The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

Located on Ahmed Heshmat Street in Zamalek, House & Garden is a charming furniture, gardening and interior design shop all in one. A blue post with small colourful wooden houses attached to its supposed branches indicates its location from the street, however one will have to dig through a cove of greenery, along a maze-like path to reach your final destination.

The shop instantly pleases the eye with generous bursts of colour; every section of the space is painted in a different bright colour and the outside area filled with plants for landscaping purposes feels like a secret garden.

Within the shop, there are a variety of items ranging from full-on furniture, such as dining tables and side chests, as well as accessories for the house that include lamps, flower pots, mirrors and even towels.

The overall style is clean-lined, earthy and cottage-quaint. Incorporating a lot of wood and basic colour schemes largely play into that image; the prominence of garden accessories also adds to the countryside feel. Small, locally painted flower pots go for 100LE, while small paintings of flowers ranged 1200LE-1500LE.

Lighting fixtures are aplenty, mostly with round lampshades made out of fabric; the designs are colourful and generally quite simple. A ceiling light with several dangling lamp shades goes for about 1200LE, while a larger but simpler one was priced at 600LE. Table lamps range at 150LE-250LE.

Larger furniture items are not largely on display, however, a dining table available at the time of our visit stood for 6000LE, while a banquette carried a price tag of 2900LE. House & Garden also carries a lot of other items such as mugs (50LE), teacup sets (300LE) and bags (180LE), as well as handmade notebooks and pouches. Handmade leather wallets, designed by the shop’s assistant, go for 80LE.

House & Garden also carry a selection of items by Ikea. Blankets (190LE), lanterns, pots with artificial flowers (50LE) and candle holders (120LE), are all available by the Swedish brand.

The location is shared with George Hathout’s interior design and landscaping studio, and artist Mariam Hathout’s work is also featured there. The whole atmosphere is one of creativity and exudes an undeniable peacefulness.

If you’re looking for quality, simple home accessories, at reasonable prices – compared to other Zamalek shops – then House & Garden is a very promising place to start.