All-time favorite discount home stores

My favorite home furnishing stores are The One and Zara Home, but sometimes I don't like their prices. So in an effort to create the look-for-less, I strike out to these discount shops. Sometimes it takes some digging and creativity, but other times the gems just pop right out!

Al Rawnaq - has branches on both C-Ring (essentially across the street from Al Ahli hospital - behind the KFC, you have to take an escalator downstairs to access the main store) or on Airport Road. I find the Airport Road store has more office supplies and crafty materials, while the C-Ring shop has more dishes and glassware. My favorite buys include: sparkly mosaic glass candle holder (28 QR), small silk bags that I use to wrap gifts in (.5 to 2 QR each), cut glass salad bowl (can't remember how much I paid, but it was cheap and beautiful). In addition to nice things, Rawnaq is a veritable treasure trove of the unusual. I have a bathroom door sign from there that says "Lanies" and one that says "Mans" - always garners a laugh or two.

The Daiso - Japan's Premier Discount Store - located in Hyatt Plaza above Homes R Us. Everything (well almost everything) is on sale for 7QR. What a steal! My favorite buys have included: small teapots with delicate bamboo painted on the side, greeting cards and post-it notes with hilarious misspellings, and small ceramic plant pots with lovely blue and green glazes that I use to hold pens on my desk and silverware in my kitchen.

Najma souq - not for the faint of heart. The Najma souq is a mixture of used junk, new fairly cheaply made furniture, and veritable treasures. The easiest way to get there is to go on C-Ring road towards the airport - turn left at the traffic lights by the Gulf Cinema. Go straight through the small R/A, and then turn right at the small traffic lights, take the first left, and then the first right. You will be smack dab in the middle of the Najma souq - to the right will be all the shops selling used and new furniture and to the left will be the carpenters and metal workers (who can make lovely things as well). My favorite three shops are right in a row at the end of the first street. They sell old TVs and washing machines, dinged up pictures, and broken telephones... But they have also sold me: an Iranian silk rug with the "door design" that is in exceptional shape for 500 QR, an Indian wood dresser with inlaid mother-of-pearl for 250 QR, and an antique Qatari brass coffee pot for 40 QR. Friends I've taken there have gotten a dining room table and chairs, a 6 ft. long mirror, and a walnut cabinet. The other nice thing about Najma is that you can sell them your household goods if you are moving or want to redecorate, a good way to get rid of the leftover bits after a moving or rummage sale. Bargain hard as they try to get it off you for cheap!

Framing Becomes an Obsession

My house is overflowing with framed pictures - I actually have some stacked in the spare bedroom closet that haven't yet found an empty spot on the wall.

This is all thanks to one shop: City Frames.

City Frames certainly isn't as upscale as Qatar Studio (located on Salwa Road, next to Decoration R/A), where for several hundred riyal you can have a picture elegantly framed. Nor will they give you any advice on what matte color to choose or what size of frame would look best on your tiny animal print from the Museum of Islamic Art. They will however, charge you next to nothing and do a very thorough and beautiful job of framing in one or two days.

Prices depend on what type of glass you get and what material the frame is made from, etc. I expect to spend about 70 QR on 1ft x 1.5ft picture (includes frame, matte, and non-glare glass).

The nicest thing about the shop, usually crowded with about four men who work there, is that they are incredibly willing to "re-do" anything you don't like. Once in awhile I don't like how the matte has turned out, or think the print looks off-kilter; they have no problem fixing anything and never charge extra.

I don't do street names well, but the easiest way to approach City Frames is from the Corniche. At the Museum of Islamic Art R/A (or Pouring Pots), turn into the Souq (the museum will be behind you). You will come to a small set of traffic lights (Mashreq Bank is on the left), go straight through the lights and City Frames is immediately on the right. Beware: Parking is really difficult to find - especially around the noon hour - if nothing is available in front of the shop, U-turn from the R/A and park across the street next to the banks.

A Sampling of My Favorite Places

As a long-time Doha resident I constantly answer the same questions:

"Where's that framing place you mentioned again?"

"Where can I buy canned pumpkin?"

"Where did you buy that clock with the Arabic numerals?"

"How long will it take me to drive to Sea Line?"

So in an attempt to catalog my favorite things about Doha, and answer the constantly reoccuring questions, I am starting this blog.