Bargain hunter

Bright bathrooms

This Clichy Vanilla decorative tile is from the Spanish brand Vives available at Italian Tile and Stone Studio, 56 Terenure Road North, Dublin 6w (01-4924891tiles.ie) and is a fetching way to brighten up a feature wall in a bathroom. The range includes a plain relief design that starts at €40 per sq m and goes up to €180.

The Italian Tile and Stone Studio is offering Irish Times readers who present today’s column a reduction of 10 per cent, bringing the style (pictured above) down from €130 per sq m to €117. Offer ends Monday, June 30th.

Eiffel tower seating

Lift the look of your dining table with this contemporary Athena chair by Arketipo. Upholstered in Veliu fabric Bushell Interiors (01-6710044 bushellinteriors.com), 12 Heaney Ave, Park West, Dublin 12, is offering 20 per cent off the Eiffel tower legged seat to Irish Times readers who present today’s column. Normally €850 each, readers can buy them for €680 each. Offer ends June 12th.

Italian craftmanship

Unopia (unopiu.com) is a high-end Italian brand of beautifully designed pieces that can be used both indoors and outside. Award-winning garden designer Anne Hamilton, who runs Cork-based Fox Gardens (086-3157114 foxgardens.com), is offering 10 per cent off the entire range. Pictured is the Sedia dining chair available in coffee or blue colours, reduced from €587 to €519.50 and a Les Arc solid teak table, normally €2,866, reduced to €2,580. Price includes shipping from Italy. Offer ends June 12th.

Parisian dining

Create a decadent boudoir with the Marianne range of 100 per cent cotton percale, 200 thread count, jacquard weave bedlinen by Christy, now half price at Kilkenny-based Meubles Furniture (056-7722034 meublesfurniture.com). A double duvet is reduced from €160 to €80, a pair of ribbon trim Oxford pillows is down from €60 to €30, the matching bedspread was €300 and is now €150, and the cushions are reduced from €35 to €17.50 each. You could splash out and also invest in their 16-piece Parisian dinner set by Mindy Browne, down 17 per cent from €150 to €124.99. Get a load With water charges looming, clothes laundering will come under more scrutiny. Siemens iQ 300 is a highly-efficient washing machine that uses about 40 litres of water per average wash. Its water management system features sensor-controlled wash programmes to determine the most efficient use of water and has a detergent overdose display. The 8kg load machine has a 1400 spin and normally sells for €499. Dominic Smith Electrical (dominicsmithelectrical.ie) has the model at a special limited launch offer price of €399, a saving of 20 per cent.

Trending . . . Naughty new distressed look

Annie Sloan, the woman who gave the world chalk paint, has developed a new treatment for furniture. She calls it frottage, and it involves the layering of paint colours on to wood, rubbing in one layer of colour before it is completely dry to give the finished article a distressed, layered colour that brings a “distinctive ageing process to any surface”. It’s a look that is popular in Swedish country interiors. For more advice contact your local stockist, listed on the Annie Sloan website (anniesloan.com). One litre costs €23.

3 of the best ... picnic chic

Pick up a classic Bistro picnic basket with place settings for four at Avoca shops (avoca.ie). It contains a set of ceramic plates, stainless steel cutlery, cotton napkins, wine glasses, a bottle opener and a cooler compartment. Price €99.95.

This set-up, styled for Marks and Spencer (marksandspencer.ie) includes a nautically striped beach towel (€27), that you can underlay with an outdoor rug, in a chevron striped design, €54. The cushions cost €27 each.

Create a sense of occasion and break out the watermelon motif bunting (€2) and a matching fleece blanket (€5) and watermelon pillow – a fruity place to rest your head (€4). All at Tiger Stores (tiger-stores.ie).