One Small Room

One Small Room, unusual name, moderately unusual shop. They’ll sell you something obscure, like a wooden cage for taking the cat to the vet, beautifully hand crafted at some stage; and they’ll wrap it for you.
There’s a collection of fabrics you can go through, books, furniture and what would once have been called curios I suspect. Most of it has a natural finish to it, and it’s almost all wood. It’s a lot to go through so if you like to browse this is a good place to do it.

What a lovely looking store, all light filled and summery like a berry cider or a floppy sun hat. I could see simply from the window display that this store would be out of my price range and yes, yes it was. Which is not to say I don’t think it’s worth the price tag, just that you’re not going to find many cheap gifts here.
They have lovely handmade Christmas decorations which are always a good Chrissie present, and beautiful crafts and stamps. The organic clothing though, looked a bit weird to me. Considering how stylish everything else is in the store, should they be selling clothes that look somewhat… dorky? Perhaps just stick with gifts and home wares, OSR.

One Small Room is kind of like wandering into a real life design blog like The Design Files or sfgirlbybay: an impeccably curated selection of retro home wares, left of field trinkets, décor books and design-​led fashion.
OSR has been around for about 8 years now, and in that time expanded from the eponymous single room to 3 and counting, all jam packed. The aesthetic leans more towards Scandi design: minimal and retro, lots of wooden pieces of the Eames persuasion, typography tote bags and the like. The bookshelves are small but complement the vibe: Meet me at Mikes, the Selby, the Design Files all had a showing on my last visit.
I also spotted some rare vintage ceramic ducks that my mum had been after for a while (thus earning me 173 awesome daughter points), and left with some adorable bespoke letterpress cards (plus a desire to redecorate my apartment.)
In all it’s a gorgeous, inspiring shop with a welcoming air, and another reason the Queen St area is definitely worth a visit on a lazy afternoon.

One Small Room began life in one small room! A street frontage shop selling second hand furniture with a Scandinavian, Eames era flavour which quickly flourished and became ever so popular. This was a turning point to the whole streetscape as other businesses took residence and it just evolved into what it is today, a funky, trendy, popular place to be in Elizabeth St Croydon, especially on a weekend.
OSR has optimised the space to feel and look like your living room at home, a place to test the chair or browse the pictures on the wall and it’s never a dull shop to be in as there is always something new and quirky to fill a vacant spot.
With so many things and so little space and evolution taking place OSR gradually expanded taking over the shop next door and then the door next to that one, I suppose you can call it three small rooms’ now but the theme still continues. A lot of items have a distinct Ikea-​esque feel but with quality and much more expensive to match. Mind you, OSR is not just about furniture it also has vintage clothing, fabric, lampshades and knick-​knacks plus always more. As long as they don’t bubble up and burst at the seams, the store will remain in the street for many years to come I’m sure, when you’re on a good thing stick to it.
Parking is on the street and I recommend you don’t leave the Jag there as it gets pretty squeezy, don’t want any nasty surprises. And also, many people have been confused in the past thinking OSR is on Queen St — which does have a better ring to it– but as you go over the Croydon train line it then becomes Elizabeth St and then trails off down the road.
Incidentally, the owner is also part developer of the Bowerbird Bazaar.