How to brief a room so the quote is right

Most people do not need another catalogue. They need a room to work: somewhere to eat, somewhere to put things away, one seat that is not a dining chair, and a clear number before anything is ordered. That is what this store is for.

Helen is an edit. The homepage still says eight pieces because that is the brief — two chairs, a table, storage that can take a plant, one small object that is not furniture. Extra seating and extra cabinets exist in the catalogue when a room is larger than a house dining room. They are quoted the same way. They are not a second shop.

The price on a product card is the starting retail in Australian dollars, GST inclusive. It is not a landed cost. Finish, quantity, lead time and freight change the figure. That is why most of the range is enquire-only. A checkout total you cannot stand behind is worse than no button.

The two chairs do different jobs. The Tennessee rattan dining chair ($299) is an open-weave rattan seat on a timber frame. It is the chair you use every night. Four of them make a table usable; six make a dinner. It is not sold as a boxed set — tell us the count. The Omega tub chair ($475) is a compact curved seat in a strong colour. It belongs at the end of a desk, or at the heads of the table if the room needs a pause that is not another side chair. It is not a lounge and it will not vanish against a beige wall. That is the point of it.

If you already own a table, say so. If you want the elm dining table from this range, say that too, with how many people you sit on a normal night — not the Christmas maximum. Quantity and access matter more than a second photograph.

Storage in this edit is Rhodes and Tempo, not a wall of random cupboards. The four-door Rhodes credenza is $999. The same bay with a planter box on top is $1,399. The two-door Rhodes with an open shelf and a planter is $1,299. Tempo sliding-door storage is $845. The planter versions exist so the cabinet still reads as part of the room when you put a plant on it. If you need a different bay count or a finish that is not on the card, ask — that is a normal enquiry, not a special project.

Two things on the site add to cart because they ship like parcels: the aqua crochet bucket hat ($119) and the OMsystem CPU tower holder ($85). Everything with a timber frame, a steel bay, or outdoor furniture is quoted. The Siesta box outdoor sofa is $479 before freight. The Willow reception sofas are in the catalogue for rooms that are actually waiting rooms — $5,675 back-to-back, $7,177 for the corner eight-seater. Do not treat those as living-room prices with free shipping.

An enquiry that we can answer in one reply contains five things. One: the piece or pieces, with a quantity — “four Tennessee chairs and the Rhodes credenza with planter,” not “some dining chairs.” Two: the room and how it is used (weekday dining, office meeting end, balcony). Three: the delivery suburb or city, and whether there is a lift, stairs, or a long carry. Freight is confirmed on the quote so it is not a surprise at the door. Four: any finish you already know you want, or a note that you need options. Five: whether this has to land by a date, or can wait on lead time.

You do not need an account to start that. You do not need a floor plan, though a rough width of the wall the cabinet sits on saves a round of mail. If something in the note is still undecided, say that plainly. A quote that pretends a decision has been made is how orders get reversed.

What you get back is availability, finish, lead time and a landed figure for that address. Status on our side moves from new to quoted; “quoted” does not mean the email has been opened, and it does not mean the order is placed. Nothing ships until you accept. We do not take a chair from pending to accepted in the same breath as the first reply.

If the eight pieces on the homepage do not cover the room, send the plan anyway. The point of a short edit is not to refuse the ninth thing. It is that someone is reading the note when you ask.