A cool upscale office furniture store with Eames chairs, funky stand up desks and the Herman Miller…read morebrand stamped on the front door, I am a fan of Posh because they sell the hand made Alexander Girard wooden dolls I collect. Probably more of prop for them to decorate their operation with a contemporary feel, it is really the only place I have found in Hong Kong where they are sold. $1700HKD per doll. But if you were designing an office space, from walls to furniture, this would be a good place to check out.

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.

Laura Ashley is probably my mother's favorite store. Everything here - the kitchenware, the photo…read moreframes, the furniture - is very floral, very cream, very pastel. Stuff like this is right up my mother's alley, and it's hard to tear her away once she's inside! When I was younger, my mother bought my bed sheets, blanket covers and pillow covers here. The theme was little ballerinas, and the covers had tiny ballerinas with their even tinier tutus dancing in a pretty pink expanse. I had a cushion cover to go with it, and I still have that, actually! Their bed stuff (I can't think of the word for it at the moment!) is all really cute and girly - they all have adorable prints that every little girl would love, like sweet little daisies and embroidered hearts. There are sets for boys too with themes like cars and football! The home decor here is gorgeous too - we have quite a couple of photo frames from Laura Ashley, and have gifted them to friends. The little things like coasters, lids for mugs and candle holders are all so pretty and daintily designed that just admiring them in the shop is fun. My mother's been eyeing this gorgeous cream-colored lampshade with a little bit of lace and embroidery going around it for the longest time. But unfortunately, we don't have a lamp that would fit that lampshade... But maybe someday! Laura Ashley also does clothes, but to be honest, I don't think they're very nice. They're all kind of shapeless and look a little too old-fashioned. I do remember my aunt buying a too here a couple years back that looked pretty good, but that's about it - neither my mother not I go for the clothes' section when we're here! Everything at Laura Ashley is so pretty, but also quite expensive. While I often see huge sale signs on the store windows, the discounts are never very significant - fifteen percent off at best. Overall, this is a great place to look around in if you're a fan of these kind of dainty, floral and not at all over-the-top patterns. Do watch that wallet though, because nothing really comes cheap here!

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.

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!

Ikea, located in the Causeway Bay area, was downstairs to the hotel that we had stayed at (Park…read moreLane Hotel). This review can only comment on the food bistro section as we opted to grab a few treats during our stay in HK. The food bistro at Ikea is located on the basement floor. They are completely cashless where you do have to order from a kiosk. Once you finish ordering from a kiosk, you bring your receipt to the food pick up area and staff will prepare your food for you. What was neat was that Ikea in Hong Kong serves breakfast items, lunch, as well as desserts. Their soft serves also often change from time to time and we were lucky that they were offering a triple pistachio sundae during our time in HK. There is a small space (standing only) with tables where you can enjoy your food items as well. We stopped by Ikea on a weekday afternoon to grab some triple pistachio sundaes. What was frustrating was that we did have cash we wanted to use, however, the food bistro is cashless only where there was not even a cashier where we order from. We were forced to use the kiosk and pay by card. After paying I wasn't sure how it worked with picking up our sundaes but I figured that we would need to go to the food pick up area. Once we gave our receipt to the correct staff, she made our sundaes quickly. The pistachio sundae was delicious and full of pistachio flavour. A nice treat on a hot HK day for sure!

IKEA is literally right downstairs from the Park Lane Hotel where we stayed, so we made a point of…read morestopping by for ice cream--because that's kind of our thing. In Taiwan, we really loved their black sesame ice cream, which was rich and creamy, so we were curious to try it in HK. Here, they offer the "yuen yeung" flavor, a split of Hong Kong-style milk tea and coffee. You can also order either flavor on its own, but we went with the mix. Unfortunately, the milk tea side was quite weak--very subtle in flavor and more icy than creamy. The coffee side, on the other hand, was much stronger and more noticeable. It cost HKD 8 (a little over USD $1), which isn't bad for a unique flavor, especially for those who haven't tried it before. We didn't explore the rest of the store this time, as we were really just there for the ice cream.

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!

If you are in the market for outdoor furniture and accessories, to decorate your garden or roof…read moreterrace, then first; well done you, you must be minted to be able to afford outdoor space, and second, you would do well to come to Irony Home on the 12th floor of Horizon Plaza in Ap Lei Chau. I am suggesting that you come to Irony, because it is cheap, well at least a lot cheaper than it's competitors in Horizon Plaza. The irony (haha, see what I did there?) is that you have probably spent so much in acquiring your outdoor space, that you could do with saving a bit on the furniture! Irony has a good range of furniture; tables, chairs, outdoor "sofas", as well as accessories like wooden floor tiling, rechargeable lights, umbrellas. Most of these products are neither the super high end Italian or German brands, nor the Chinese knock-offs. They are pitched somewhere in between, with gazebos from Taiwan (which include a warranty), and wooden furniture from Thailand. It means you get a reasonable robust piece of kit, but without having to break the bank. Many of the products are for advance order of about 3-4 weeks, as you can choose finishes, fabric colours etc. A few standard items are in stock and can be arranged within a day or two. The store offers delivery and installation, so you don't have to lift a finger before enjoying your G&T in you new gazebo. Ask for the manager Prem, he has a lot of knowledge of his stock, and can offer discounts. His prices are pretty competitive in comparison to the other stores in the same block, so make sure you check them out.