Zara Home: What's Actually Worth It

Zara Home refreshes its collections at the pace of fashion: hundreds of references, a range that runs from the remarkable to the disposable. The honest sort, aisle by aisle.

What's worth it

The bed and table linen first: washed linen, decent percale, well-judged colours — at £50-100 a set, the comparison with specialist houses twice the price holds up. The ceramics and glassware next: textured tableware, thick blown glasses, often drawn in the current Mediterranean mood — it's the best style-to-price ratio in the shop. Finally, certain lights in natural fibres — rattan pendants, raffia shades — that echo the spirit of design-house pieces at a fifth of the price.

What isn't

The furniture, almost without exception: heavy panels, fragile joints, prices that graze the cost of real second-hand wood. A Zara Home console costs the price of a vintage Scandinavian desk which, unlike it, will hold its resale value. The synthetic-fibre rugs age badly; the candles and fragrances are priced on marketing alone.

The method

Zara Home works the way fast fashion wears well: for the textile and the accessory that get replaced, never for the structure. The vintage bed, the Zara Home linen — that way round, the equation works.

Spotted a look in store? Scan the room on Beyit to trace the original that inspired it — and decide with your eyes open.