Stepneys Restoration Centre

Weird and wonderful, would be great for last minute gifts and camera whoring infront of the many huge figures that litter the vast warehouses. Very fun to kill a bit of time here though don’t bring boyfriends who are easily tempted to buy and drag full sized animal casts into the car.

To visit this shop on a day when Today Tonight was filming in store says it all really.
When I think salvage I think pre-​used, worn, second hand and dirt cheap. Not overpriced, super sized and wogtastic. From plaster archways to gold lamps, iron outdoor gates through to claw foot bath tubs you can find some McMansion suitable furnishings here for more than you’d buy them in a De Lights or Bunnings.
And then of course this gigantic «salvage yard» houses their most prized possessions — the 8 life size Elvis’, robotic dinosaur collections and Blues Brothers car hanging from the roof. Hang on… what? I honestly don’t know how many financial transactions this place actually achieves but I would suspect the foot traffic of gawkers would outweigh sales 20 to 1. Unless of course you too have a spare $ 600‑2000 to spend adding that finishing touch of a moving T-​Rex into your lounge room with its 10m high ceiling, archway and marble floors. But who doesn’t I guess?

If I could do a one word review, it would simply be ‘dragon’.
If I could do a six word review, it would be ‘you can buy a freakin’ dragon’. Do you really need to know anything else? I know I don’t. Like Mario, I so badly want that bloody thing. I don’t know yet how I’m going to get it to my home several hundred kilometres away, but that’s a mere detail.
Seriously, you need to check this place out. The craftsmanship, the attention to detail, the pure, unadulterated awesomeness will blow you away. This is easily my favourite shop of it’s kind, anywhere.

From Egyptian Mummy cases to Victorian claw foot baths, Stepneys is riddled with random items. There’s even a rotunda set up in the middle of the shop which you can buy if you like, amidst the famous life size figures of people like Elvis and the swamp monster from that 50’s movie, although it could have been Michael Jackson.
If you press the button, Marylin’s dress will fly up and you can look at her pantaloons.
There are wardrobes here similar in likeness to that of The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them really did contain Narnia.
Stepneys is so cool, chuck the kids in the Snow dome and skip across the road for some browsing fun time.

Unilocal’s done it again. It’s made me discover something amazing.
I’ve been trying to stay away from the almighty five-​star review lately. We Unilocalerz can’t just be GIVING them away, now. But this place definitely deserves its rating.
Half of me thought this place was a sort of free museum. And even then I was impressed. When I realised you can actually BUY this stuff, I lost it. I wanted the dragon. I wanted that bloody dragon SO bad. I still do. But it isn’t cheap. I’ve legitimately started to save up for it, though. I don’t know where I’ll put it. I don’t care. I want it. And it WILL be mine.
Honestly, take some time out of your day to just have a peek inside this place. You’ll be amazed — just as I was — that an establishment like this exists in Adelaide. It’s fantastic.

You have to see the inside of Stepneys Restoration centre to fully appreciate the amazing world of restoration. You need to replace one of those plaster roses on your ceiling? Go check out their range. Are you looking for a life sized Marylin Monroe to place in your lounge room? Possibly you would like some fancy light fittings or furniture that looks old but is recently constructed — or (get this) maybe you need a medium sized dragon to put under the back yard veranda? You will find it and a whole lot more at Stepneys and you will feel like you somehow have wandered into an amazing house full of the most extraordinary stuff.
I almost feel like you need to pay admission into the place it is so filled with entertaining items along with all the door handles you could want to select from and all of the doors or screen doors you’d care to check out.
Have a look through the happy snaps that I took while I was there and you will get a superficial taste of how much amazing stuff you can use in your home make over they have!