Taste of the tropics: Inject some sun-saturated colour into your home

House Proud: Lemon lights, watermelon walls and parrot plates will cheer your interior

Watermelon Strawberry from Kendra Dandy's Bouffants & Broken Hearts collection. Photograph: Oliver Perrott
Watermelon Strawberry from Kendra Dandy's Bouffants & Broken Hearts collection. Photograph: Oliver Perrott

Inject some sun-saturated colour into your home to give it a taste of the tropics. Philadelphia-based illustrator Kendra Dandy, who has worked with sneaker firm Vans and Anthropologie, has also created a series of vibrant prints that you can order in various formats including canvasses, roller blinds and even ceramic tiles through UK-based Surface View. The photograph above show Watermelon Strawberry as a wallpaper mural, costing €45 per sq m ex-delivery, from her Bouffants & Broken Hearts collection. It’s a print that will visually cheer up the dullest of spaces. surfaceview.co.uk

Swing out, summer sister

Hammock by Carolyn Donnelly Eclectic for Dunnes Stores.
Hammock by Carolyn Donnelly Eclectic for Dunnes Stores.

Make like they do in the Caribbean and have a swing, outside or indoors, in this sun-washed green fringed hammock, €35, part of Carolyn Donnelly Eclectic’s high-summer range for Dunnes Stores. It also comes in a hanging chair option, in an oatmeal colour, for €60. dunnesstores.com

Print-tastic plates

Wanderlust tableware by Wedgwood.
Wanderlust tableware by Wedgwood.

Wanderlust is a range designed by Clarke & Clarke for Wedgwood. It features print-tastic 20cm wide plates that will work decoratively on walls as well as on tables at tea time. The golden parrot and lotus prints cost about €55 each from online store Amara, ex-delivery. Brown Thomas also stocks the golden parrot print, selling it for a more affordable €40, as well as lidded tea bowls, €95 each, bowls, €48 each, and teacup and saucer sets, €65 each. You can find the full range on Wedgwood’s own site, wedgwood.com; amara.com; brownthomas.com

Blind spots — and leaves and flowers

Made-to-measure blind by Blinds 2 Go.
Made-to-measure blind by Blinds 2 Go.

Set against a cool white linen background, this botanical motif of fanning leaves, blooming flowers and swaying grasses comes in a palette of fresh greens, teal, sunshine yellow, warm coral and royal purple, and is a simple but effective way to make a statement. The blinds are made to measure and cost from about €50 per sq m, and in light-filtering or blackout options. For example, a 100cm by 150cm drop with light-filtering option costs from about €181, ex-delivery, from blinds-2go.ie.

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Lemon lights

When life gives you lemons make lemonade with this citrus fruit battery-operated string of lights. Costing about €8.99, ex delivery from UK-based Lights 4 Fun you can hang the 1.35m-long clear cable indoors or outdoors where the timer function will give you six hours of illumination each evening. lights4fun.co.uk

Hot summer nights

A tropical duvet set from Penneys.
A tropical duvet set from Penneys.

Made using sustainable cotton Primark’s Cares duvet set comes in a cool palm prints and costs just €25 for the cotton polyester bedding. Also shown is a cream fan shaped candle, €3 each, and a set of two marble-look nesting side tables, €50. primark.com

Home Focus at Hickeys.
Home Focus at Hickeys.

The Forsteriana cotton/polyester duvet set will take you above the jungle canopy with a plain, tonal colour reverse that complements the elegant print. A double, including a pair of pillowcases costs €100 from Home Focus at Hickeys. homefocus.ie

Ozzie design house Kip & Co’s Bananarama print will add instant heat to a bedroom. In a double size the fitted sheet costs about €95; matching pair of pillowcases, about €43, and quilt cover about €131, ex delivery. kipandco.com.au

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If you’re looking for bold, bright and quintessentially Irish prints, check out the work Dotterson, a range of vibrant prints by illustrator and designer Sarah Patterson whose work is available to buy from April and the Bear. Available in both A4 and A3 sizes prices start from €15 for the former. aprilandthebear.com

Alanna Gallagher

Alanna Gallagher

Alanna Gallagher is a property journalist with The Irish Times