the eye something to read across a large run without adding colour to a room that has a dark feature wall already.

Designed around how you use your room

An over-bed arrangement uses the wall you already gave to the bed. The shown layout puts hanging in the tall bays, folded storage in the top boxes, and drawers at each bedside.

• Tall hanging bays either side of the bed
• Top boxes bridging over the headboard
• Bedside drawer units built into the run
• A dressing table on the return in the same oak
• Shelves and internal drawers to your list
• Slim black bar handles
• Oiled, lacquered or tinted — chosen on a sample in your room

Built for everyday use: oak takes knocks that a painted surface would show, and an oiled finish can be refreshed in place with a cloth rather than a refit. The doors close on soft-close hinges.

The carcass interior is chosen at the design visit.

Manufactured in our Wembley workshop

Oak is cut with the grain and every stile is selected so the figure runs the same way down the run — a mismatched stile on a natural door is the first thing a visitor sees. The tenons are cut on the CNC in our HA9 Wembley factory and the doors are sanded by hand before finishing.

The finish is applied last, to the sample you approved, and the doors are hung on site to the sizes taken at your survey. Our own fitters install it and it carries a 10-year parts and labour guarantee.