|
Buying stylish furniture need not cost and an arm and a leg, writes Colin Bissett.
I’ve been wondering about the whole interior design malarkey lately. It started when I popped into a swish lighting shop in Surry Hills to ask after a simple light in its window. $480, thank you very muchly.
Smiling elegantly, I walked backwards into the street. And then a friend bought her first flat and lamented that her budget meant she was considering one of those Fantastic Furniture grrrreat deals even though she wanted something a bit more stylish.
What do you do when you want style but you ain’t got the moola? Yes, so everyone tells you to go to IKEA or Freedom but is that really how you’re going to bring a touch of high-end Crown Street to low-rent Tempe? The answer is a Big Fat No.
So what do you do? The answer is, of course, direct sales, clearances and warehouse outlets. Take Coco Republic, for instance. Provincial French blended with Florida Keys, their style is cool and luxurious. Expensive, too.
Yet the last time I visited their clearance store at Auburn I noticed a stack of sumptuously large and simple wooden coffee tables that were reduced from $1000 to $200, big enough to sit around and eat off if your budget doesn’t run to a dining table.
There was also a rather OTT wing armchair in burgundy velvet for $1000, a reduction of $1500 – the sort of feature piece you’d lug around with you for years. Don’t be frightened of darkening the doors of the upmarket stores such as Space – their clearance sales are terrific and often floorstock is heavily reduced as new shipments arrive.
The pleasure you gain from owning a signature piece can really make the difference to the way you feel about your home. I once picked up a weirdly wonderful Starck armchair for a song at a warehouse sale which gave the daggy directors chairs it sat next to a real touch of class (and I sold it for a profit when I moved to Sydney).
For upholstery, bypass the shops and head for the makers themselves. Sydney is peppered with small manufacturers who are more than happy to make your special order for half the price you’d pay retail. Look through Yellow Pages under Furniture Manufacturers. Beware of buying old pieces to recover as reupholstering is an expensive business and most of the stuff you see in second-hand shops was rubbish when it was new.
Yes, all this takes time and effort but furnishing your home is not like dressing your body – you might throw out a $100 shirt after one season but you’re going to live with that sofa and that table for years. Go for minimal rather than thinking you have to get everything at once.
Of course, the Greenest and most Eco response to furnishing is secondhand. And council clear-ups. I’ve driven past gorgeous lights gathering moss on a Mosman nature strip, authentic 1950s buffets languishing outside waterfronts in the Shire, and even Wassily armchairs adorning the streets of Dover Heights. Now that’s what I call fantastic furniture.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
