Wallflowers, colourful handles and industrial glamour

Wallflowers to brighten up a white wall

Freshen up the look of bare white walls with wall dots, tiny wall- mounted vases, 15.24cm by 2.54cm, €19.99 each, that can hold up to six blooms. Present today's column at Hook and Ladder (061-413778, hookandladder.ie), 7 Sarsfield Street, Limerick, and you can buy the vase, available in six colours: grey, moss green, orange, pink, sky blue or white less 20 per cent, for €15.99, while stocks last.

Handles with care

New handles can help remodel kitchen presses, chests of drawers and desks. Rifle through the selection at Rua Boutique (01 -874 8051 ruaboutique.ie), 55 Capel Street, Dublin 1, where it is offering Irish Times readers who present today's column 10 per cent off the entire collection which ranges in price from €3.50 for a Victorian-style knob to a metal key shape called boudoir, €6.95, and includes these summery swallows, €5.50 each, patinated to make them look like a flea market find. While stocks last.

Sit yourself down

Add a flash of industrial glamour to diningrooms or bedrooms with this replica of the Emeco US navy chair, a style that was first built for use on submarines in 1944. Normally €70, you can buy this metallic finish seat from online shop Zinzan (tel: 1800 989550, zinzan.ie) at Grand Canal Place, James's Street, Dublin 8, which is offering Irish Times readers who present today's column the chance to buy it less 10 per cent, for €63. Offer ends May 21st.

Loving the laminate

The Irish summer is at its best unreliable so get furniture that can be used indoors and out. The Adelaide from Bo Concept (boconcept.com) is a new range that features a selection of tables, including side and bar and moulded chairs, made of high pressurised white laminate. The design has a black core, eucalyptus legs and comes in black, white or grey. The dining table, 90cm by 75cm by 200cm, costs €1,429 while matching chair, 86cm by 45.5cm by 57.5cm, costs €219. Irish Times readers who present today's column can buy anything from this new outdoor range less 20 per cent. This offer is at the Beacon South Quarter store (01-293 2008), Sandyford, Dublin 18, and the concession section in Arnotts (01-804 5881), Henry Street, Dublin 1. Offer ends on May 17th.

Trending . . . decor retail

Two new independent shops in Dublin worth exploring are Seven Wood and Abode. Seven Wood (sevenwood.ie), 119 Main Street, Ranelagh, is a very browsable pop-up run by Niamh Banks, who used to head the buying department of Avoca homewares. Buy brightly coloured Sugary Rio salad bowls, €49 and matching serving plates, similarly priced, vintage furniture as well as cool parquet table tops that would also make a lovely textured kitchen countertop – all while sipping a latte in this shop which doubles as a café.

Abode is a new space in George's Street Arcade (tel: 01-675 1800) that opened in December and stocks brands such as Fatboy, Umbra, Bolsius melts, Zuiver furniture and Pylones. Run by Aidan Prior who has spent the last 10 years running a boutique hotel in Costa Rica, it is full of great gift ideas including geometric photoframes, from €16.99 and this magnetic map of the world, €55, with moveable arrows so you can plot your next escape.

Three of the best . . . outside in

Create an outdoor room that has some protection from the elements with a garden igloo, a geodesic design with a metal frame and a plastic cover that could be a playroom or part-time conservatory, about €814, ex delivery, from UK-based Occa Home (tel: 0044- 330 363 0330, Occa-home.co.uk). There is a separate and more open canvas cover that is more permeable, about €406.

On rainy days an artificial grass table runner will bring the picnic atmosphere indoors. This table runner looks like a strip of lawn and comes in three sizes; small, 40cm by 170cm, about €36; medium: 40cm by 190cm, about €41, and large, 40cm by 210cm, about €46, ex-delivery from UK-based retailer Not on the High Street (tel:01-431 9731, notonthehighstreet.com).

This kids teepee tent bed, 159cm by 215cm by 106cm, by Dutch company Woood, is constructed from solid pine in white veneer and is ideal for creating a sense of outdoor adventure every night. On those rare sunny days you can drag it outside to create a camp site. It costs about €551, from UK-based Cuckooland (0044 1305 231 231, cuckooland.co.uk).