Award-winning interior stylist Lucy Gough, shares where to shop for your home in Sydney depending on what you’re looking for, how to make a day of it, tips for shopping like a stylist and much more.
As an interior stylist, I am always looking for the perfect item for a photoshoot, a private home or a creative project that I am working on. Sydney is brilliant for interiors shopping but the best stores aren’t gathered neatly in one place. Instead, the city is made up of distinct design pockets, each with its own personality.
One area might be perfect for beautiful investment furniture, while another is better for vintage treasure hunting, unusual ceramics or the finishing touches that give a home character.
Whether you are furnishing an entire house or simply looking for one wonderful lamp, these are some of my favourite Sydney precincts for interiors inspiration.
Surry Hills: for beautifully curated homewares
Surry Hills is one of the best places to spend a relaxed day browsing interiors. It has that lovely mixture of established design names, small independent stores, galleries, fashion and excellent places to stop for coffee or lunch.
Visit Maison Balzac for colourful glassware, tableware and home fragrance, then explore DEA store for carefully selected Japanese ceramics and handmade objects. The real joy of Surry Hills, however, is simply walking and seeing what you discover.
The area is particularly good for those smaller pieces that bring a room to life: a carafe for the dining table, an unusual candleholder, a ceramic bowl or a tiny object that adds personality to a shelf.
It is also where fellow stylist Jono Fleming and I begin our Sydney Styling Tours. Surry Hills is wonderfully walkable and allows us to visit a carefully chosen mix of stores while talking about how to shop, style and make more confident decisions for your own home.
Paddington and Woollahra: for polished Australian design
If you are looking for larger furniture, beautiful textiles or an investment piece, set aside an afternoon for Paddington and Woollahra.
Oxford Street is home to some of Australia’s most recognisable design brands. The beautiful Jardan showroom is worth visiting for Australian-made furniture, lighting and homewares, while MCM House is ideal if you love relaxed, sculptural furniture, natural textures and a warm neutral palette. For incredible scents for your home, check out Black Blaze candles and accessories. Nearby, the Tamsin Johnson showroom offers a wonderfully sophisticated combination of contemporary pieces, antiques, art and decorative objects.
Continue into Woollahra for galleries, antiques and Parterre, where European furniture, garden pieces and extraordinary vintage finds are displayed in a suitably beautiful setting and head to Piggott’s Store for colour, fun and Indian hand-block-printed fabrics.
This precinct is wonderful for training your eye; even if you aren’t planning to buy anything immediately. Look closely at the way the showrooms combine colours, materials and different furniture styles. There is always something to take away and reinterpret at home.
Alexandria, Waterloo and Rosebery: for serious furniture shopping
This part of Sydney is less about wandering between tiny boutiques and more about destination showrooms. It is particularly useful when you are searching for a sofa, dining table, outdoor furniture or another significant piece.
The expansive Coco Republic Alexandria showroom brings furniture, lighting, rugs and accessories together under one roof. It is a useful place to compare proportions and see how larger pieces feel in person.
For something with more age and individuality, visit Mitchell Road Antique & Design Centre. Its enormous warehouse is filled with furniture, artwork, lighting, records, collectables and wonderfully unpredictable vintage finds.
Rosebery is also home to The Vault Sydney, where antique, vintage and contemporary pieces are combined in beautifully styled settings. This is an excellent area to visit when you want to mix something old into a more contemporary home.
Few and Far is always a treasure trove of interiors pieces for your home sourced from all over the world- texture and pattern is their thing- and they are a favourite of mine!
Tip: Take measurements before you go, photograph the room you are shopping for and allow plenty of time. These are not five-minute shops.
Newtown and the Inner West: for vintage pieces with personality
Newtown is for people who enjoy the hunt. King Street and the surrounding Inner West are filled with secondhand shops, independent makers, vintage clothing, art and objects you are unlikely to find in a conventional furniture showroom.
Mid-century lovers should visit Vampt Vintage Design, whose Newtown showroom specialises in original furniture, lighting and decorative pieces sourced from Australia and around the world.
In nearby Marrickville, McMullin & Co offers a softer, contemporary collection of furniture, lighting and home accessories.
The Inner West is particularly good when a room feels too new or coordinated. An older chair, painting or lamp can immediately make a space feel more layered and personal.
My advice is not to shop with an overly rigid list here. Know the approximate dimensions you need, but stay open to finding something completely unexpected.
Potts Point and Rushcutters Bay: for antiques and decorative details
Potts Point is compact, elegant and ideal for hunting down smaller decorative pieces.
Potts Point Galleries brings together antiques, ceramics, glassware, jewellery, art and collectables from multiple dealers. It is the kind of place where you need to look in every cabinet and corner because the best find may be something very small.
Nearby Rushcutters Bay is home to Parterre’s outdoor showroom, making this a particularly useful stop if you are working on a courtyard, balcony or garden.
This area is lovely when you want to make a morning of it: browse for antiques and decorative pieces, stop for coffee and pay attention to the beautiful old apartment buildings along the way. Inspiration doesn’t only come from inside the shops.
Brookvale and Balgowlah: for relaxed Northern Beaches style
Sydney’s Northern Beaches have their own interiors personality: relaxed, natural and slightly less formal, but not limited to predictable coastal decorating.
In Brookvale, Tangerine & Teal is a destination for restored mid-century furniture, including pieces by well-known Australian makers. It is a brilliant place to look for timber furniture that will bring warmth and history to a room.
The new flagship King Furniture showroom in Balgowlah is another helpful stop for generous sofas, tonal upholstery and laid-back contemporary furniture.This part of Sydney is particularly good for rooms that need to feel comfortable and practical while still being beautifully considered.
A Few More Sydney Shopping Spots Worth the Trip
- Windsor: Visit Manor on George for beautiful vintage furniture, antique finds and unique decorative objects with plenty of personality.
- Avalon: Perfect for a lovely slow Sunday shop and a mooch around the village’s independent boutiques and homewares stores. Beachwood is a good place to begin.
- Auburn: The enormous Savers superstore is brilliant for some proper op-shopping fun, with clothing, books, homewares and unexpected secondhand treasures.
- Caringbah: Visit the Kerrie-Ann Jones showroom for a gorgeous, high-end edit of European mid-century furniture, contemporary art and beautifully curated objects.
- Glebe: Orient House is a two-storey treasure trove of one-of-a-kind furniture, architectural pieces, tribal art and decorative finds sourced from Africa, India, China, Bali and beyond.
How to shop like an interior stylist
Before heading out, take photographs and measurements of your room. It also helps to bring samples of any important colours or materials, such as fabric, paint or flooring.
Most importantly, don’t feel that everything needs to come from the same shop. The most interesting homes combine different sources, eras and price points. Look for one piece that solves a practical problem and another that simply makes you smile.
Sometimes the best purchase is not the object you planned to find, but the one that change the direction of the entire room.
Join us in Sydney
From Surry Hills homewares to Newtown vintage and Paddington’s polished showrooms, discover Sydney’s best interiors shopping precincts.
If you would like to explore Sydney’s interiors scene with two professional stylists, join Jono Fleming and myself (Lucy Gough) for a full-day Styling Tour through Surry Hills. The intimate experience includes seven inspiring stops, live demonstrations, a private home tour, lunch, and plenty of opportunities to ask us about your own styling dilemmas. Bring your photos or floorplans from home and we can help!
Discover Styling Tours or view the next Sydney tour and book tickets.
Join us in Tasmania
Join Jono and I for an inspiring three-day styling retreat through Hobart and beyond-filled with beautiful interiors, private home visits, curated shopping, hands-on masterclasses and memorable shared meals. It’s going to be an amazing few days!
Discover the Tasmania Styling Retreat and book your place.
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-Lucy Gough is a stylist, author of The Home Style Handbook (published in multiple languages) and founder of The Interior Styling School, where you can take her online courses. She was winner of the Better Homes & Gardens Best Stylist award for 2026.
