I'm amazed that this discussion has carried forward for nearly two years! In that time I have moved to another coastal area (cooler climate and better proximity to children) and this time found most of the discussion still rings true. Finding another home here was an incredibly frustrating journey made all the worse by a mad investor rush in the area just when we arrived to start our home search. That search took the best part of six months and in the end there would only be three or four houses to choose from in any week. Result? A rushed purchase, a desperately inadequate building inspection and failure on my part to notice poor bathroom tiling, shortage of closet and storage pace, just how small the lounge room really was, and etc. I disappointed myself because I had let the pressures beat me and now we are trying to resolve all of these issues in a home designed and built by one of this states most respected project home builders 25 years ago. Having now studied the floor plan with more care I realise it was put together (designed) in modular fashion - most bedrooms have similar dimensions and the living areas are all approximately the same size as if the designer simply juggled three boxes of one size and four of another size and then worked out traffic flow. Then he must have thrown them all in the air to see how they would land and that was design number two! And etc and so on. This house aside, we looked at a great many during the six months because we had to broaden our search above and below budget trying to find something. There were massive termite problems, leaky roofs, asbestos galore, gazzumping at every turn, almost all but the most expensive properties suffered at least one substantial fail for the most basic of needs and to top it off the best home in our price range just happened to be built on flood prone land - approved by council who put the flood signs up less than five years earlier. We live and learn. Then there were the real estate agents, but that would take another two years and I doubt the internet has enough free page space available!!! OK, I hear you, they're not ALL bad...

" How wonderful it is online that now we can all see what amazing ppl are creating. We always have had amazing ppl making such things, but usually reserved for family keepsakes, or nanas specialty. Put down the iPhone and pick up a craft I say!" ~mldesign0401 Indeed. I'm often gobsmacked at what people can do. And it's great to see the process in pictures. I do spend a lot more time looking at others creations the actually doing something myself! One of the traps of everything shared online. I do love seeing the creations that didn't go as planned too! So funny. It's great that people have the sense of humour to still share their "failures". At the end of the day, there's more benefit in the process of creating right? At least they had a go.

I have actually imported furniture myself without a freight forwarder/ shipping company a couple of times. it is fiddly but not impossible. I saved heaps if you don't count my time. And it was a bit of an adventure. It did give me an appreciation of the expenses importers have though and these shipping places (myUS etc) have to add their margin of course. so for anyone considering-anything timber has to have pest certification and that has to be within 3 weeks (I think) of arrival. Then the shippers in their wisdom had put the container on a timber pallet for which I didn't have a pest fumigation certificate so I had to pay $33 to have the pallet destroyed. But with a lot of family in rural/farming businesses I don't mind the strict quarantine. We are very lucky with our relatively clean produce. The customs people at the airport are very discouraging and keep telling you to use a freight forwarder etc (my stuff was already at Botany so no way), there were all sorts of odd fees etc (eg AQIS container fee $6), terminal fee. All sorts of things but it was fun and I saved a fortune, even after GST (I had to pay GST on the freight too, I guess as a 'service', which I wasn't expecting). Mind you the dollar was better then. It wouldn't be worth it for just a lamp but for more stuff...... But then if you were bringing in that much stuff maybe you wouldn't need to save the money. they also required that the invoice from the supplier of the furniture clearly showed what currency it was in. This was a hassle as I had just bought retail in the US. What currency do customs think a receipt/invoice from a shop in California shop would be in? But that's where the bureaucracy was frustrating. a final tip, the freight forwarders usually only include delivery to kerbside. They were even very unwilling just to help me get it into the garage (let alone down the steps/indoors) so you may need someone to help you receive the goods at home and get them at least out of the weather.

Not exactly the same but freedom have similar on sale from $199 to $129 https://www.freedom.com.au/furniture/dining-room/dining-chairs/26/23745407/franco-dining-chair?gclid=Cj0KCQiAmITRBRCSARIsAEOZmr7a4odo38PiNP8yKxU0tXmxGh0Vork1BNoDQ-hQt60Co-5D8gBSMNQaAqa1EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds