Good buys around the country, by Eoin Lyons.
Word on the street ... A really good mattress can cost €700, but a decent one is less expensive than you might think. At Home Store on Jervis Street and Talbot Street in Dublin, prices start at €230 and reach €545 for a double. We've been hearing good things, too, about the orthopaedic, non-allergenic mattresses for about €300. They are said to be firm, thick and comfortable. Home Store, 6 Jervis Street, Dublin 1 (01-8726728) and 22 Talbot Street, Dublin 1 (01-8557791). A lemon tree is an original housewarming present. They are available from Mackey's Garden Centre, Castlepark Road, Sandycove, Co Dublin (01-2807385). They cost about €80 and a consignment recently arrived almost fully grown, if not fully ripened. John Rocha recommends Discount Electric on Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1 (01-8749666) as the place to buy electrical goods - something he did recently for his new home in Leeson Park: "You can get everything you need and they give a great service. We bought a cooker. They came and fitted it, but there was a problem. They replaced immediately. It's good to know that if anything goes wrong, they'll come back fast."
BANDON HOPE Bellissima, in Bandon, Co Cork was opened a year ago by Rosemary Jones, an interior designer who started her career with Kevin Kelly before setting off for the Netherlands, where she spent time as a furniture buyer. Back in Ireland, she's going after the upper end of the contemporary furniture market - those, she says, who "want something fabulous, but know they have to pay for it". Jones says some of her clients fly down from Dublin; she picks them up at Cork airport and they spend an afternoon at her 5,000 square-foot store. There, you can get many things under one roof: furniture, lamps, rugs and so on. The stock is set up in small room scenes, so you can see what works with what, and a terraced garden shows off outdoor furniture. Soft leather sofas with every seam saddle-stitched, for durability and a Hermès-style look, are big sellers. A two-and-a-half seater costs about €2,500. Jones also says side tables sell well, at €1,000 each. Bellissima, bypass road, Bandon, Co Cork (023-504740).
BIGGER AND BEAUTIFUL After some extension work, Helen Turkington has added a consultation room to her interior store in Dublin 6, where visitors can now browse fabric books from Cole & Son, Ralph Lauren and Colefax & Fowler. Also new is a whole wall of glassware (much of it by Alessi) and china (great chocolate colours) and bed and bath goods from The White Company. At the front of the shop is a bed and living room setting and if you're in the market for dining chairs, ask about The Dining Chair Company for some lovely 1930s styles. Turkington agrees with those who say flock wallpaper is coming around again but not necessarily in an old-fashioned style: she has Cole & Son beige coloured flock on a shiny mirrored paper that costs €150 per roll. Helen Turkington, Dunville Avenue, Ranelagh, Dublin 6 (01-4125138).
DESIGNER DUBLIN Design Week runs from Monday to next Saturday in Dublin, and furniture stores in the capital are organising small events in an effort to create a Design Trail. The idea is that you visit any of the participating stores, pick up a map and go off to visit another. Duff Tisdall (01-8558070), for example, is launching a new range of furniture at The Malthouse, 537 North Circular Road, Dublin 1 on Thursday at 5-8 p.m. (occasional tables, sofa table, and console tables in chrome, walnut and black granite), while on the same night Inreda, 71 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 1 (01-4760362) is holding a wine reception to show off a new line of sofas and storage units. Maps from these shops, or from: O'Driscoll Furniture, Lombard Street East; Haus, Temple Bar; Rua, Dún Laoghaire; and several shops on Cow's Lane, Temple Bar West.