You have a tab open on a sideboard that costs more than a little holiday. You have never seen it, never touched it, and the only evidence you have is a set of photographs that somebody was paid to make look good. The fear is specific: it arrives, the colour is not the colour, and now it is your problem to solve.
That fear is reasonable. It is also manageable. The difference between a listing you can trust and one you cannot is not how nice the photos are. It is how much checkable information sits behind them. Below are five checks you can run on any furniture listing in about ten minutes, ours included.
The short answer
You can’t always judge furniture from just photographs, so judge the listing instead.
Photographs are the one part of a listing that has been optimised to persuade you. Everything else on the page, the material name, the millimetres, the returns terms, is either specific or it is not, and that tells you more.
Run these five checks:
- Can you see the material in motion, in different lighting, unedited?
- Does the listing name the actual material, or use a general phrase instead?
- Are the dimensions given as numbers you can tape out on your own floor?
- Can you get a physical sample of the fabric or finish before you commit?
- What happens if you are wrong? Returns, warranty, and who pays the freight.
Four clear answers out of five and you are on solid ground. Two or three and you are gambling.
Check 1: can you see it move in real light?
Studio photography is not dishonest, but the lighting is controlled, the reflections are placed, and the colour is graded afterwards so a whole range looks consistent. A grey that reads warm and soft on a product page can read cold and blue in a south-facing room in July. Increasingly the image may not be a photograph at all, because CGI renders are now cheap enough to be everywhere, and a good one is hard to pick.
Video is harder to fake, which is why it is worth looking for. Three things tell you whether a clip is real:
- Is it one continuous take? Cuts every two seconds can mean the good half second of each angle was kept and the rest was not.
- Is it handheld? A slight wobble is a good sign. A perfectly smooth orbit around a piece is often a render.
- Does the light change as the camera moves? Real timber shifts as the angle changes. Grain catches, then goes flat, then catches again. A rendered or heavily graded surface tends to stay the same tone all the way round.
This is why we built the Unfiltered page. There are 13 clips on it and counting, each one filmed on an iPhone with no lighting rig, no stylist and no colour grade, showing real pieces in whatever light the room had that day. The backgrounds and the placement are not always flattering. We left those in on purpose.
Be clear about the limits, though. Video shows you how a surface behaves when the light moves, which a photo cannot. It cannot show you texture under your hand, and it was shot on a phone and is being viewed on yours, so treat the colour as indicative rather than exact. Unedited video is rare and it is useful, but it is not the same as standing in front of the piece. That is why we are committed to giving you as much of it as we can.
We are at the start of this. We are filming as we go, so the piece you are looking at may not have a clip yet. If you cannot find unfiltered video or photographs of something, ask us and we will get them to you as soon as we can.
Check 2: does the listing name the actual material?
Read the material line and ask whether it names a substance or describes an appearance. "Timber-look", "wood effect", "premium finish" and "engineered" tell you how something looks or how it was built, not what it is made of. If the listing does not say, ask before you order rather than after.
Here is the part that surprises people: a listing that says veneer plainly is a good sign. Veneer is a real timber surface over a stable substrate and it has genuine trade-offs, which is exactly why it is worth naming.
Here are ours, stated the same way they are on the product pages. The Cleo collection is walnut and natural ash veneer, with frames in gold, black or brushed stainless steel. The Kiama range is natural ash. The Oscar range is natural oak finished with Lucero natural oil, which is a penetrating oil rather than a lacquer, and that cuts both ways. Because the oil soaks in rather than sitting on top, a scratch or a water ring can be sanded back and re-oiled at home instead of going to a professional. The cost is upkeep: expect to re-oil every 6 to 12 months depending on how hard the piece is used. If nobody in your house is going to do that, an oiled finish is the wrong choice, and we would rather you knew that now.
Check 3: tape it out before you buy
Dimensions are the one thing on a product page you can verify yourself before spending a cent. Get masking tape, mark the actual footprint on your floor, and live with it for a day.
Then measure the route, not just the destination. Doorway width is the obvious one. The two that catch people are the diagonal clearance on a landing and the internal depth of a lift, which is almost always less than the door suggests.
Take these in mm and write them down before you shop.
| Piece | Measure this | What people forget |
|---|---|---|
| Sofa | Overall width, overall depth, seat height, seat depth, arm height | Diagonal depth for getting it through a doorway, and whether back cushions add depth beyond the listed figure |
| Dining table | Length, width or diameter, height, leg position | How far chairs need to pull out behind the table, and whether legs sit where someone's knees will go |
| Bookcase | Height, width, depth, shelf spacing | Whether a tall unit can be tilted upright in the room without hitting the ceiling, and skirting boards holding it off the wall |
| Bed | The frame footprint, not the mattress size | Headboard height under a window, and how much floor is left to walk on each side |
Our size chart and product information page has the figures for our pieces in one place, and there is more detail on finishes and care on the product information page.
Check 4: get a sample in your hand
A screen may not show you texture, and it may not show you undertone reliably. Two fabrics that look like the same oatmeal on a product page can turn out to be a warm beige and a cool grey once they are next to your floor and your walls.
So if samples are offered, take them. We send free fabric swatches and it costs you nothing but a few days. We are working on timber and veneer samples as well, because a fabric swatch does not help you judge a timber top, and we would rather solve that than pretend it is solved.
Check 5: know what happens if you are wrong
Assume you get it wrong. What then?
Answer four questions before you order, not after: how long you have to change your mind, whether the item must be unused and in its original packaging, who pays the return freight, and what the warranty actually covers. On large furniture, return freight is the one that hurts.
Ours, plainly: you have 30 days to change your mind, subject to the conditions in our refund policy, and our pieces carry a 2 year warranty, set out on the warranty information page. We ship Australia wide. Read both pages rather than taking our word for it, because with returns the conditions are the part that decides whether you are covered.
A worked example
Run the five checks on the Kiama 1.2m round dining table in natural ash and see how it scores.
- Material in motion? Yes. The clip above shows the ash top and grain in real light, unedited.
- Named material? Yes. Natural ash, stated on the page. Not "timber-look".
- Tapeable dimensions? Yes. A 1.2m diameter round top, so mark a 1,200mm circle on your floor and walk around it with a chair pulled out.
- Sample in hand? Partly. Swatches cover fabrics, so for a timber top the video is doing the work here.
- Wrong-decision cost? Stated. 30 days to change your mind and a 2 year warranty, both linked above. Check the conditions yourself before you order.
Four and a half out of five, and the honest gap is the timber sample. That is what the method is for. It gives you a score, not a yes.
Shop pieces you can see unfiltered
Everything below has an unedited clip on the Unfiltered page, filmed in real light with no grading.
- Kiama 1.2m round dining table, natural ash
- Cleo 3 tier bookcase, walnut with gold frame
- Oscar dining chair, natural oak
- Luna occasional armchair, natural
- Parco outdoor lounge chair, olive
If the piece you want is not on that list yet, ask us and we will film it for you.
FAQs
Is it safe to buy furniture online in Australia?
Generally yes, and Australian consumer law gives you rights regardless of what any policy says. The risk is rarely fraud. It is buying the wrong thing. Reduce it by checking the material is named, the dimensions are specific, and you have read the returns terms before you order.
How can I tell if furniture is good quality from photos?
You mostly cannot, which is why the listing matters more than the images. Look for a named material rather than a finish word, specific dimensions in millimetres, close-up video of the surface in daylight, and a warranty that states what it covers. Photographs are the least reliable part of the page.
Can I return furniture if it does not look like the photos?
Return terms vary, so read the policy before you order. Check how long you have, whether the item must be unused and packaged, and who pays the return freight, which on large furniture is the expensive part. Ours is 30 days, with the conditions set out in our refund policy.
How do I know what colour the timber actually is?
Look for unedited video in daylight rather than a styled photograph, because grain and tone shift as the light moves and a graded image flattens that out. Natural timber also changes over time. Ash tends to warm and yellow with age, so expect the piece to move slightly from day one.
Should I trust furniture photos that look like renders?
Treat them as illustrations of shape rather than evidence of finish. Renders are accurate about proportion and unreliable about colour, sheen and texture. If a listing has no real photograph or video of the actual piece, ask for one before you order.
What if there is no unfiltered video of the piece I want?
Ask us. We are still filming the range, so not every piece has a clip yet. If the one you are looking at does not, get in touch and we will send you unedited video or photographs of it in real light as soon as we can.
