So, I have been furniture hunting. Fiance and I started out agreeing that we do not want the modern and contemporary kind of look that feels cold to us. We both love wood, he is more of a retro and vintage guy who loves the curves of things. "Sexy", he would call it. :P As for me, I am more of a traditional person who love warm furniture like wood and fabric. It was a breeze agreeing on what would go into our new house. We both dislike metal and glass so material was readily agreed upon.
Since we have been spending so much time going around searching for our ideal pieces, I thought I'll share where to get some of the mid century, vintage and wood pieces that we've came across.
Furniture pieces that caught our eyes were mainly mid century pieces like the following:
Grant Featherston Contour Lounge Chair
The first piece of furniture that caught my eye even before we got the keys to our place. The sky blue colour is just so cute!
Jeremy Pyles Glass Lights
Ok, so these lights aren't exactly mid century pieces but they do give off the vibe, yah?
So, you get the idea on the pieces that move our hearts. Here's a list of the places we went to and a brief review for each one.
.WOODY WOODY, ALL THINGS WOODY & LOVELY.
1. Journey East
315 Outram Road, #03-02 Tan Boon Liat Building S(169074),
Tel: 6473 1693
Journey East at Tan Boon Liat Building has a collection of refurbished vintage pieces and also new teak furniture which are more rugged looking. The pricing is reasonable and the pieces are cute. They remind me of my grandparents' homes. An era long bygone, our childhood past.
We got this 1950's teak dining table from Central Java. The legs show Scandinavian influences, probably by the Dutch.
Pieces here seem to be more from Asia due to the material, teak. I'm not sure whether they have pieces from Europe. Anyway, when there, you can help yourself to the coffee and drink by the counter and speak with the friendly people from Journey East to find out more.
2. Mountain Teak
315 Outram Road, #07-02 Tan Boon Liat Building S(169074),
Tel: 6244 7176
In the same building, there's another teak shop called
Mountain Teak on the 7th floor. As the name suggests, it's mainly teak pieces in there. New pieces, not pre-owned ones. Pricing is also reasonable and there's many simple and classic pieces available.
This is one cool bookshelf that we're drooling at.
3. Originals
896 Dunearn Road, #02-03 Sime Darby Centre S(598472),
Tel: 6471 9918
We also traveled all the way to the West to take a look at
Originals. The wood furniture here has a more modern feel. Many are also in the distressed wood style. Sturdy and good quality pieces but pricing is on the high side for us.
4. Like That One
2, Bukit Batok Street 24, #01-02 Skytech S(659480),
Tel: 6560 9168
Even further westward was a charming shop called
Like That One. You won't miss it as you drive in with its brightly lit signage. A great place to hunt for vintage accessories and small pieces to pull the look together. In addition to wood pieces, they have many interesting mid century industrial furniture too. Pricing may be a tad higher than what we were prepared to fork out but they do have a few snazzy pieces that may tempt you. All pieces are refurbished and pre-loved. By the way, they also serve great coffee.
It was here that we fell in love with an extravagant piece. Our 1960's Maple Wood Mobile Bar retrieved from the UK. It is now serving a dual function as our console table and mobile bar to make our money's worth. Hehe...
Isn't it a cute, gorgeous piece? It's real cool with secret compartments that made us swooned. The wood grain is oh so pretty. It's my favourite piece at home now!
5. Franc Franc
1 Habourfront Walk, #02-41/42, VivoCity S(098585)
Tel: 6376 8077
And there's the store that many knows about in VivoCity,
Franc Franc. It is a Japanese store and I only found out when I decided to buy 2 pieces of Ashwood furniture there. Most pieces are interesting, cute and contemporary. With a burst of colours there, you can easily pick out something that'll add a splash of brightness to your home. Service is good and pricing is reasonable when they have sale. :P
Most pieces are made of MDF but there are some others that are a few made of solid wood.
We wanted the TV console in lighter wood and Franc Franc ordered it al the way from Japan for us. Check this place out if you're looking for fun pieces with clean lines.
6. Restore Living
124 Tanjong Pagar Road S(088533)
Tel: 6222 3105
For small vintage pieces like chairs, stools and coffee table pieces, you may want to check out
Restore Living. I find this store more of a place to go if you want to get that 1 interesting piece of chair. They do a lot of refurbishing of old furniture. And the items available here have a pretty local feel to them. It is also a cafe by the way.
7. Commune/Koda
9 Raffles Boulevard #02-51/52 Millenia Walk S(039596)
Tel: 6338 3823
Another great place with contemporary wood pieces is
Commune at Millenia Walk. Delivery is prompt and service is good. the delivery guys even have feedback forms for customers to fill in! I find the furniture there easy to match and very likable. Too bad the extendable dining table we wanted in walnut colour was made of veneer. Hence, we settled for the sofa only.
Of course, there are many more shops that we didn't have the time to visit even though we shortlisted them. Some just weren't suitable.
8. Others & many more...
Mid Century/Vintage
- Room of Woods - Furniture looks good but didn't get a chance to go.
- Lorgan's - Heard that it is pricey so didn't make our way to the other side of the island for it. All new items I heard.
- Second Charm - Looks good too and they carry vintage furniture.
- Hock Siong & Co. - I want to check it out one of these days still. Carries vintage furniture too.
Contemporary Wood
- Ethniccraft - Very helpful and responsive people but somehow didn't get a chance to visit them due to schedule. Need to make appointment before going over.
- We Love Air - Some pieces are nice but out of budget too.
- Grafaunkt - Out of budget and didn't really find anything that caught our eyes.
- Pomelo Home - Beautifully designed contemporary pieces but really way out of our budget.
- Scanteak - Safe, expected pieces, good for basics. They have a range where they worked with a Japanese designer and that's quite cute.
- Picket & Rail - There's wood pieces and designer inspired pieces too.
- Air Division - Looks nice on website but didn't manage to find time to make it there too.
- Barossa Furnishing - Didn't manage to travel to Woodlands for a visit for teak dining table. Read that the furniture are solid and of good quality.
For my Grant Featherston chair hunt, we went to quite a few shops. It was a pretty tiring hunt where I was about to give up. Mainly because most of the shops in Singapore use wool or wool blended material for the chairs. Fiance and I definitely do not want to sweat in our lounge chair so we went on and on asking about colours and material. We were insistent in getting a blue lounge chair.
In the end, I resorted to calling the shops and asking about the material and pricing before heading to the store to take a look.
.DESIGNER CHAIRS THAT MAKE US GO OOH-LA-LA.
1. Comfort Furniture
10 Eunos Ave 7, Comfort Design Building, S(409573)
Tel: 6747 4809
Comfort furniture has 2 storeys of furniture and numerous designer inspired pieces. This is the shop where we finally found the right material for our armchair. Sadly though, they didn't have it in the cute sky blue we wanted so we ended up with a darker shade of blue.
We choose the 2nd blue from the bottom. Didn't want our chair to have the faded look so we kept to a brighter blue. I think the chair is slightly smaller than the original design but we're cool with it. It also has the best pricing among all the shops we went to.
The best thing about this place is that the material are more suitable for Singapore's warm and humid weather and they have a wide variety of products to choose from.
2. Lush Lush
73 Upper Paya Lebar Road, Centro Bianco, #03-01, S(534818)
Tel: 6858 5882
Lush Lush had the chair we wanted and many more other designer inspired chairs. But the Grant Featherston chair only comes in the hot wool material. We were willing to buy from here if we couldn't get the piece we wanted in mind. They also have many contemporary and lively art pieces.
3. Standard of Living
34, Khandahar street, S(198892)
Tel: 6298 2349
Standard of Living may be a small shop but it carries a wide range of fabric. I was shown several plain and print fabrics and had the option to choose from polyester, nylon etc. This may be the ideal shop if you want a upholstery that is unique and not so commonly found. Their selection is indeed wide.
The journey of home building for me is not over yet. It's exciting to hunt for the ideal furniture. And even more exciting when you discover a gem that is pre-loved. I find myself wondering about its history. Vintage furniture has a mysterious charm to them, don't ya think?
Anyway, I hope my feedback has helped and do share more in the comment box below.
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