19.06.2013 Joburg antique and second-hand furniture shops, Newlands

Having just moved into a completely unfurnished flat for the first time in our lives, we have had our work cut out filling it up beyond the small amount of furniture we had brought with us from Moscow. Once we had the essentials (such as a fridge - they don’t even come with a fridge here!) sorted, we then decided to head off on a second-hand hunt to find ourselves some good quality extras. 

The Newlands area of the city - and in particular the workshop lined Long Street - came highly recommended and certainly didn’t disappoint.

With a careful eye and some good bargaining you can get some great deals. Our ultimate bargain had to be this huge wicker chair which we got for just 200 Rand (about 15 pounds). With some effort we even managed to get it in the car too (although we did have to drive home with the rear window totally obscured).

Some of the shops (such as the guy who sold us the chair) are quite junky, whilst others are seriously posh and have some very fancy antiques. In between you can find all kinds of random bits of cool bric-a-brac such as old-fashioned tills, street signs, art deco crockery, old wooden chests, strange brass figurines and random animal skulls.

Everything in this 'kitchen' is for sale

There are also a handful of carpenter’s workshops where you can get all kinds of high quality furniture custom-made, from bar stools and shelves, to dining tables and bed heads. We picked up this sturdy Oregon pine bookshelf and a cupboard for the TV made by some guys in a workshop with the crazy name Cowboys and Angels. They even varnished it for us before they delivered it. You certainly don’t get that kind of stuff in Ikea.

Retro Noah, one of the workshops dealing in custom-made furniture

Books and shelves

How I got there: If you are headed to Newlands, you really need to go by car. It’s not well serviced by buses (Melville’s e-tuk tuk is probably your best option) and you will inevitably want to take lots of things away with you. Incidentally, delivery costs between 100 and 250 Rand depending on what is being delivered where.