Happiness Place

HAPPINESS PLACE HAS PERMANENTLY CLOSED.

Florence Broadhurst meets Vivienne Westwood in this unique gift and homewares emporium down in Paddington's antique corner.

Giving new meaning to the word retail therapy, a few minutes in the interior of Happiness Place is guaranteed to chase away the blues and have a fair crack at the mean reds too.

For mother and daughter team Loralie and Stephanie have filled their worker's cottage with colour via an extraordinary eclectic collection of homewares, soft furnishings, jewellery, accessories, trinkets, artworks and cards sourced from Tennesee, New York, California, the UK and Oz.

Things to covet are the Mary Rose ceramic chandelier and Mad Hatter chic table setting and, from a Tennessee artist, relics of the Civil War such as soldier's berets that have been repurposed into jewellery, tapestry chairs as seen in Liberty's of London, hand blown glass vases and recycled vintage costume jewellery from Brooklyn. Roam out back and find a sunroom devoted to fabrics and soft furnishings as well as a small range of baby wear – soft cotton layettes and rompers from the USA and tiny highnies boxer shorts for little boys.

There's also stationery room with witty anti-Hallmark greeting cards from divorce to old age.