Eleanor Harris signed the lease on her shop 19 hours before flying off to France to return with a large container load of stock. So, she worked through the night painting the sales floor, choosing a design of large diamond shapes in white, beige and grey. "People walking by stopped to look at this person on her hands and knees, but I knew I had to have the floor done before I could bring my stock in. By dawn I was exhausted and I really don't know how I kept those lines so straight!" she says.
Maison et Jardin, in Greystones, Co Wicklow, opened this autumn, selling modern French ceramics, lamps, glass, wood, decorative tinware, pictures, ornaments, table ware, sculpture, and some furnishing fabrics. The accent is on accessories rather than on the big buys. "I am interested in the little touches you can make to create and improve the look of a room or a garden," says Eleanor. "I spent six months buying and I was dictated by shapes. I'm not a minimalist in that I don't think that less is best. I'm interested in how we mix to create a look, so that say, for instance, you inherit something from Great Aunt Matilda, you can still find a modern piece to put with it." A decorative artist by profession, she also bought with an eye to wholesaling to architects and interior designers. "I just look for pieces that I know are stylish as well as functional, that architects will go for. Within days of opening, a local designer came in and bought my entire stock of wall plaques.
"I'm also very interested in being accessible to the general public. Most things here cost between £4.95 and £80, so there is something for everyone. Beautiful things don't have to cost the earth." Pride of place as you come in the door goes to an eight-ft oval glass table which is for sale at £3,000. It is set with under platters made from wicker-like rattan, priced at £9.95 each. Given that dining plates become larger each season, these unusual table mats are designed to take such large dimensions. A smart five-piece cutlery set costs £42. Glassware includes lamps, vases, wine and dessert glasses, with prices ranging from £100 for a large prism-shaped heavy glass lamp to extremely pretty large glass dessert bowls at £8.75 each. Fashionable glazed and painted tinware is available as platters, under-platters and garden planter pots. Eleanor has filled the garden planters with her floral arrangement of creamy white paper roses, greenery and vivid red rose buds which she has dried herself. Prices are £54 for a small pot, £84 for a large one.
There is an abundance of small, decorative pieces to catch the eye. These include marble balls of various sizes and colours from £9.95 to £59.50, picture frames in tiger shell or banana leaf priced £30, a large selection of modestly priced candles and candle holders, and a narrow, elegant polished wooden horse for £24.15. Turning to fabrics, she has white organza tablecloths £74.95, cushions in earth colours including a cream-coloured cushion with brown buttoning priced £14.95 and soft felt throws in grey, black or aubergine, large enough to fit a single bed or three person couch, price £75. Eleanor Harris grew up with the family antique shop business, her mother currently has her own interior design shop in Normandy, so, Eleanor says, it was very natural for her to want a shop of her own.
She studied art history at the Courtald Institute, and work there as a picture researcher. Returning home, she spent two years with Clements and Moore, Decorative Artists. "I did everything, filling walls, working on a 30-foot scaffolding; painting the ceiling at Humewood Castle, Kiltegan; working at the K Club; exposed to some lovely things and seeing some seriously beautiful places that I would never otherwise have had a chance to experience. I learnt a lot about colour, and I suppose one of the most important things I learnt is about seeing a room, a look take shape, creating from the building site up." Everything in Maison et Jardin is for sale, including the French antiqued cupboards used as display cabinets. She imports these from Avignon, where they are made in deal and then given a distressed painted look. A single cupboard costs £995, the double £3,250.
