Cover of Furniture Budgeting and Sequencing, a 36-page furniture planning guide by Studio Akiva, EU edition, plum and slate Swiss editorial design
Look inside Furniture Budgeting and Sequencing, showing sample pages on the sixty twenty-five fifteen split, European lead times, the order of works and European doorway clearances
Cover of Furniture Budgeting and Sequencing, a 36-page furniture planning guide by Studio Akiva, EU edition, plum and slate Swiss editorial design
Look inside Furniture Budgeting and Sequencing, showing sample pages on the sixty twenty-five fifteen split, European lead times, the order of works and European doorway clearances

Furniture Budgeting & Sequencing (EU Edition)

€5.99 €12.99

Most furniture mistakes are timing mistakes. The piece was right and the room was right. What went wrong was when it was ordered, or what was left in the budget by the time it came to buy it.

Furniture Budgeting and Sequencing is a 36-page illustrated handbook from award-winning studio Akiva. It covers the two things nobody enjoys planning and everybody regrets skipping: where the money goes, and when things have to be ordered so they arrive at the right moment.

It starts with what a room actually costs, then the sixty, twenty-five, fifteen split that designers work to, and why one contingency is never enough. A construction contingency is spent early, when the walls come down. A furnishing contingency is needed months later, when the sofa arrives damaged. Merge them into one pot and the second is already gone by the time you need it.

Then time. Real European lead times, category by category. German trade reports eight to ten weeks as the normal range for a made to order sofa, and ten to eighteen if you choose a fabric outside the maker's standard collection. Factory shutdowns across July and August are entirely predictable and are almost never mentioned when you are quoted a date.

And the chapter that saves the most money, which is about doorways. European internal doors are narrower than almost every furniture guide assumes, and the number that matters is the clear passage, not the leaf. German doors follow DIN 18101, and the frame takes about 41mm off each leaf, so the common 86er clears 819mm and the 73er clears 694mm. France sells 63, 73, 83 and 93cm blocks, losing roughly 30mm to the frame, and 73cm is the commonest door in a flat. Spain quotes the passage itself, at 62.5, 72.5 or 82.5cm. Not one of those clears a three seater lying flat, which is why you measure the route and not just the room.

EU edition: European doorway widths, European delivery and lead time data, national VAT running from 17 per cent in Luxembourg to 27 in Hungary, and cancellation rights under the Consumer Rights Directive as implemented in your member state. Prices in euros.

Every chapter ends in something you can act on, including a budget worksheet and an ordering worksheet with a column for the two dates that decide everything: needed by, and order by.

Format: PDF, 36 pages, A4. Instant download after purchase.

Most furniture mistakes are timing mistakes. The piece was right and the room was right. What went wrong was when it was ordered, or what was left in the budget by the time it came to buy it.

Furniture Budgeting and Sequencing is a 36-page illustrated handbook from award-winning studio Akiva. It covers the two things nobody enjoys planning and everybody regrets skipping: where the money goes, and when things have to be ordered so they arrive at the right moment.

It starts with what a room actually costs, then the sixty, twenty-five, fifteen split that designers work to, and why one contingency is never enough. A construction contingency is spent early, when the walls come down. A furnishing contingency is needed months later, when the sofa arrives damaged. Merge them into one pot and the second is already gone by the time you need it.

Then time. Real European lead times, category by category. German trade reports eight to ten weeks as the normal range for a made to order sofa, and ten to eighteen if you choose a fabric outside the maker's standard collection. Factory shutdowns across July and August are entirely predictable and are almost never mentioned when you are quoted a date.

And the chapter that saves the most money, which is about doorways. European internal doors are narrower than almost every furniture guide assumes, and the number that matters is the clear passage, not the leaf. German doors follow DIN 18101, and the frame takes about 41mm off each leaf, so the common 86er clears 819mm and the 73er clears 694mm. France sells 63, 73, 83 and 93cm blocks, losing roughly 30mm to the frame, and 73cm is the commonest door in a flat. Spain quotes the passage itself, at 62.5, 72.5 or 82.5cm. Not one of those clears a three seater lying flat, which is why you measure the route and not just the room.

EU edition: European doorway widths, European delivery and lead time data, national VAT running from 17 per cent in Luxembourg to 27 in Hungary, and cancellation rights under the Consumer Rights Directive as implemented in your member state. Prices in euros.

Every chapter ends in something you can act on, including a budget worksheet and an ordering worksheet with a column for the two dates that decide everything: needed by, and order by.

Format: PDF, 36 pages, A4. Instant download after purchase.

STUDIO AKIVA GUIDESEU EDITION · BUDGETING
THE PIECE WAS RIGHT. THE TIMING WAS NOT.

Most furniture mistakes are timing mistakes, and almost all of them are preventable on paper.

See what is inside 11 CHAPTERS · 36 PAGES · A4 PDF
Why this guide01

The piece was right.
The room was right.

What went wrong was when it was ordered, or what was left in the budget by the time it came to buy it. A sofa quoted at ten weeks and ordered in week eight, a contingency spent on the building work months before the furniture needed it, a three seater that fits the room perfectly and cannot get past the hall. None of those are taste failures, which is the quiet good news, because every one of them is fixable before you spend anything.

Real European lead times

German trade reports eight to ten weeks as the normal made to order range, and ten to eighteen for fabric outside a maker’s standard collection, with July and August shutdowns on top.

Doorways measured properly

DIN 18101 leaves against the clear passage they actually give, French 63 to 93cm blocks, Spanish 62.5 to 82.5cm, and why not one of them clears a sofa lying flat.

Honest where the data is thin

Published first attempt delivery success across Europe, what those figures do and do not cover, and where we would not put a number on it at all.

Two worksheets, not a reading list

A budget sheet that holds both contingencies separately, and an ordering sheet with a column for the two dates that decide everything: needed by, and order by.

36Pages
11Chapters
694mmCommon EU doorway
60/25/15The split that works
What’s inside02
  1. 01What a Room Actually CostsThe share of property value rule, where it breaks down in European cities, and which rooms take the money.
  2. 02The Sixty, Twenty-Five, Fifteen SplitWhy spreading a budget evenly feels fair and produces a room that reads as unfinished.
  3. 03Two Contingencies, Not OneSeven to ten per cent on the build, ten to fifteen on the furniture, and why merging them leaves you empty at the wrong moment.
  4. 04Lead Times, Category by CategoryEvery category with a real European range, and how to read a quoted date honestly.
  5. 05The Order of WorksThe seven phases that do not bend, and the two separate moments furniture actually enters.
  6. 06When to Order Against the ProgrammeWorking backwards from the date you need it, and why decorative lighting has the earliest deadline in the list.
  7. 07Measure the Route, Not Just the RoomGerman, French and Spanish doorways as clear passage rather than leaf width, the diagonal, and the ten per cent rule.
  8. 08Storage, and the Cost of Arriving EarlyGuarantees that start at delivery, inspection windows measured in days, and what a freshly plastered house does to solid timber.
  9. 09Delivery DayThe half hour that decides whether a problem is the carrier’s or yours, and what to write on the docket.
  10. 10When Something Goes WrongRestocking charges that are not always enforceable, and where the Consumer Rights Directive actually helps you.
  11. 11Buying in PhasesThe order to buy rooms in, why living with the anchors changes what you buy next, and the one thing never to phase.
About this edition03

Written for European homes,
not adapted for them.

Door sizes, lead times, VAT and consumer law are all set nationally, and they differ more than most people expect. This guide is built on doorway widths measured as clear passage under DIN 18101 and the French and Spanish standards, German made to order lead times and the July and August factory shutdowns, published European delivery figures, national VAT running from 17 per cent in Luxembourg to 27 in Hungary, and cancellation rights under the Consumer Rights Directive as implemented in your member state. Where a single European figure does not exist, the main markets are set side by side rather than averaged. Prices in euros.

Add to basket using the button at the top of this page. Your download link arrives by email straight after checkout.

Questions04
What format is it?

A 36-page A4 PDF. Your download link arrives by email straight after checkout, and you can read it on any device or print it at home.

Which country is it written for?

All of them, and none of them exclusively. Door sizes, VAT and consumer law are national rather than European, so the guide sets Germany, France and Spain out side by side and tells you to confirm your own. Where a single European figure does not exist, we say so rather than inventing an average.

Why do the door measurements matter so much?

Because the number on the door is not the number you can carry a sofa through. A German 86er leaf gives about 819mm of clear passage once the frame is on, and a 73er gives 694mm. French 73cm blocks lose roughly 30mm to the frame. A three seater is commonly 900mm deep, so it has to be carried on its side, and the height of the opening and the diagonal at every turn matter as much as the width. Chapter 7 sets the measurements out and gives you a ten per cent rule to work to.

Is it useful if I am not renovating?

Yes. Chapters 1 to 3 on budget and contingency, and 7 to 11 on access, delivery and phasing, apply to furnishing any home. Chapters 5 and 6 are the ones written around building work.

Do I need it if I have hired an interior designer?

Probably not for the sequencing, which is what you are paying them for. It is still useful for understanding why the programme looks the way it does, and the access chapter is worth reading before you fall in love with a sofa.

Can I cancel or get a refund?

This is digital content supplied immediately. At the point of purchase you expressly consent to us beginning supply before the end of the withdrawal period and acknowledge that your 14 day right of withdrawal ends once the download link is issued. The full notice is at studioakiva.eu/widerrufsbelehrung. Separately from that: if the link fails, the file will not open, or you received the wrong guide, email hello@studioakiva.com and we will put it right or refund you.

Would you rather we did it?

Studio Akiva is an award-winning interior design studio working across Europe and a twelve-time Houzz award winner. Our team plans furnishing budgets, programmes orders around a building schedule and manages delivery, and passes trade discounts on in full. If you would rather talk it through before you commit, book a free fifteen-minute discovery call.

Book a discovery call