If you've seen many of the decorative screen designs available but nothing has quite tickled your fancy, or if you are after something completely unique that no one else will ever have, consider having a custom designed screen made just for you.

Your Two Custom Screen Design Options

1. Custom Change an Existing Design

By far the easier, less expensive option is to choose your favourite QAQ decorative screen design and have it changed to suit your needs.  This may mean cutting the screen smaller or larger to fit a certain installation space, increasing or decreasing the privacy level of the screen by closing or opening up the design, or removing entire sections of the design.  Screens can be cut on diagonals, in circles, or in whatever unusual shape you require. For this option, the customising cost on top of the basic costs of the screen is $100 an hour, and usually requires, on average, around 1.5 hours for the large majority of customised screens we produce.

2.  Create a Completely Unique Screen Design

Though this option is a greater investment, it can be the more personally fulfilling option, as you can choose your own design or create your very own artwork and know that you have a completely unique screen that exactly suits the style of your home and more fully expresses and reflects your individual taste. The crucial element of having a custom design made in this way is the quality of the image or file that you choose to send in to our design team. You may send us either a ready-to-cut vector file, or you could simply send a picture of what you desire and we will turn it into a ready-to-cut file. The custom design fee here is, again, $100 per hour, but the average time for this option is around 8 hours. However, you can dramatically reduce the time required to make your file workable by:

• Sending vector files that are 'clean' and have no broken links, overlapping paths, stray points, and that consider the strengths of the design's connective points. It would be a good idea to have a friend or family member who is adept at using vector software to peruse the file and catch-out any irregularities. File types to send us are: dwg., eps., and dxf.

• Sending images that are clear, with as high resolution as possible, minimum 300 gpi, and that show either the complete design you desire or the complete pattern to be repeated in your design.

In addition, try to imagine how the design will work as one piece when it is cut out. Will all the connecting points be strong enough to hold the weight of the inner pieces? Will any inner pieces need to be connected to the larger whole? Will there be areas that allow too much or too little privacy or light? Generally, the simpler the design, the easier and less expensive the total design to production process.

Lastly, a critical issue you must not forget is copyright. We cannot reproduce another artist's or company's designs legally unless you own the rights to the design and can produce proof of ownership. If you love a design but do not own the rights to it, you may create something similar but never exactly the same. The law requires 40% of the total design be altered or completely changed in order to legally reproduce something similar.

OK, Got Your Custom Screen Design Idea?

Here's the QAQ Custom Design Screen Process:

1. Email our quotes guru Samantha at sam@qaq.com.au or give her a call and tell her what your dream screen details are, from what you'll be using it for, your budget if you have one, the size you require, the material and if you would like it sealed or painted. If you are not sure about these details, Sam will help you get clear on what will work best for the project you have in mind within whatever budget you are working within.

2.  You will receive a quote and estimated design time required.

3.  You send through 50% of the payment before we can begin working on your design.

4. When we have the design finished, we send you a proof to approve. Sometimes this process requires a bit of email ping-pong so that we can provide you with exactly what you after and what we know will work well when cut by our machines.

5. When we have your final approval, we then begin the production of the screen.

How Long Does it Take to Create a Custom Screen?

The customizing of an existing design usually requires 14 business days while the creation of a unique design requires 21 business days.

Any questions for us?

Email info@qaq.com.au or call us at (03) 8390-0306 and we can help you get started on making your dream decorative screen.

Hope this answers most of the questions you may have been wondering on how the whole custom design process works with QAQ decorative screens!

~Christine