Whether you just looking, searching for that missing side-table to complete your new look interior, or buying on a large scale, Bali is furniture heaven.

We have all seen the signs outside the shop fronts. The roadsides are full of them, advertising furniture products for wholesale, retail and export under various guises. Timor Gallery, Bali Antique, Lombok Primitive are all implying a treasure trove of exciting goodies within. Some of the stones are jumbled incoherent collection, of piled-high wooden odds and ends, while at the grander end of the scale, flash boutiques show off glamorous window dressings worthy of a film set. If you have the time and more importantly the patience, half the fun is in the hunting.

Where to start? Well for those who don't want to get their hands dirty, there are an increasing number of user-friendly, one-stop-shop showrooms, on the by-pass roads towards Sanur and Nusa Dua. These large, well lit, open-plan outlets take their lead from the giant mega stores popular in Europe, Australia and the States. They make shopping for furniture enjoyable and stress fee. Customers are free to browse, unhassled by overbearing staff, prices are fixed and clearly marked.

Try to to take a drive along the small back roads around Seminyak and Kerobokan, that have become the unofficial center for independently owned, dual purpose furniture factory or showrooms. This maze of small dusty roads, that twist and turn their way through the rice fields, is packed with disorderly, open fronted stores, packed to the rafters with a tangle of regular furniture, antique and curious alike.