I seem to be drawn back to this corner of Artarmon for all sorts of odd reasons - it's home to an…read moremixed collection of warehouses and distributors that need space. Sure enough, Dickson Avenue has a sizeable showroom, with attention drawn via a display of candy coloured plastic wicker outdoor chairs on the sidewalk. It's a good source of outdoor furniture - both the plastic weave stuff and more traditional teak. Staff are attentive and interested - they want to chat through your needs at length and propose alternatives and ideas, which is useful if you're not set on a certain path. Lead times are quite long - and can stretch out. Despite enjoying the shopping experience here, we actually bought elsewhere, though paid considerably more than we would have at Dickson Avenue - just a choice we made in favour of higher quality and durability, though Dickson's products were good value for money.

From the owner: Dickson Avenue is proud to bring you the high quality teak and woven outdoor furniture and indoor…read morefurniture. All our outdoor and indoor furniture are quality guaranteed with affordable prices. Dickson Avenue is based in Artarmon, Sydney.

We ended up at Moss looking for a Caesarstone outdoor table, and they are undoubtedly adept in this…read morefield - you can order any shape or size of Caesarstone, in one of two depths, which is then mounted into your own weighty piece of furniture. If after delving into the Caesarstone option you are deterred by some factor - its weight, maybe, or the lead time to get your piece cut and delivered - Moss also stocks a small collection of other furniture, ranging from cheap-and-cheerful plastic to designerware, plus some pretty authentic imitations (though these are sold with the proviso that they do not wear as well as the originals). Some nice indoor and outdoor homeware accessories too, but I think the main drawcard is the Caesarstone.

I recently bought a Caesarstone table with castors from Moss. The table takes about three months to…read morebe made. It is well made and looks lovely however the one error by the manufacturer was in the dimensions. I ordered a 740mm height table and received one that is about 726mm. Given they have to cut legs to put on castors I can understand maybe 0.5cm difference but not almost 1.5cm. The response from the manufacturer to MOSS was that they always make them 730mm. Doesn't seem right to me that you are told they will custom make to the size ordered ( and 740 is the standard height they have) and then the manufacturer just builds to some usual standard they are used to. I raised the issue with them and MOSS did offer to do a new one but given time for completion and a bit of a loss of confidence in the manufacturer given their response have opted to keep table. The table is great apart from the slightly lower height so I would recommend MOSS if you want a nice Ceasarstone piece but make sure you pin them down on the height and get what you ordered. These tables are not cheap.

Probably the best service I have experienced with a furniture company. Lawrence Chan was not only…read moreexcellent in his service but his style and colour suggestions were spot on. He really knew his product and had an inspired eye for colour combination. His suggestions and in-depth questions really made a difference on what we were looking for. He made us think about how we were going to utilize the furniture Excellent service. At no time did we feel pressured to buy

Given the time and the money I would buy just about everything from a specialist. They have more…read moreinformation, better ideas, and are simply more involved in the sale that they're making. Our new house was recently renovated when we bought it, but sadly our predecessors must have been much more adept at decluttering, because whilst we too can mount our TV on the wall and enjoy the fact that the cords all disappear into a hole, we just can't address the audio-visual jumble that seems to be required to make it work. We needed an entertainment unit that had all the nooks and crannies required to house the DVD player, the X-Box, the Foxtel box, the SONOS control unit, even the dust-riddled video player demanded by the dedicated old-school series watcher. Plus all the cords, and the DVDs, and all the DVDs that have been taken out of their boxes and not replaced, plus the mysterious cords that appear in the mix with no evident purpose (but you can't throw them away just in case ...) Yep, a little more discipline would no doubt be in order, but a Sydney Side entertainment unit was good interim measure.