We decided a while ago that we would like to cut down on our overall consumption of “disposable” goods.  For example rather than buy 4 cheap pairs of jeans over the course of 1 year, just buy 1 good pair.  Same thing for furniture – rather than buy the cheapest stuff, buy something higher quality that will last.  This doesn’t mean the cheaper stuff is not good (ikea for example has some great stuff) – it just means if we buy something cheaper, it should be of good quality.  We have 1/2 a shipping container paid by my wife’s company when we move home, so we are buying things that will work here and there.

Today the little guy and I will finish day 2 of the furniture shopping for our new apartment.  We finish with some key pieces from Ikea, but yesterday we went to a place called Stockroom, which has absolutely gorgeous furniture.  It is solid and really well-made, and at great prices for the most part.  So we purchased our dining room table, chairs, some things for the little guy’s room and some other items for the house.  There are some gorgeous lamps that I deeply dream of owning, and there are some items we plan to buy before we travel back to Sweden.  We will use their webshop for those purchases if everything we purchase is still looking good at that time.

The location of their showroom is wild.  It is on Hong Kong island, at the end of the Island Line at Kennedy Town, and then a 10 minute walk.  It is in the a bizarre, obscure location that makes you feel apprehensive and unsure if you really want to go there: No signs, in an industrial building that smells like a mixture of decaying meat products, livestock, and fruit.  It is on the 20th floor, and the elevators take an eternity while the workers loading the produce of various sorts up and get annoyed you are in the way.  Then you finally get to the 20th floor, and you cautiously walk down the dank hallway, and there it is, like an oasis amidst the disgusting chaos of the building.

I figure the location is this way for a few reasons:

1. They are primarily a webshop, so the showroom is not their priority (I think this is also where they design things, too)
2. They wanted an address in Hong Kong, and they get cheap rent in this building
3. The contrast of the experience in the building makes the furniture seem nicer and more welcoming
4. It’s such a pain to get there, you do not want to go back, so you will be focused and make a purchase while you are there.

See photos below – definitely a different experience than going to Ikea. 😉