Style: Traditional home decor

I am pretty sure it is not just me who fantasizes about having a house or an appartment decked with everrrryyything traditional... from the window treatments to the table cloths, from your bed cloth to your Queen Sheba ceramic collection and to those small bowls aka Taba made from clay... to your pots and spoons. My heart melts with envy whenever I walk in to someone's house or a restaurant decorated with traditional pieces.

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So I often do research on google for vendors or retail stores that carry traditional household items. Sadly, my search often returns back with nothing relevant. Now and then, google surprises me with some cool sites. There is always a catch to it though. It is either the sale information is not available online, the vendor is somewhere on the other side of the world (meaning the shipping costs more than the item itself) or the prices of the items themselves cost you an arm, a leg and half. It makes shopping that much harder especially if you know the actual prices of the items in Ethiopia. Paying a hundred and some dollars for a scarf that only costs 35 birr (equivalent to 2 dollars and some change) doesn't really settle well.

For example: check out this madness I came across


This 'antique' stool, some of you might recognize it as 'Dooka' or 'Berchuma' or 'Kursi', is being retailed for a whoopin' $600.00 (10,034.13 birr) at africainfinite.com, an online retail store for antique African art-crafts... $600.00!!  ... good grief!! Add shipping to that and there goes a money that takes to decorate your entire living room from Ikea. I wouldn't mind paying a buck or two more if the piece had any historic value.. But even then... goddarnit!!  600 bucks for a dooka from somebody's momma's Kuchina? Straight up nonsense...

I haven't given up hope yet though. I am counting on St. George Interior decor and Art gallery   to open up their online store soon. I have a feeling they aren't going to be any cheaper either. But they carry these amazing pieces that I wouldn't mind starving for a week to own one if I have to.

And always there is a better alternative to all these. To buy the pieces in Ethiopia. You will have better selections and can negotiate the prices down to save money for the overweight or extra bag charge.



Do you know of any online vendors or stores that you recommend or used before?