The best furniture stores in Canberra

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table

The Odessa table can be found at Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture, one of Canberra’s most recommended furniture stores. Photo: Supplied.

Buying furniture is a big deal. Whether you’re looking to furnish an entire home, upgrade a few pieces or find that very special piece, you’ll want to get it right.

Furniture shopping involves many factors like your personal style, comfort, budget and value for money.

A great furniture store has pieces that cross many ‘looks’ and price points. You’ll want to head to a furniture store with knowledgeable staff who can help you uncover the best pieces for your budget.

In this article, we’ll outline the qualities to consider when choosing a furniture store, and share where to find the best in Canberra.

What makes a great furniture store?

Choosing the right furniture store can help fast-track your shopping and make it an enjoyable experience, not a stressful one.

It can be helpful to keep the following in mind when choosing a furniture store.

  • Range. The best furniture stores offer a range of styles. They have a variety of stock on display that inspires.
  • Quality. Besides visual appeal, a great furniture shop has pieces that are built well, crafted with care and designed to last. Staff will be able to discuss specifications, fabrics and more.
  • Price. You’ll want to shop at a furniture store with product that suits your budget. Look for a store with a range of price points so you get what you want for what you want to pay.
  • Service. Choose a furniture store with knowledgeable staff who know their stuff and aren’t only about sales. Knowledgeable staff can provide details on furniture, including structure, quality and how long items will last. They can also tell you how to protect and maintain your furniture.
  • Warranty. Make sure you ask about warranty and guarantees when you’re furniture shopping. That way you can rest easy that if something goes wrong you’re protected.

The best furniture stores in Canberra

Riotact’s editorial team has combed through 20 years of on-site comments to compile a list of the most recommended businesses according to you.

To be listed in our Best of Canberra series, each business needs to have consistently received positive feedback on Riotact and Facebook as well as maintaining a minimum average of 4/5 stars on Google.

Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture

Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture has been manufacturing quality, solid timber furniture for over three decades. Founded by Ross and Juli Triffitt from humble beginnings, this handcrafted, hardwood furniture boutique is highly regarded for its beautifully designed and crafted pieces. Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture is now inspiring a growing list of Canberra clients, including for custom pieces.

Every item is individually crafted by a skilled artisan in the Wagga Wagga workshop. The furniture range includes heirloom quality tables, sideboards, chairs, liquor cabinets, and media units across all styles and for all spaces. Round, oval or rectangular handcrafted tables can be designed to accommodate between six and 18 seated places. The range of sideboards and liquor cabinets are equally as impressive. All pieces are designed and built to last a lifetime.

Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture has a steadfast focus on sustainably sourced, Australian-made furniture. Showstopping pieces are available in hardwoods including Red Gum, Tasmanian Oak, Spotted Gum, Blackbutt, and Messmate Stringybark.

Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture has a solid reputation for thoughtful design. Each item is a true original, with its own story to tell.

Clients can visit Wagga or Sydney showrooms or head to Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture’s online gallery and store.

Louise Cassidey wrote on Google, “We bought a beautiful side table and small cabinet from Eclipse Handcrafted Furniture a few years ago. We liked them so much that we’ve now taken delivery of a gorgeous, eight-seater dining table and chairs. The team went to every effort to ensure the timber in all of pieces tied in together.”

Sears Morton

Sears Morton is a small family business that has been serving the Canberra community for over 50 years. They offer a huge range of dining, bedroom, entertaining and wall units, all produced in Australian native timbers.

As happy customer Brendon Kelson writes on Google, “Sears Morton have forever provided a quality of service you will look hard for in this day and age. Professional, ever helpful and always courteous; a pleasure to deal with. In the furniture stakes: a gold standard.”

Miko Designs

Miko Designs opened in 2018 by Canberra locals Stuart Finlayson and Stephanie McKenzie around a culture of quality design, creativity and innovation. Miko Designs places emphasis on high value, ethical, and sustainable designs that stand the test of time. They source top-end Australian furniture and accessories, many one-of-a-kind pieces from established and emerging Australian talent.

On Google, Wendy Lo wrote, “It is one of the best shops that we have come across in Canberra. Great furniture, minimal design in good quality.”

OZ Design Furniture

Locally owned and operated, Oz Design Furniture has furnished homes for over 40 years. It provides stylish and highly liveable furniture that follow global trends. Some custom pieces and Australian timber products are available. Oz Design Furniture’s diverse range has something for every taste and size of home. Knowledgeable staff provide customers with interior advice. Oz Design Furniture warehouses many products for quick delivery.

On Google, Sepi Helali wrote, “Very good customer service … Very good range of products and reasonable prices.”

Provincial Home Living

Provincial Home Living is a family owned and managed business that seeks global inspiration to curate a range of enduring classics with hallmarks of timeless, understated elegance. Located in Fyshwick, Provincial Home Living stocks classic furniture and homeware.

On Google, Robert Watson wrote, “Great product range and lovely items in-store. Definitely recommend for those looking for nice homewares. Some nice pieces here that are different to the average items found in more mainstream stores.”

Thor's Hammer

For more than 25 years, Thor’s Hammer has been custom making furniture from handpicked, recycled Australian hardwoods with rich histories. Each piece is well-designed and built to be enjoyed for generations. All furniture is made in Canberra by skilled craftspeople. Thor’s Hammer minimises waste and its impact on the environment.

On Google, Karen Shaw wrote, “Thank you to Rohan and the team for delivering such a beautiful table and bench seat for our new home … made from Blakely's Red Gum timber.”

If you’re looking for more information on furniture, you might like our articles on the best office furniture supply stores, best designer furniture, best second-hand furniture stores, best upholstery repairs and restorations, the best outdoor blinds and awning suppliers and the best flooring specialists Canberra has to offer.

Your experience with furniture stores in Canberra

Thanks to our commenters who have provided insightful feedback. If you believe we have got it wrong, please let us know.

Have you had experience with any of the furniture stores listed above? If so, share your feedback in the comments below.

Frequently Asked Questions

How should I prepare for furniture buying?

Before heading out to shop, make sure you measure spaces the furniture will be placed in. Also consider your colour scheme and the style of your home so what you choose tells a story and fits well. It’s a good idea to take photos of the room the furniture will be placed in so you can share visuals with furniture store staff.

How can you assess the quality of furniture?

It’s a good idea to talk to staff about furniture quality. Ask about essentials like construction materials and methods. If you’re looking at a wooden piece of furniture, for example, ask if it’s solid wood, veneer or a composite. With construction, ask what the frame is made of. With fabrics, ask about durability and colour fastness. You’ll also want to talk to staff about how to clean furniture. Read literature available in store. Head to the manufacturer’s website to learn more. You can also check out online reviews.

How long should new furniture last?

The lifespan of a piece of furniture depends on factors like the quality of construction, nature of materials, and how regularly it’s used. Ask the staff to be clear on durability. Mattresses, for example, may last between seven and 10 years. Leather couches may last anywhere from five to 20 years or so. Don’t forget to look at warranty periods before you buy.

When is the best time to buy furniture?

While you can buy furniture all year round, it might be best to shop when major sales are on. Most major furniture stores have at least two big sales a year—January and June are typical sales periods.

Can you negotiate at a furniture store?

As with any retail purchase you can try to negotiate. It never hurts to ask. Some furniture stores are happy to negotiate. Others aren’t.

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Licas Furniture World has changed its name to Colour Me Furniture and their new website is http://www.colourmefurniture.com.au. They specialise in custom sofas and beds which are made in Australia. You can choose any fabric, design and size that you want.

I have used Ikea for more than 30 years. Pick and choose the pieces and your home will not look like a furniture store…
As for delivery, fold your back seat down and stick it in your car. (need a euro hatchback to do this).

The only issue I have found is that Homebush may not have in stock what I want now, today!

I cannot believe that ppl pay such outrageous fees for delivery from Homebush to Canberra, or why some ppl find shopping at ikea so difficult. Try shopping at Freedom – see if you can get any customer assistance there?

so… are they saying this because they’re worried the dog would get out and go walk about or get stolen or something? personally i reckon leaving a dog locked up all day is pretty cruel… but like you say, everyone has a different approach!!

koalathebear10:17 pm 02 Jun 10

Some very conscientious dog owners say that a dog should never be left unsupervised in the backyard (even a dog-proofed yard!) … even when it’s not a puppy anymore. They think that you should:

1. either be at home all the time with the dog; or
2. crate the dog all day, coming home to let it out at lunch or get a friend to let it out at lunch to stretch its legs and wee

Everyone has a different approach to raising their dog 🙂

koalathebear said :

inlymbo: Thanks – you’re a sweetheart. Believe me, the mauling I am getting here is nothing compared to the skewering I recently received on a US dog owners’ forum for saying that we were intending to leave our dog in our backyard unattended when we were at work so I’m pretty sanguine about it.

eh? what’s wrong with leaving a dog in the backyard?!

koalathebear2:30 pm 02 Jun 10

luther_bendross: We checked out 1825 furniture this morning and we loved the place. We picked up a dining table/bench set which is just gorgeous. We fell in love with a lot of the furniture there although we only went away with the table set 😀 Thanks heaps for the rec – the prices really were very reasonable!

Forgot to say, I also buy a lot of second hand furniture – good quality but great prices – you know – $10 for a bookcase or $5 for a chair. Great accent pieces once you’ve painted them.

I use Feast Watson Stain & Varnish in Japan Gloss colour (Bunnings about $44). Amazing results. Family, friends and visitors always make positive comments when I’ve finished a new piece. Try it. They look great with the lighter furniture too.

I managed to buy an excellent quality large 2.5 seater lounge, a dining table and 6 matching chairs, a coffee table, entertainment unit, buffet, and side table for just over $3000 at Freedom – all matching. At that time, delivery was free because I bought $3000 worth of stuff – not sure if they still do that. It is the Spin range. Great clean lines in a beautiful light wood shade. Very easily adaptable to Japanese influences (if you like that kind of thing.) Keep your furniture simple, and use decorations, pictures, pillows etc to bring colour to your space. It works beautifully.

Stay away from Domayne – hugely overpriced.

Good luck.

koalathebear5:23 pm 01 Jun 10

inlymbo: Thanks – you’re a sweetheart. Believe me, the mauling I am getting here is nothing compared to the skewering I recently received on a US dog owners’ forum for saying that we were intending to leave our dog in our backyard unattended when we were at work so I’m pretty sanguine about it. It is a bit funny that in the same thread here I’m accused of being extravagant AND cheap, albeit by different posters 😀

Thanks heaps for all the recommendations – some of them are great. We’ll head out to Fyshwick for some additional shopping based on the recs. We’ve managed to trim down our IKEA list to a manageable size to make it worthwhile using bringithome when they start taking orders again (5th June trip is closed for orders and I’m not sure when the next one is).

As to the IKEA detractors, I used to kind of loathe IKEA. When I lived in Hong Kong, the humidity there made all the faux wood warp and ripple in a really hideous fashion and I found it annoying that everyone raved about it so much. When I moved to Beijing, though and had to furnish my apartment there, it was a godsend in terms of convenience and simplicity.

These days, I wouldn’t want to fill our whole house with IKEA but the charm of IKEA is that it’s very simple and so compatible with most rooms and furniture. For basic furniture, I think IKEA’s very worthwhile. Thank again for all the help. Since moving back to Australia last year, RiotACT has been incredibly helpful for us in terms of helping us reintegrate back into Canberran society 😉

ConanOfCooma3:53 pm 01 Jun 10

Revolve. If you’re cheap enough to shop at Ikea, you can go to revolve. Or Massive’s, whatever it’s called now.

Vast interior is probably the best furniture store in my experience. Nice mix of classic and modern furniture. Good service and quality goods at a reasonable price. I moved into a new house not long ago and purchased a new dining table + chairs, coffee tables and a few other things and couldn’t be happier. Their delivery guys also do a good job. Very organised.

Furniture wise (almost opposite Ozcro) is worth a look. The range of styles is a bit limited, but they can customise some things. You can get the pieces raw too. A friend was happy with a desk she had and I’ve ended up ordering a batch several pieces. I recall they were a bit cheaper than Ozcro, but are probably targeting a different niche.

We recently had similar fun with Ikea. The boxes containing the furniture we wanted were about 2 inches too long to fit in the car and I just couldn’t face spending $295 delivery.
So we went out to Gladstone St on the weekend and bought a TV unit from Furniture Wise. We liked it more than anything we saw at Ikea, it was cheaper than similar units at Ikea, and it fit in the car! Plus I got to make friends with a lovely sharpei named Jasper…

I think it’s well worth the time to park on Gladstone St and explore the furniture shops there – a lot of them seem to have similar stock with widely varying prices, so you can get good deals if you don’t buy the first thing you see.

+1 On Ozcro in Fyshwick. Just brought kids bedroom furniture for 2 rooms there and they even custom made 1 of the pieces to suit out room and they negotiated on price when we ordered it all together. Going back there in a month to order a Tassie Oak hall table which they make on site.

There is a truck hire place out at the Airport, they are pretty good on price and the trucks have lifts on the back, makes it easy. Cant remember prices n stuff. hope that helps ><

if you want to support a family business and get some well made stuff for reasonable cost, ozcro in fyshwick are worth a look for some of your items, like tables, chairs, shelving, etc… dare say ir will last longer than ikea and be far less hassle to put together [read: none] and be a sturdier item… astress and i have a few things from them and have been happy, with some more on order.

otherwise, auctions are a good source of interesting items, too.

i’m sorry, i just don’t quite get the whole ikea thing…

It’s pretty simple really, you hire a van from Avis or Hertz (NOT Europcar, unless you have a single-use credit card and cancel it immediately afterwards) and drive it to Sydney and back for a total cost of about $200.

You can generally get a good deal for a weekend, so have a weekend in Sydney and make the trip worthwhile.

I go to Ikea quite regularly – I’ve found that a Holden station-wagon can (just!) take even some of the longer pieces.

We have bought heaps of furniture over the years from Oz Design. They seem to have good quality furniture (pos) made from high class Indonesian rainforest timber (neg), deliver for a small fee, but on each occasion we had to wait anywhere between 2-6 weeks for delivery. Excellent prices and service too. Endnote: This is not an Employee sales promo BTW.

Felix, the story is that Ikea don’t set up shop where the population is less than 500,000 so don’t hold your breath.

Another happy Bring It Home customer here. We like the simple styling and price and couldn’t find anything like it here. If you really like Ikea furniture, just get the guys to get them for you.

troll-sniffer11:13 pm 31 May 10

If there is one area of shopping where you get what you pay for with about a 99% rate of accuracy it’s furniture. If IKEA is your thing they’re hard to beat for apparent value but in the long run good quality manufactured tradesman built furniture will be a better investment. If you are likely to be pulling up stumps in the next 5 or so years then the cheaper end of the market is a good idea but if you think you’ll be settling down it’s worth including good furniture in a mortgage package which will pay off in the long term.

IMHO of course.

*laugh* Koalathebear you are so polite.

*sigh* You can’t even ask a question about furniture without being crucified by the RIOTACT mob.

How much can a ‘Koalthebear’ bear…… quite a lot it seems…..

koalathebear10:45 pm 31 May 10

MWF: *laugh* No really – we need to buy furniture. We moved back to Australia last year from living and working overseas. Shipping was hideously expensive so we brought almost no furniture back with us, we rented a house here that was furnished so we had to buy all our white goods, sofa, dining set, desks, bookshelves etc etc 😀

“We’re moving house and need to buy furniture for the new house.”

You don’t really NEED furniture for the new house you just WANT it. Go on, admit it!

I recommend moving to the new house, getting by with what you already have and then furnishing the new house sustainably and tastefully.

Bit by bit and thoughtful always looks better than a whole houseful of one furniture store almost spewed into your home. JMO.

Hackett Heckler9:20 pm 31 May 10

BringItHome are fantastic. They do the driving, They do the shopping and heavy lifting. They deliver to my door. I go online and work out what I want get the codes and send in the order and get an invoice and pay them for their trouble.

Because the biggest pain in the posterior of shopping at Ikea is having to get your heavy goods on a trolley and through a checkout. Either load your car or get a delivery then drive home.

I have compared other furniture shops. Depends what you are after. Depends what you want to spend.

Have you thought of shopping in one place and getting a bulk discount? Usually would cover the delivery costs. I have done that with appliances and been pleasantly surprised.

Also I must warn you on how much stuff often has to be ordered in by the store. You can’t really buy whats on the floor and that can take weeks.

At least with Ikea you can check whats in stock.

koalathebear9:20 pm 31 May 10

Felix the Cat:

“If you can’t wait then there are plenty of other furniture shops in Fyshwick to choose from.”

Yup – we’ve checked out fyshwick.com for the list of all furniture shops in Fyshwick. We were hoping for some recommendations, though of places that people had visited where they’d had good experiences. We had visited the store mentioned above (Licas) and were wondering if anyone else had bought from there because the prices were reasonable but we weren’t sure of the durability of the goods.

koalathebear9:18 pm 31 May 10

indigoid: your loyalty to bringithome is truly admirable! We were pondering hitching a ride to Sydney with my brother (he has a truck 🙂 when he next goes – but can’t really spare the time right now so we are definitely going to use bringithome for some of our furniture needs. It’s just that our original list of furniture items was quite long (well over $4,000) and the fees that would have been charged would have been very high given what we wanted to buy.

We have been able to buy some nice furniture from Freedom, Harvey Norman and Whitewood Warehouse and would like to be able to buy more locally which is why I’m asking for recommendations. As much as I like IKEA, it would also be nice to know what’s available to buy around Canberra. We’ve actually been pretty lucky so far in finding a lot of stuff here. 🙂

Wanon said :

If you’re looking at IKEA, you’re probably after cheap decent furniture. May I suggest Fantastic Furniture in Fyshwick. Very very cheap and of decent quality.

Fantastic Furniture is nothing like the quality of IKEA. From my experience of FF (and it was awhile ago so may have changed) their packages are great for those looking for the most items of furntiure you can buy for a limited price and therefore fit out as much of an empty house as you can for someone who has just moved out of home and has nothing to start with.

In my view, there aren’t really any good furniture stores in Canberra: they’re either really overpriced or their range is too limited. A trip to IKEA is the way to go for good value stuff–and indigold is right: get someone else to do the hard work for you. I think Freedom has comparable quality to IKEA but charge a lot more. If you want really good quality stuff, why not try Thor’s Hammer in Yarralumla? With them you pay a little more than most, but you get excellent quality and service and you end up with furniture that will last for ages.

Felix the Cat8:17 pm 31 May 10

I think IKEA is coming to Canberra soon – Fyshwick somewhere at/near DFO?
If you can’t wait then there are plenty of other furniture shops in Fyshwick to choose from.

If you’re looking at IKEA, you’re probably after cheap decent furniture. May I suggest Fantastic Furniture in Fyshwick. Very very cheap and of decent quality.

Crikey indigold!

In the time time it must have taken to research and write that post you could have done to poor fellows Ikea shopping for him lol

Note – ANY timber furniture imported from overseas is treated with methyl bromide (generally in the shipping container). So it doesn’t make a difference if it comes from China, Malaysia or the North Pole. It will still be fumigated prior to entry.

Same with all imported fresh fruit and vegetables….

This ended up a bit longer than I intended. Sorry :-/

OP, What part of the 23% BringItHome fee is ridiculous, exactly? Is your spare time of such pathetically low value that you could achieve the same end at a lower cost? If so, and if you still want Ikea furniture, I do recommend that you visit them at Homebush and shop for yourself.

You’d need (based on my experience commuting at mostly legal speeds between Canberra and Sydney by motorcycle at least once a week for the last 12 months, and also several visits to Ikea) a bare minimum of six hours of your time to drive to and from their store. Even if you knew exactly what you wanted when you got there and which aisles/sections of their warehouse it sat in, you’d probably need at least another hour to complete the purchases and get them into your vehicle.

So… seven hours so far, and we haven’t even considered the cost of the transport. Many large Ikea items are by necessity in quite long (if flat) packages that simply don’t fit in your typical small car. If you didn’t already have an urban terrorist 4WD, or a van or light truck, you’d need to rent one. Budget currently have a “moving van $295 for a weekend” deal (actually a light truck) going at present which looks like it’d be good for an Ikea trip, and in fact the last time my SO used BringItHome they used a very similar truck but rented from Avis.

My flatmate’s Isuzu County (Land Rover Defender 110 with an Isuzu engine) has a similar engine to many of these Isuzu light trucks and consistently uses 10.5L/100km of diesel, or around $85 for 600km at a typical $1.35/litre. The trucks are bigger, boxier and heavier and likely use more diesel than this, but for the same of argument we’ll assume that they don’t…

So 7+ hours work AND $295+ rental cost AND $85+ fuel cost… Is that 23% (or the 17% they used to charge) still sounding ridiculous? I have no idea how much the various insurances and other corporationish bits cost, so I’m not going to consider those. Safe to assume that they are non-zero, though.

FWIW I’m a semi-regular Ikea customer (much easier now that I live in Sydney) and my SO is a happy repeat customer of BringItHome. I think I’d have to be spending in excess of $4000 (unlikely!) before I’d reconsider paying the extra 23%, and even then I’d probably still do it.

luther_bendross4:34 pm 31 May 10

Check out 1825 Interiors who are in Fyshwick somewhere. Good stuff made from recycled timbers. We picked up a few items from them and were/are surprised by the quality & price.

If you like French antiques, then Kate at Histoires can help you.
I like secondhand, there’s lots of places in Fyshwick with good furniture at reasonable prices.
There’s also a guy at the Old Bus Depot Markets who does handmade timber furniture – for the quality, the prices seemed quite reasonable last time I was there (which was ages ago, but he’s a regular stall).

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