Villa & Home

I’ve been to a lot of home and living shops in my time, and this one is a stand out. Why? Because it’s interior is unlike all the others; it’s laid out just like a house… well a very strange house at that. I mean, who has a bed in the middle of their lounge room?
Anyway, oddly positioned bed aside, the place itself is beautifully fitted out with a simple beige colour scheme. There’s an emphasis on furniture; wooden stools, wicker chairs, wooden benches and drawers as well as the usual suspects; candles, cushions, lamps, cutlery and ceramic crockery. Just be prepared to part with a fair bit of dosh — prices are a little on the high side.

I find Paddington to be a bit like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates when it comes to shops; you never know what you’re going to get. Some places are full of gorgeous things that don’t make my eyes widen at the extraordinary prices, while others are also full of gorgeous things, but with terrifying price tags. Both of these options are scattered throughout the suburb, so when you walk into a little boutique, it’s always a bit of a gamble.
Looking at Villa & Home from the outside it seems a fairly safe bet that this place falls into the latter category. It has to be the smallest homewares store I’ve ever seen. At first I thought it was quite narrow, but that it extended a fair way into the building. It turned out there’s a mirror on the back wall, so the shop is not as big as I was first optically tricked into believing — an ominous sign that it was going to be pretty pricey. My theory was proven correct; they had umbrellas in there for over $ 200.
Obviously what they sell is high quality, designer stuff, but it didn’t look too exciting to me. And in stereotypical hoity-​toity fashion, the majority of their products were beige or cream coloured. If you’re willing to spend hundreds of dollars to look stylish as you hurry about in the rain, go for it.