Red Hall Furniture

When it comes to interior decorating, furniture and that lot I’m not the person to listen to for advice. If it was up to mean the living room walls would be filled with medieval weapons, I won’t go onto my dream bedroom. That being said I was hugely attracted to the wares offered by Red Hall. It is situated in Mui Wo, strange as it sells things completely different to every other store on the island, in terms of price range and products.
Upon walking in I was greeted by a giant cat statue. It looked twice my weight, beautiful, and from what I’m told, hand crafted in China. The same goes for everything else on the first floor of the store. The majority of items on sale are drawers, cabinets and shelves. All of which designed as if they were made in one of the Chinese Dynasties. Gorgeous colors of deep reds, blues and greens with chinese symbols adorn the drawers. Further back are some dining room sets — chairs and tables — and the second floor is entirely dedicated to outdoor furniture — sun beds, coffee tables, and that sort of thing.
It’s times likes these that I wise I took up a ‘normal’ job in finance as the price tags of these beauties are pretty heavy. We’re talking about $ 3800 for a small shelve or $ 12 500 for a couple chairs and table. I can see the value in the furniture here, and one day when I’m rich I’ll be back and buy half a chair, or something.

When it comes to buying antique furniture in HK, most would suggest the wallet busting shops on Hollywood Road, or the handful scattered in Horizon Plaza. Alternatively, you could go to Guangzhou, and risk getting proper shafted.
Red Hall is a decent compromise between the sharks on Hollywood Road, and the, errr…, sharks in Guangzhou. Based in Mui Wo, it is slightly incongruous in comparison to it’s neighbouring shops, being neither an estate agent or a Park n Shop. It is also slightly inconvenient in terms of shipping to HK «mainland». However, don’t worry about that, they will deliver your furniture for a cost.
The pieces in there are mainly the big ticket furniture items; wardrobes, cupboards, drawers, day beds. There are a few smaller items like kang tables, which incidentally make excellent coffee tables, and traditional stools, both of which you could lug home yourself on the ferry. There is also a rather odd garden furniture section which sells seemingly contemporary items. It is a little bit like they bought a load by mistake and are trying to shift it.
Red Hall isn’t as «genuine» as Red Lantern up the road, but they do sell «half» antiques. Where Red Lantern sells the genuine article, warts and all, Red Hall primarily does reconditions or copies. It is critical if you buy here to understand that you may not be buying genuine antique furniture, hence the lower prices compared to Hollywood Road. Let me give you an example; I bought a narrow book cupboard, which was reconditioned from an old larder. The original larder was 8ft across and had 16 decorative panels. Only four panels survived, so they rebuilt them into the book shelf that I bought, which is now only 2ft across. The back and sides of my cupboard are new built, only the panels are antique. Of course I knew this at the time, as the staff told me.
One thing they are here (unlike perhaps GZ), is they are honest about the provenance. If it is a recondition, it says so on the sales ticket, and the staff will tell you what parts are old and new. They will also indicate what is replica, i.e. a completely new build of an old design. Surprisingly, a lot of the new builds are more expensive than the antiques, but that’s HK for you! Only valuable if it’s shiny and new…