How The Inside is Bringing Joy to Furniture Shopping

The Inside is a direct-to-consumer furniture brand that Bunn co-founded with interior and household goods designer Christiane Lemieux and creative director Danielle Walish in 2018.

“We offer custom furniture for a cookie cutter price. Unlocking access to a traditionally high-end decorating experience of matching fabric to frame,” explains Bunn.

An unprecedented range of colors, textures, and patterns

Offering a range of upholstered beds, custom sofas, chairs, pillows, and more, The Inside aims to be ‘your shortcut to a chic home— for every style and budget.’ 

And everything it sells is customizable, with most pieces offering over 120 fabric styles to choose from (with swatches available for $1 so you can see your favorite fabric in person before hitting purchase).

Creating your dream item is simple — once you've picked out the item you'd like, The Inside offers you the chance choose the upholstery fabric (including velvet options), and when you hit order, your furniture will delivered to your door in weeks, not months. (Though COVID-19 has caused some delays with sofas and sectionals now shipping in 12 to 18 weeks instead of the standard 3 to 4.)

All of this is made possible by The Inside’s unique manufacturing process.

“Through a zero-inventory supply chain fueled by digital printing and made-to-order manufacturing, The Inside is able to offer an unprecedented range of colors, textures, and patterns,” says Bunn. “All while minimizing our impact on the planet.” 

"The Inside is able to offer an unprecedented range of colors, textures, and patterns."

Every single item The Inside produces is made on demand for a specific customer, not prospective ones. This ensures that the manufacturing process creates as little waste as possible and sofas aren’t sitting around in warehouses waiting to be distributed. 

More design for more value

Shopping for furniture isn’t always an enjoyable experience.

To take a process that can traditionally be stressful and make it joyful, Bunn believes The Inside has two jobs — the first, she says, “is to inspire you with a dynamic digital experience, compelling visuals, collaborations with heritage design houses, peer engagement, and so on.”

And the second is “to empower you to bring that vision to life, by offering access to more design for more value.” 

The Inside delivers a smooth design experience via its website, enabling you to view 3D models of each product in all possible fabric variations — giving you freedom and choice that you can't find with other brands online, all for an affordable furniture.

“We still have a long way to go,” Bunn says. “But in celebrating personal style -- and by spreading the joy of decorating -- we believe we're building the future home furnishings experience.”

“But in celebrating personal style -- and by spreading the joy of decorating -- we believe we're building the future home furnishings experience.”

To make the world more beautiful than we found it

The Inside wants to make the traditionally high-end experience of working with a custom furniture maker open to anyone.

“Our aim is to recreate a decorator's go-to fabric library, with some take on all the classics,” says Bunn on its range of fabric choices. “We're also honored to layer in variations of iconic designs by partnering with heritage design houses, including Scalamandre and Old World Weavers.”

“These collaborations really resonate with the market. Our Creative Director Danielle Walish, who leads these efforts, is constantly tweaking and adding, so we can work our way towards a comprehensive assortment,” explains Bunn. 

And if 120+ fabric options seems a little overwhelming, The Inside has a bunch of curated style collections from maximalist and mid-century modern to bohemian and minimal to help you find exactly what you’re looking for. It also has a quiz to help you find the perfect piece for your home in a unique, enjoyable way. 

“We’re making furniture fun, with access to more design for more value,” says Bunn. “We aim to spread the joy of decorating and to make the world more beautiful than we found it.”

“We aim to spread the joy of decorating and to make the world more beautiful than we found it.”