Alfresco Emporium is a speciality retailer of lifestyle and dining products supplying well known…read moreand highly respected homeware brands including glasshouse candles, Bormoli and Ecology. They also have an amazing range of fresh flowers for sale that are handpicked by an experienced florist. And to the back of the store is a pleasant 'hamptonesque' type of cafe with Brassiere bread, sandwiches, sweets and great coffee though the service is painfully slow in all the times I visit. Today I am on a hunt for vintage milk bottles to use as flowers around my home and success I have them. I decide once getting them I may as well start the Christmas shopping and I'm starting with the Ecology cheeseboard with drawers. Beautiful store with beautiful objects.

We went for high tea last Tuesday. Having been in the cafe…read moreindustry for 11 years I had some reasonable expectations. Unfortunately it was not what we were expecting after having high tea at Newport. Service was slow and reluctant, we had to ask for tea and then ask for milk...after having to ask for the cakes to be served. I thought for 4 people spending $140.00 we could reasonably expect better service and attention. The food was lacking, when it became clear there was arancini (from lunch menu for $9.90) cut into 4 and served warm. Then the frittata (again from the lunch menu) cut into 4 and served warm. After having to book for high tea I would have expected something a little different to the usual fare being served. We would not go again.

THIS is great retail!! Beautiful products + divine displays + wonderful staff = winner!!…read more I'm not surprised because the powerhouse behind the store is the uber talented Tara Dennis. Exclusive Homeware, furniture, luscious skincare, paint, classes situated in a divine shopping strip. #SydneyRetailMustVisit #MustVisit #GreatRetail #Retail

Sporting a bemusingly ironic name, Shack is really anything but. This lovely homewares shop is…read morealways beautiful to experience - organised in such a way that you meander through and discover little pockets of stylish house and garden goodness. If your style is shabby chic or if you're looking to add a splash of oriental colour to your modern surrounds, Shack is well worth a look. And while it's certainly got large pieces of furniture - beds, dressers, tables - there are also lots of smaller items, perfect for wedding or housewarming gifts. Have I already admitted my addiction to homewares? Probably. So well, there you go - I was always going to end up at Shack.

TBHH is a quaint little place where you can browse or shop for home decor and furnishing, if you…read morelike that coastal beachy look! I love everything about this store. Everything here would be perfect for my beach home in the Hill section close to the sand section in Manhattan Beach (working towards a "Strand" address...lol). Or, maybe it's easier just buy a house here in Palm Beach New South Wales....ha. After a great lunch at The Boat House by the water then took a stroll down to their home store was the best thing I did!! Awesome place to stop by if you are ever in the area!! The girls here were super nice. I even got a passion fruit popsicle on the side of the store that was yum yum!!

Made On Earth is one of the few remaining independent giftware/homewares stores in the CBD. As…read moresuch, you can find things you don't see replicated on every street corner. They stock a huge range from bric-a-brac to candles, scarves and kitchenalia, even sometimes lovely chinese painted furniture which I've never been able to work out how to get back home on the train. They used to be located in the old Midcity centre across the road, and to my mind have never replicated the lush and comfy feel of the old store. But the staff are always lovely, and they have sales where you can pick up a real bargain. When you're stuck for a last minute gift, it's the perfect place to rush in a find something slightly out of the ordinary.

I love this place!…read more Popped in yesterday because I'm doing a bit of redecorating and wanted to see what they had. Ended up with more than I expected. They have a great range of home decor and small gifts you can use as a joke or on a serious note. I always come here for a last minute gift idea and it's great for secret santa parties. Make sure you walk through the whole store and look at everything. There are hidden gems everywhere and you might walk away with some pretty unique gifts.

I thoroughly enjoyed perusing this funky gift shop, it made a nice break from all the generic…read moreWestfield shops one tends to find in Bondi Junction. There are some fun, quirky and kitsch products and it is a good store to browse if you are in need of gift ideas. I quite liked all the cutsey home wares like the skeleton gingerbread men cookie cutters and the old style princess telephones. However I have seen many of the products in other gift shops before so maybe in need of a few more unique items. The store was set out very neatly and all the stock was quite accessible to pick up and touch, nothing was hiding or obscured from view. Everything was quite reasonably priced too. The staff were friendly enough to exchange pleasantries but were more interested in talking to each other than paying attention to the person at the counter.

Hart and Heim is such a cool shop, these kinds of shops are so great as they exude imagination and…read moreinnovation. Set up the top Bondi Junction Westfield they are in amongst a few other shops selling unique home- ware. These shops are perfect for buying presents as not only will you be able to give gifts that the recipient does not have, but they will not have imagined such a thing has even been created. Believe it or not they have a Combie tent, yes a tent, which is formed to replicate a 1960's Combie van, how jealous would the other campers be of you. Also another super cool item is Pacman & Ghost Monsters (the ones who chase Pacman around) mint containers (although I am guessing they are not necessarily intended for mints). They have bird song alarm clocks and the cutest brightly coloured grenades you will ever see - they are chew toys for dogs. There is no limit to the imagination at Heart and Heim, go there, be inspired.

This is a cheap and cheerful homewares shop - one that you can find any number of house decorative…read morebits or bobs. I like it because it's neat despite the fact that it's packed to the rafters with 'stuff'. By stuff I mean cups and sauces, picture frames, wall hooks, paints, dress up masks, wooden baskets, candles, glasses, glitter, ornaments, kids games, silver bins, cards, paper, lamps, bags, storage containers, mirrors... the list goes on. Stuff that some people may call cheap junk but others might call useful jewels. It depends on what you're looking for. House to Home is the kind of place you go if you're feeling creative and looking for a Secret Santa present or need some basic house nick knacks. Prices are more than reasonable but of course you do get what you pay for.

God I love this place. That sounds like a lot of passion for an inexpensive homewares store doesn't…read moreit! But honestly, this place is the way forward when it comes to those things that you don't want to spend a fortune on, but don't want to go so cheap they break the minute you get them home. Last week I walked out of here with a large candle, a medium candle, 25 tea lights, a small glass vase and a garlic crusher for $25 - not bad eh?! The best bit about this place is that it is actually an OK place to shop - it has wide isles, everything is organized and the staff know their stuff. It certainly beats fighting the crowds at a department store or squeezing through the shabby isles at a discount store.