Al fresco style, pastoral pleasures and floral weaves

Sitting pretty this summer

Spruce up your outdoor space with some eye catching furniture. At EZ Living (0818-222272, ezlivingfurniture.ie) Como is a mid century modernist style set of two chairs and a glass-topped side table available in teal blue  or an lime green, reduced from €699 to €399. Felice is a mink-coloured dining table and four-chair set that is down from €1,299 to €749.

Present today’s column at any of the following stores: Airside Retail Park, Swords; Blanchardstown Retail Park, Blanchardstown; Carraroe Retail Park, Sligo; Breaffy Road, Castlebar, Co Mayo; Terryland Retail Park, Galway and the City East Retail Park or Tipperary Road shops in Limerick.

Irish Times readers can get an additional 20 per cent off, making the sets €319 and €599. Offer ends July 9th.

A better breakfast brew

The summer sale starts today at Powerscourt Townhouse-based Article Dublin (01-6799268, articledublin.com), winner of the best gifts/design/interiors category in last year's Irish Times Best Shops in Ireland. Treat yourself to a new cup for your breakfast brew. There's 30 per cent off Dutch brand Jansen and Co's espresso cup and saucer, down from €19.95 to €13.95; cappuccino cup and saucer, from €24.95 to €16.95; and tea cup and saucer or beefy mug, reduced from €17.50 to €12.25.

Pastoral pleasures

The Fabienne range of wallpapers and fabrics by Sanderson (sanderson-uk.com) captures the chic and covetable toile-inspired country look.

Carrick-on-Suir- based Aoki Interiors (051-614054 aokiinteriors.ie) is offering Irish Times readers who present today's column 10 per cent off the collection which includes this under-the-eaves Josette wallpaper, €72 per roll, and the Tilly check on the curtained cupboards which costs €66 per metre.

Offer ends July 31st.

Barbecue sets the steaks high

The Weber Genesis E330 is the kind of barbecue that will deliver steak house tasting slabs of meat and vegetables. The high spec cooker has three burners, a built-in thermometer and a sear station to get steaks crisp on the outside and perfect on the inside.

The porcelain enamelled cooking grates are easy to clean and it has storage underneath and a fuel gauge. Measuring 164cm by 152cm by 80m when open it can heat to 350 degrees and comes in three colours: crimson, (pictured), slate grey or black.

Normally priced at €1,750, Limerick-based A Room Outside (061-603686 aroomoutside.ie) is offering Irish Times readers who present today's column 14 per cent off (€1,500) until July 9th. Nationwide delivery, which includes full assembly, costs €65.

Trending . . . floral weaves

Ulster Weavers' (048-90329494 ulsterweavers.com) new floral range of kitchen accessories channels a 1950s housewife sensibility that looks striking when teamed with copper accent pieces and retro-style small appliances.

It includes an apron, €25.20; tea towel, €9.10; tea cosy, €16.80; and shopping bag, €25.20; as well as a double glove, €18.20, gauntlet, €16.80 and pot mitt, €10.50, when dinner is too hot to handle. Shop online or in the Kilkenny Shop's Nassau Street and Whitewater Newbridge stores.

Three of the best . . . Al fresco style

If you're picnicking on a blanket, you don't want your tipple to topple so opt for acrylic rather than glass receptacles. There is a wide range of substitute stemware available but this crystal cut collection by Koziol is one of the most authentic and includes high balls, about €6.40 each, tumblers, €5.60 each and pitcher, about €17,from UK-based Home Candy (0044-203 4173553 homecandy.com)

Minimise breakages outdoors by serving lunch on melamine tablewear. Take a leaf out of Marks and Spencer's summer catalogue (marksandspencer.ie) and team Indigo dinner plate, €5.50, side plate, €4.75, bowl, €5.50 and acrylic high ball tumblers, €5, with high-end napkins, €13 for a hemstitch design and €20 for a crochet bordered style.

Kate Spade's Grass is Greener picnic blanket is one of the summer's hottest purchases. Exclusive to Selfridges (Selfridges. com) in the UK where it is already sold out it can be bought on Amazon. com and Shopbop. com for about €40, ex delivery.