Give your house a festive feel without cliches and without hassle. Eoin Lyons offers a few short-cuts and shopping tips
The Chester Beatty Library Gift Shop, Dublin Castle (01-4070750) If you want an exotic, non-traditional tree, the museum has papier mâché decorations from the north of India; fairies from South Africa and Thailand; and hand-carved wood figures from Italy and Russia. From €13.95. They're festive, but not in the usual red and green way.
The Drawing Room, Westbury Mall, Dublin 2 (01-6772083) For a Christmas tree decorated as a jewel, see the clear glass beads in crystal (€13) and dangling diamond drops made up of several pieces of glass (€6). For the mantle, small wire trees covered in glass beads (€15) - use two or three together. Full of glamour.
Dunnes Home The beautiful new shop on Dublin's South Great George's Street is the place for inexpensive tableware: bronze or gold platters (€4); gold candles wound in gold wire (€4); champagne glasses with red squiggle (€6). Get extra glasses and china here if you're catering for large numbers
Pia Bang Home (01-8883777) Her new shop in Dublin's South Anne Street has the cutest decorations, with a touch of Scandinavia - painted wooden toys such as fire engines and aeroplanes or elves and Santas made from canvas. The whole place is beautifully done in traditional style, and is full of covetable charming objects.
The Pen Corner, Dame Street (01-6793641) This may not be the first place you'd think of for decorations but it stocks festive, dressed-up dolls (€10) in 1950s eveningwear. They could be used almost anywhere for humorous effect. Some have gold wings; others sit on a cloud and play music - kitsch, but in a good way.
Jungle Flowers, Malahide and Rush (01-8454633) For some of the best wreaths around. Some are artificial and will have a long life; others are made from real flowers - they will deliver both. Also see their dancing-girl tree decorations.
Eve Home Accessories, Meridian Point, Greystones (01-2016358) Owner Eavan Sheehan makes original decorations, mostly in natural materials - for example, for the mantle or table, two little reindeer made from dried leaves (€35) and snowmen made from cardboard with fur around the neck (€13.50). Large wreaths made from twigs (€65) could be used inside as well as out.
SERVICES TO HELP YOU THROUGH CHRISTMAS
• Save time and effort by having someone else do your pre-Christmas cleaning blitz. There are many cleaning companies, but three that come recommended are Southside Contract and Carpet Cleaners (01-8879006), Hibernian Cleaning (01-4780433/4783000) and Octopus Cleaning (086-8312957). Southside and Hibernian are large-scale cleaners but employ good staff and are thorough and fast. Octopus, on the other hand, are a husband and wife team who will spend a day doing a complete blitz - washing windows, cleaning cooker, polishing fireplaces and so on.
• Have carpets and sofas protected against spillages. Fiber Seal (1800-789100) will treat against spills and stains such as red wine. Prices start at about €200 for a carpet, and the service is offered countrywide.
• With decorations and other Christmas paraphernalia in the house for the next month, get rid of as much junk as possible - rooms will look bigger and brighter. Ros Sparks (086-8137984) offers a de-cluttering service and, as a mother of three, organisation is her forte. She will tackle your attic, garage, under-stairs storage, kitchen or whole house. An hour-long briefing occurs the day before de-cluttering, then a skip arrives, and Ros divides everything into piles to keep, dump, give to charity and recycle. The process takes a day, at the end of which Ros removes the bundles. She discreet, too. "No-one wants anyone to know they're doing this - some wives don't even tell their husbands."