How can I stop my humble abode from looking like the showroom of a Swedish furniture store? There must be loads of really cool furnishings to be found in Abu Dhabi, yet I always find myself in the same stores. Help!
Despairing furniture fanatic, we feel your pain. We regularly wake up after a heavy Friday night with heart-palpitations, thinking that at some point on our way home we must have been kidnapped and are now being held hostage in an undisclosed budget hotel room. Alas, the truth is more sombre: we just forgot that we had managed to cover every white space in our apartment with a flat-packed memorial to Scandinavian design.
Before our feet had touched Emirati soil, however, we had had visions of something very different. Our list of requirements when house-hunting made the estate agent inquire as to whether we were, in fact, not looking for a pied-à-terre at all but were on the hunt for the perfect location to shoot the next Fry’s Turkish Delight commercial. Courtyard with fountain? Check. Those Moroccan lamp things? Check. Scheherazade herself, draped resplendent under a golden canopy, nibbling on dates to an oud accompaniment? Deal breaker. So how did we find ourselves a few months later on a cold marble floor, surrounded by nuts and bolts and throwing allen keys at our nearest and dearest in fits of rage? Luckily, Abu Dhabi isn’t an interior design desert: we just thought it was. If you’re prepared to wander off the beaten track, you’ll realise the city is awash with independent furniture retailers, and, with a little shopping around, you can create a more homely feel.
Stores such as The One (Khalidiyah, 02 681 6500) and IDdesign (Al Wahda Mall, 02 443 7557) have a great selection of contemporary pieces. Some of them might look a little wacky, but The One’s collection of everything from dried palm fronds to wall-mounted lion heads will guarantee you a talking point and banish any sort of mass-produced banality from inside your front door. If you’re after a more unique look but don’t want to pay through the nose it’s easy to get curtains and soft furnishings made to order at reasonable prices. Check out the array of textile shops behind the Hamdan Centre and do some bartering.
For more authentic additions, don’t forget the souks in Al Mina. The Iranian souk is less exotic than it sounds, but there are some smaller gems to be found among the garden gnomes and laundry baskets. Rows of shops selling Persian carpets are in abundance in Mina Zayed and check out the flower market’s huge selection of indoor plants. Again, bartering could leave you with a bargain that’ll make you think twice about heading straight to a soulless warehouse for your next homeware splurge.
