The journal
On furniture, and why it works
Written by Ahsan Raza Khokhar — architect, and the person who chooses everything in the showroom. Mostly about proportion, because proportion is what separates furniture that works from furniture that merely fits. 31 articles, and no filler.
Working with an architect on an interior: what it costs and what you get
Fee structures, what each one actually buys, when an architect is worth it and when a good furniture shop will do. Written by someone with an obvious interest, stated up front.
22 Aug 2026
A DHA drawing room, before and after — and what each decision cost
A room in Phase 5 that everyone agreed was too small. It was not too small. Here is the plan that fixed it, the six decisions that did the work, and the budget behind them.
22 Aug 2026
Caring for furniture in Lahore: a year in twenty minutes a month
Not a list of products. A seasonal routine built around what this specific climate does to timber, leather, stone, brass and wool — and the five household habits that quietly destroy furniture.
21 Aug 2026
How to choose a furniture workshop, and the questions that separate them
Two quotes for the same sideboard can differ by 60% and both look reasonable. Eight questions, a workshop visit and one measurement tell you which one to take.
21 Aug 2026
How a piece is made: from a measured drawing to a delivered object
Follow one commission — a fluted sideboard for a DHA drawing room — through every stage, including the two where it nearly went wrong.
20 Aug 2026
Where to buy furniture in Lahore: an honest area guide
Every part of this city sells furniture and each one is good at something different. What to buy where, what to expect to pay, and where I would not send you.
20 Aug 2026
Preparing a home for wedding season
A house designed for eight has to hold forty for three days, twice a year. What to move, what to buy, what to hire, and the decisions to take in October rather than the week before.
19 Aug 2026
Monsoon, humidity, and why your drawer stopped closing
Every August, doors bind and drawers stick and people assume something is broken. Nothing is broken. This is what timber does, and here is how good furniture is built to absorb it.
19 Aug 2026Furniture that survives a Lahore summer
Forty-five degrees, ultraviolet at a level northern Europe never sees, and dust in everything. What actually fails between April and September, and how to specify around it.
18 Aug 2026
Laying out a master bedroom that is not just a bed in a room
Bed position, wardrobe depth, the walkway nobody measures and the two lamps that change how the room is used at night. The dimensions behind a bedroom that works.
18 Aug 2026How to lay out a dining room people want to stay in
The table is the easy part. Where the sideboard goes, how high the light hangs, whether the chairs can be pulled out — those are the decisions that determine whether dinner ends at nine or at midnight.
17 Aug 2026
Lighting layers that actually work
Almost every Pakistani room is lit from one point in the ceiling, which is why almost every Pakistani room looks flat after dark. The method that fixes it is a hundred years old and costs less than you think.
17 Aug 2026
A home office that is not depressing
Most home offices are a spare bedroom with a desk pushed against a wall and a ceiling light overhead. Four decisions turn that into a room you can work in for eight hours without resenting it.
16 Aug 2026
Oil, lacquer or polyurethane — which finish, and why
A finish is the only part of a piece of furniture you ever touch. Choosing between penetrating and film finishes decides how it looks in year one and whether it can be saved in year ten.
16 Aug 2026Marble for furniture: what to use, and what will disappoint you
Pakistan quarries some of the best marble in Asia and most of it is sold with the wrong finish for the job. Honed against polished, the stones that stain, and how to specify a top that survives a family.
15 Aug 2026
Solid brass versus plated: the two-year test
Handles, hinges and sabots are 5% of a piece’s cost and the first thing to fail. In Lahore humidity the difference between solid and plated shows in about two summers.
15 Aug 2026
Bouclé, velvet or leather in Lahore’s climate
Upholstery that behaves impeccably in London can be unbearable here by May. What each fibre does in 45°C heat, monsoon humidity and a house with dust — tested rather than assumed.
14 Aug 2026
Choosing an executive desk that does not embarrass you
An executive desk is a piece of communication before it is a work surface. Get the dimensions, the material and the position right and the room does the arguing for you.
14 Aug 2026Custom furniture in Lahore: what it costs and how long it takes
Bespoke is not automatically expensive and not automatically slow — but the pricing has a logic to it, and knowing that logic is the difference between a fair quote and a bad one.
13 Aug 2026How to judge a sofa you cannot see inside
The three things that decide whether a sofa lasts twenty years or five — frame, suspension and foam — are all invisible. Here is how to assess them anyway, in a showroom, in about four minutes.
13 Aug 2026Solid wood versus veneer, honestly
"Pure solid wood" is the strongest sales line in Pakistani furniture and one of the least useful. Here is what each construction is actually good for, and where each one fails.
12 Aug 2026What size dining table actually seats eight
A table sold as "eight-seater" frequently seats six comfortably and eight only if nobody moves. Here are the real dimensions, taken from how much room a person needs to eat.
12 Aug 2026
An Art Deco colour palette that works in Pakistani light
Lahore daylight is harder and warmer than the northern European light most palettes are photographed in. Colours that look sophisticated in a magazine can look grey and tired here. This is what to do instead.
11 Aug 2026Art Deco or mid-century modern? The difference, and which suits a Lahore house
They are twenty years and one world war apart, and they behave completely differently in a room. A practical comparison, with the proportions that give each away.
11 Aug 2026Marquetry, lacquer and burl: the three techniques that made Deco
The 1930s pushed three ancient crafts further than anyone had before. Understanding what each one costs in hours explains almost every price difference on a showroom floor.
10 Aug 2026
Art Deco is already in Lahore — you have walked past it
The style arrived here in the 1930s and left buildings on The Mall, in Anarkali and along Lower Mall. Once you can read the vocabulary, the city changes shape.
10 Aug 2026
How to read a rug’s knot density — and why nobody tells you to
Knots per square inch decides almost everything about a hand-knotted rug, and it is the one specification most sellers hope you will not ask about. Here is how to check it yourself, in the shop, in thirty seconds.
9 Aug 2026
Furnishing a DHA apartment drawing room
Apartments in DHA phases 5, 6 and 8 share a set of constraints — a ten-foot ceiling, one window wall, and a lift that decides what can arrive. Solving them is mostly a matter of not fighting the plan.
9 Aug 2026Walnut, oak or sheesham: choosing timber for Lahore
Timber behaves differently in a climate that swings from 45°C dry to monsoon saturation. What actually survives here, what warps, and the one question that separates a workshop from a carpenter.
9 Aug 2026What makes a piece genuinely Art Deco
Deco is the most imitated style in Pakistani furniture and the least often got right. Six tests separate the real thing from a fan motif stuck on a cabinet door.
9 Aug 2026How to size a sofa for a DHA drawing room
The single most common furnishing mistake in Lahore is a sofa bought two sizes too big. Here is the arithmetic that prevents it — wall ratios, circulation, seat depth, and the delivery route nobody measures.
9 Aug 2026Topics
Art Deco, explained
What the style actually is, how it reached Lahore, and how to tell the real thing from a fan motif on a cabinet door.
Buying guides
Dimensions, construction and the questions to ask before you spend. The arithmetic behind furniture that fits.
- Choosing an executive desk that does not embarrass you
- Custom furniture in Lahore: what it costs and how long it takes
- How to judge a sofa you cannot see inside
- Solid wood versus veneer, honestly
- What size dining table actually seats eight
- How to read a rug’s knot density — and why nobody tells you to
- How to size a sofa for a DHA drawing room
Materials
Timber, veneer, marble, brass, leather and cloth — how each behaves in this climate, and what to specify.
Room by room
Layouts, clearances and lighting for drawing rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms and home offices.
Lahore and the seasons
Heat, monsoon, dust and wedding season — what this city does to a house, and where to buy in it.
Behind the work
How a piece is made, how to judge a workshop, and how to keep furniture alive for thirty years.
Project studies
Real rooms, real budgets, and the decisions that did the work — with the costs listed.