Mimosa, the interior shop beside the Montrose Hotel in Dublin is having a blitz this weekend with almost everything reduced in price by at least half.
Unlike many another shop owner feeling the economic pinch, Mimosa's Glenna Lynch is expanding with a new showroom adjoining the existing shop. The sale is to clear the way for new stock that has just arrived. A dark grey linen sofa in a traditional French, non-fussy style was selling for €2,760 and is now €1,380; a large contemporary sand colour sofa was priced at €4,900 and is now €1,900; a solid mahogany partner's desk that was €2,900 is now €900; French ceramic rise-and-fall double lights (for over a kitchen table or island) were €595 and are now selling for €295. In addition to selling high-quality furniture, Lynch will also oversee the total redecoration of homes. Mimosa, Cranford Centre, Montrose, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, 01-2602443.
Eoin Lyons
Domestique assistance
Need the name of a good lawyer on the Riviera? Someone to caretake your villa? Help in fitting out your new south of France home? An electrician? Maybe most of all, a plumber? Katherine McCrea Garnier (above), an Irish property consultant, can help. For the past year, she has run her own property troubleshooting business from Nice, helping property owners from Menton to Cannes sort out the issues, large and small, that can arise when you buy abroad. The Irishwoman, formerly Patrick Guilbaud's front-of-house manager, has lived in Nice on and off for more than a decade and has solid contacts in the building industry there.
Since she launched her service, she has helped a couple deal with a major flood just before final signing of contracts; identified the source of a mystery smell that was making it impossible for another couple to rent their apartment; helped another family pick up the pieces of an apartment refurb gone horribly wrong (damaged wiring, plumbing, more floods); and taken clients shopping for everything from curtains to kitchens.
She's bilingual of course, but also understands the nuances of how to get things done in another country. She has seen a lot of foreign buyers being shockingly ripped off by some locals who see them as easy prey. Buying a foreign property is the easy bit - Katherine is there to help with all the problems you didn't anticipate. You can contact her at 0033-674185137, 086-1523122 or ksgarnier@hotmail.com.
Frances O'Rourke
Face first
Facials are ten-a-penny nowadays . . . right? And how often have you left a spa or beauticians €100 or more poorer, feeling you have had nothing more than a damp cloth gently swiped across your tired and ailing visage? Sceptical, I recently tried out a new Ole Henriksen facial at the Spirit One Spa at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Galway. Henriksen is facialist to the stars, including Kylie Minogue, Renée Zellweger, Halle Barry and Ralph Fiennes. Only available up to now in London, or in Henriksen's spa in Hollywood, Spirit One Spa is now offering high-tech treatments using Henriksen's range of products. I had the Micro Mini peeling treatment, which involves several steps, including a skin analysis (very good - they were able to pinpoint where I had suffered sun damage on my face over the years), a brush exfoliation and vacuum suction to promote lymphatic drainage. I came away from this high-performance facial tingling, feeling like my face had been through a real workout . . . and looking five years younger. The Micro Mini treatment lasts an hour and 15 minutes and costs €120. Also on offer at Spirit One is the Ole Henriksen "Eight-Step Purifying Complexion Treatment" or the Ole Henriksen "Eight-Step Calmative Complexion Treatment" (both last an hour and 10 minutes and cost €105). The Radisson is a three-minute walk from the railway station, so why not make it a weekend-long facial affair?
Spirit One Spa, Radisson SAS Hotel, Lough Atalia Road, Galway, 091-538462, www.spiritonespa.com, www.radissonhotelgalway.com.
Miriam Donohoe
Wall to wall linen
The late Sybil Connolly used to say that pleated linen built her house in Merrion Square, where the walls of her reception rooms were lined with the material that made her name and her fortune. Now linen and silk wallpaper is a having a resurgence of popularity, and a stunning new range of coverings from the Stereo Collection by Jocelyn Angrave and Martyn Bennett shows how linen and silk fabrics give depth and texture to walls that no paint can achieve. Their slub and colour saturation change in changing light and Duff Tisdall, who stock the fabrics, have used samples to line some walls in their spacious showrooms in Taney Road, Goatstown. Prices start at about €110 per metre (double width) up to €180. For further information contact them at 01-2051119.
Deirdre McQuillan
Bring your brolly and dance
It was the most memorable photograph of the damp summer of 2007. Dublin's Sandymount Strand was a gleaming mirror under a clean blue sky. Umbrella-holding men, women and children were reflected in the salt water like a string of multi-coloured human bunting.
A second Umbrella Action Day is happening tomorrow, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos organisation, an alliance of 30 organisations calling on the Government to fulfil its emissions reduction promises. The creative brains behind the event, choreographer Muirne Bloomer (left) and her dancers will lead the crowd in an umbrella dance to the strains of the Beach Boys' Wouldn't it be Nice?
Bloomer, a dancer and choreographer, was raised in Sandymount. Her dance career took her to The Netherlands for four years until 1994, and since then she has made a living from her art at home. "You don't go into a career in dance thinking you'll buy a house in Sandymount. Throughout my career I've done teaching, and lots of choreography."
Her first large-scale public art event was the choreography of the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics, with David Bolger, the co-founder and artistic director of Coiscéim. She has also worked with Macnas on their summer parade. After the Special Olympics, she choreographed the opening ceremony of the Ryder Cup.
What Bloomer loved about the umbrella action day last summer was its sense of celebration. "It's a happy way to think about the environment and celebrate it, with the idea that you can make a difference just by your presence, by being there and enjoying it."
A few weeks after last year's event, Bloomer burst into tears in front of a bewildered Italian audience at the Venice Biennale. She had decided to retire from dancing and unknown to the audience the performance was to be her last. She has not ruled out dancing on stage again sometime. "But it's just that being a jobbing dancer is not possible. It's age, it's time. It's motherhood. [Her six- year-old son Eoin was the only boy in a sea of pink for his ballet class]. It was time to hang up the pointe shoes."
Umbrella Action Day takes place at Sandymount Strand, Dublin 4, tomorrow at 3pm. Don't forget your umbrella.
Catherine Cleary
Sensible tipples
Marks & Spencer recently launched a new range of low alcohol wines, under the M&S L%wer label. The red, white and rosé are made by harvesting grapes earlier, and have a natural alcohol level of 9.5 per cent. The wines come in handy 50cl bottles and contain five units of alcohol, perfect for two people to share, and still stay within sensible drinking recommendations of no more than two to three units for women, and three to four for men. The back label also has some handy guidance regarding alcohol consumption. All three wines cost €5.25 per 50cl bottle.
John Wilson
Sculpture garden to beam about
A selection of Liam O'Neill's wood sculptures, which he makes at his studio outside Spiddal, Co Galway, will be on exhibition in the walled garden beside the Steam Museum in Straffan, Co Kildare, from today until August 5th. His work has previously been shown in the wood surrounding Birr Castle to great effect and this garden provides another grand setting. The sculptor will be on the grounds at weekends during the show and it's a good excuse to have lunch or afternoon tea at nearby Barberstown Castle. Opening times 2-6 pm Wednesday to Sunday. Other times by appointment. See www.liamoneill.com
Patsey Murphy