Quality control: The good deals to be made in home furnishing

Less is more. That should be the dictum of all home decorators. And not just fewer things, but better things.

Instead of filling the home with the cheap and cheerful, why not consider investing in quality pieces that appreciate in value? Thoughts immediately turn to artworks, but investing in art is a game for the well-informed, and well-heeled. For the contemporary home, there is no shortage of furniture and homeware which could also be termed art.

Think of furniture from the great architects and designers of the past century. Eames, Mies van der Rohe, Hans Wegner, Eero Saarinen, Isamu Noguchi, Alvar Aalto and Le Corbusier. While you might be lucky enough, and wealthy enough, to buy original Philippe Starck pieces, such as his Masters Chair or the Victoria Ghost Chair, you would pay a small fortune for an original Eames lounge chair and ottoman, or an original Eero Saarinen Tulip Table.

But you can buy replicas. Authentic replicas, as it were. Still not cheap - you could be looking at HK$1,500 or more for a replica Eric Pfeiffer Offi Mag Table, or HK$5,000 for a replica Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair. But you would be buying quality, and if you care diligently for your furniture, you would be looking at a healthy resale value a decade down the track.

You can even buy replicas of those light fittings which have gone on to become design classics, such as Poul Henningsen's Artichoke Light.