When it comes to buying antique furniture in HK, most would suggest the wallet busting shops on…read moreHollywood Road, or the handful scattered in Horizon Plaza. Alternatively, you could go to Guangzhou, and risk getting proper shafted. Red Hall is a decent compromise between the sharks on Hollywood Road, and the, errr..., sharks in Guangzhou. Based in Mui Wo, it is slightly incongruous in comparison to it's neighbouring shops, being neither an estate agent or a Park n Shop. It is also slightly inconvenient in terms of shipping to HK "mainland". However, don't worry about that, they will deliver your furniture for a cost. The pieces in there are mainly the big ticket furniture items; wardrobes, cupboards, drawers, day beds. There are a few smaller items like kang tables, which incidentally make excellent coffee tables, and traditional stools, both of which you could lug home yourself on the ferry. There is also a rather odd garden furniture section which sells seemingly contemporary items. It is a little bit like they bought a load by mistake and are trying to shift it. Red Hall isn't as "genuine" as Red Lantern up the road, but they do sell "half" antiques. Where Red Lantern sells the genuine article, warts and all, Red Hall primarily does reconditions or copies. It is critical if you buy here to understand that you may not be buying genuine antique furniture, hence the lower prices compared to Hollywood Road. Let me give you an example; I bought a narrow book cupboard, which was reconditioned from an old larder. The original larder was 8ft across and had 16 decorative panels. Only four panels survived, so they rebuilt them into the book shelf that I bought, which is now only 2ft across. The back and sides of my cupboard are new built, only the panels are antique. Of course I knew this at the time, as the staff told me. One thing they are here (unlike perhaps GZ), is they are honest about the provenance. If it is a recondition, it says so on the sales ticket, and the staff will tell you what parts are old and new. They will also indicate what is replica, i.e. a completely new build of an old design. Surprisingly, a lot of the new builds are more expensive than the antiques, but that's HK for you! Only valuable if it's shiny and new...

When it comes to interior decorating, furniture and that lot I'm not the person to listen to for…read moreadvice. If it was up to mean the living room walls would be filled with medieval weapons, I won't go onto my dream bedroom. That being said I was hugely attracted to the wares offered by Red Hall. It is situated in Mui Wo, strange as it sells things completely different to every other store on the island, in terms of price range and products. Upon walking in I was greeted by a giant cat statue. It looked twice my weight, beautiful, and from what I'm told, hand crafted in China. The same goes for everything else on the first floor of the store. The majority of items on sale are drawers, cabinets and shelves. All of which designed as if they were made in one of the Chinese Dynasties. Gorgeous colors of deep reds, blues and greens with chinese symbols adorn the drawers. Further back are some dining room sets - chairs and tables - and the second floor is entirely dedicated to outdoor furniture - sun beds, coffee tables, and that sort of thing. It's times likes these that I wise I took up a 'normal' job in finance as the price tags of these beauties are pretty heavy. We're talking about $3800 for a small shelve or $12500 for a couple chairs and table. I can see the value in the furniture here, and one day when I'm rich I'll be back and buy half a chair, or something.

A (new to me) modern Japanese housewares chain store in the city plaza. They sell from kitchen…read moredinnerware to bathroom towels and decor, to small furnitures like coffee table and sofas in a very affordable price. It is a great alternative than ikea products for paying a bit more what you would pay in ikea. But I love how their products look so stylish, modern and trendy. It's definitely not those traditional Chinese dinnerware places. Most dinnerware are ceramic with some glass options that cover different style for your home!

Aloha Outdoor Furniture is (believe it or not) an outdoor furniture retailer. Located in Horizon…read morePlaza, Ap Lei Chau, they stock a good range of furniture and accessories, mostly made locally in China. The store is large and spacious, with the products sensibly laid out and displayed, and enough room to move around each staged piece. The staff are very attentive and quickly on hand to help, but sometimes a bit too attentive. If I wanted to be followed around everywhere, I'll get a puppy. The products themselves are mostly made in China, but unfortunately, the price does not reflect this, with many of the items pitched around the midway point between the expensive imports, and the cheap Chinese copies. These same items can be bought in a shop 4 floors above for 30% less. And with all Chinese products, they lack the quality and assurances (warranties, returns) of goods made elsewhere. What this store does very well is the Rubbermaid plastic storage solutions. None of the other outdoor furniture stores in Horizon Plaza sell these plastic clip together units (the Garden Gallery gardening store does sell similar), so if this is what you are after, you will probably have to buy here. The Rubbermaid products I am talking about range from wheelie bins and beer coolers, through to storage benches and full size sheds. Look, they're not the nicest looking things in the world (quite frankly they are the warts on the face of your lovely garden), they're not cheap (being imported from the US) but they are practical, and 90% waterproof. For the outdoor seating sets, and tables and chairs, I would probably go elsewhere, but for plastic sheds and storage boxes, this is your place!

Rapee-Living is an interesting store. It specializes in home furniture and decorations, of a…read moredifferent variety. It's great because It offers something other than the typical Ikea or Price Rite choices, products that can make a home unique instead of "oh... yea I was going to buy that in Ikea, but I bought something else in Ikea." Before I moved to Mui Wo I was on the look out for a few things to fill up the new flat. Naturally I wanted to travel as short a distance as possible, which led me to Rapee-Living. It's a small store with a big bed in the middle taking up most of the room. What attracted me most about it was the colorful toys, and small decorations that set it apart. They even had a electronic picture frame/ video frame that I thought was pretty cool. I was not allowed to buy it. We ended up getting a couple of stripy bed sheets, a pair of matching pillows and a little toy that seems to be their mascot. The stuffed toy is everywhere around the shop in different designs and colors but its cute all the same. The prices weren't bad either and I can see myself building up a little collection of those stuffed toys (for my girlfriend, not me!) over time. In general Ikea has everything I need, but not everything I want. It is the shops like Rapee-Living that help add a pinch of spice to an otherwise boring apartment. I've noticed that there are a few other RLs around town and I'd definitely have a look in one should I pass by.

Zzue Creation is an outdoor furniture store that is definitely at the upper end of the price scale…read more The products they offer are fantastic, genuine, and of the highest quality. However, you may need to remortgage your house to afford them. The store offers general outdoor furnitures and accessories, such as outdoor "sofa" seating, tables and chairs, sun-brellas, awnings, gazebos, storage units, lights, fire torches, you get the idea. All the products are imported from places like Italy and Germany, are the genuine article, and have lengthy warranties. As such, you will pay a premium for them. You could buy a similar item from elsewhere for much cheaper, but these will be the Chinese knock-offs, which carry no warranty, no return policy, and may last anything from 100 months to 100 minutes. Most of the products (certainly the furniture but excluding the accessories) require ordering, as there are usually fabric and other finish options. Turnaround times are a bit longer (due to the import time?) at 6-8 weeks. Also, not everything is on display. In fact, compared to the product range that they actually have on offer, very little is displayed. Ask the staff to see brochures and pictures, which are plentiful and available. If you are feeling flush and are interested in buying, ask for Emily. She is one of the sales supervisors, but is incredibly knowledgable about the products and services. She also knows what is available on display at the other stores, so if you really want to look at something, she will direct you to the right location in HK.

To my knowledge I only know of two stores on Mui Wo that specialize in Furniture. May Art Furniture…read moreDecoration Co. is the more budget friendly one. It's across the road from my apartment so when I first moved in it only made sense to give the place a visit, after all my home as naked of furniture. I walked into MAFDC with a set budget, eager to see how I could fill my living room and roof. I thought, by judging the stores outside, that I could get a couple of things, a table and set of chairs at least. The phrase, don't judge a book by its cover springs to mind. The store offers a decent standard of furniture with nothing (that I saw) under the $500 apart from the odd chair or stool. It's a long store with leather couches filling along the entire way. On either side the walls are lined with shelfs, cupboards, drawers, and a sign reading "custom made!", which I assume just means adding another 0 to the price for a choice of color. I walked from the entrance to the far end where the counter is and asked about outdoor furniture. The lady behind the counter simply pointed to a catalogue filled with all sorts of things. Primarily I was going for a parasol. They had one going for $650 with an average delivery time of 15 days, I have no idea if that's a good price or not, but I figured I'd need a table to eat on first before worrying about pimping up my rooftop! I asked her about her cheapest table and chairs, or if she had any discounts. She obviously wasn't used to dealing with customers like me and I highly underestimated the standard of the store. I left but promised myself to research the price of parasols... I probably should have put a time limit on that promise.

In a way, this place is a misnomer because it's a store for housewares and home decor. Then again,…read moreyou could say all of the items in the store are waiting for homes so they're homeless. Or, you could just agree that this place is just frikken hipster and leave it at that. I enjoy browsing through this store because they have such fun brands (Fred, for example.) You can find interesting kitchenware like egg yolk separators, neat picture frames, cool light fixtures... you get the gist. To be honest, I can't think of a similar place in Singapore that compares, and that is also in an affordable price range like Homeless is. This probably explains why my husband and I ended up buying one of those funky looking dusters, a pretty picture frame, and a moosehead-shaped cutting board (that's right- I found a moose in Hong Kong!) I wouldn't put this store on your must-visit list, especially if you're not in the market for home goods, but considering I can't find similar styles in Singapore and prices are a good here, a visit to Homeless is always welcome!

You have all the greatest and most useless home decor and furniture right in one shop. Yes, I said…read moreuseless. Well given the vibe and hipster-ness on Gough Street, Homeless certainly has its fame. Everyone loves spending some time here woo-ing the design of things they have. It's a shame I'm a strong believer of "Form follows Function", and overwhelming designs are just not my thing. Also, whenever you buy your first item here... it's so great it would definitely stands out at your apartment. And the only logical solution is... buy more. Make your house like a designer's house. Ops. Before you know it, you now have a dozen different expensive and useless decors at home. So yeah, the a few times I wasn't window shopping, I came here and looked for specific items. The staff were so chilled that they didn't seem to care about if you got what you wanted to buy (imagine the opposite of the "shadow-sales" at SaSa). I wanted a box. Wooden, metal, jewelry box, don't care. Staff showed me the only two "boxes" they had. Of course they were designer boxes and didn't quite serve the purpose of being a box. I will come back again only if I buy gifts for friends, because that gonna be best use of useless decors.

Dulux Colour Solution Centre is one of those stores that I never thought I'd need to enter or even…read moreknow of its existence. It's not often that I need to repaint my walls, or fix a broken tile - that's usually left to the landlord. That was until I accidentally dragged a bed frame against the entire length of my bedroom wall. I found Dulux much by chance. I wasn't looking for it as I knew I still had a couple months before my contract on the flat ended. Upon seeing it I thought, why not? I entered and realised how much out of my depth that I was. The different types of paints for different types of pain jobs, all sorts of glue, and at least fifty different paint brushes... or are they brushes for glue? I tried asking the lady behind the counter but her English, better than my Cantonese, was not perfect. While exploring the shop I managed to find a section that sold tape. The sticky kind. You don't know how long I've been looking for tape - much of my free time I'm working on video or photo shoots and tape is super handy. So instead of buying a bucket of paint and some brushes I ended up leaving with a bag full of tape. However, the scratch on my bedroom wall is a constant reminder that I need to research what paint to buy, as soon as I know that I'll head straight back to Dulux for I'm sure, with all the buckets they have, they have what I need.

Hong Kong has a surprising lack of Paint stores. The ones that do exist are tiny and dingy and…read morespecialize in hardware and supplies. Paint chips, if they have them, are old, faded, are on a ring and lean toward the pastels and tropical. This paint shop in Wan Chai has more variety, updated paint cards and will mix sample pots in 15 minutes (I had them mix 10 last time I was there). It's with a trip even from Kowloon.