HomeNatural

When my wife and I first moved to Ottawa, we spent a lot of time in natural/​eco stores, looking for things to stock our apartment with. HomeNatural is one of many such stores located along Bank Street in the Glebe. What first struck me was that very few of the products seemed environmentally friendly. Don’t get me wrong — there are some really cool items in this store. They have neat picture frames, soap dishes, bottle openers, etc. But, natural doesn’t seem to be the main driver, despite the name of the store. Okay, products are made of renewable resources — bamboo, wood, etc. But, design seems to come before environmental. Having said that, I have to say it again — there is some really cool items here. They have these wooden bowls with a colourful outer shell and wooden interior. My wife has some she bought in Vietnam and they are delightful. HomeNatural is really a cool store with some one-​of-​a-​kind items (frames, candle holders, picture frames, etc.). Give it a chance!

HomeNatural offers home decoration items with an emphasis on simplicity and sometimes natural (and sometimes cheap) materials. Their items often attempt to look «earth friendly» and sometimes avant-​garde, but it’s rare that I find anything here that I’d want to buy for myself or others. Don’t get me wrong, there are some nice gift ideas here, but nothing up my alley. I find the items often lack practicality and sometimes border on tacky. I also don’t appreciate the scent bomb that hits you when you walk in the doors from all the candles and various other scented knick knacks.
Their prices are moderate and their service is very good. They also have a really nice collection of metal reusable bottles for those wanting to replace their Nalgenes.