Your home should be a pleasure, a space so uniquely yours that when you enter it you instantly feel comforted. However, for expats living abroad, home might just mean one in a series of rented apartments. But just because you don't own it doesn't mean you can't enjoy it, so for those itching to decorate their new digs or even do a complete renovation, Guangzhou offers plenty of ideas. From heavy traditional Chinese dark wood furniture to silly bean bags to minimalist light hangings, Guangzhou's furniture and home decoration shops and markets can please any taste.

1) Huang Pu Avenue
Huangpu Avenue (黄埔大道）is a good place to start looking. To the east, on Middle Huang Pu Avenue you'll find British home improvement specialists B&Q, with their Western-style warehouse superstore brimming with ideas for smartening up your place, from a coat of paint to new bathroom tiles to space-saving computer desks. Tools and handy things like spare locks, hinges, screws and bolts are also for sale. Not sure what you’re looking for? An army of B&Q staff are waiting to assist you. They also offer home delivery and installation for extra fees.

B&QView In Map
Add: 305 Middle Huang Pu Avenue, Tianhe District, Guangzhou
地址: 广州市天河区 黄埔大道中305号
Tel: 020 8552 8686
Website: http://www.bnq.com.cn/
Getting there: Metro Line 5 Keyun Lu Station. Buses Nos. 517, 518, 548, 550, or 562 to Chemical Factory station.

Sandwiched between B&Q and wholesale supermarket Metro is a two-level furniture mall called KinHom. Long corridors of furniture and room mock-ups are sure to give you some good ideas for your own living spaces. The third floor features whimsical children's bedsets and staid traditional Chinese furniture while the second floor has living room furniture and office must-haves.

2) Middle Huangpu Avenue and vicinity
Farther west, around 161 Middle Huang Pu Avenue, you'll find a strip of home furnishing stores across the avenue from the Carrefour supermarket. Including some foreign brands like Kohler, these seem to be higher-end shops, but any budget can come browse for ideas. Next to Carrefour there used to be another furniture mall, but sadly, this one has closed down.

Keep going down until Huang Pu Avenue changes names from Middle to West and you'll reach HomMart, a four-storey mall with airport-reminiscent architecture. Shops are conveniently arranged into categories and directional signs point the way to what you're looking for. If all of this home furnishings shopping is making you hungry, HomMart has a selection of restaurants on different levels, and if you're really beat, there's also a JinYi Cinema on the third floor.

HomMart (Wei Jia Si Plaza)View In Map
Add: 188 West Huangpu Dadao, Wei Jia Si Plaza, Tianhe District, Guangzhou
地址: 广州市天河区黄埔大道西188号维家思广场
Opening hours: 09:00-21:00

3) Outside Huangpu Avenue
Huang Pu Avenue of course isn't the only place you can find some great things to deck out your apartment or house. Near the Beijing Lu Shopping Street you'll find a host of lighting and decoration elements along Danan Lu (大南路）.  

West of Dongshan Park near the Haiyin Bridge, there are streets of fabric sellers who can outfit your place with curtains, drapes and upholstery. More furniture stores are centered around Dashatou Road (大沙头路), off of Donghu Lu (东湖路).

And also, no one wanting a chic urban space should forget worldwide-renowned Ikea, located near the Guangzhou Eastern Railway Station. Join scores of middle-class Guangzhou locals as they browse through bins of attractively-priced housewares or figure out just how that throw rug would look with their couch upholstery. The Swedish cafe on the second floor makes for a nice stop in the middle of the shopping spree. For an extra fee, Ikea workers can deliver and assemble your purchases in your home.

Ikea 宜家家居 View In Map
Add: 150-160, Lihe Middle Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou
地址: 广州市天河区林和中路 150-160 号
Tel: 4008002345
Opening hours: 10:00-22:00
Website: http://www.ikea.com/cn/en/store/guangzhou/
Getting there: Metro Line 1, Guangzhou Eastern Railway Station.

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