Design Solutions: Domini Kemp of Itsabagel and Feast Catering lives with her daughter in a house off Leeson Street that she bought a few years ago and has since extended and refurbished with the help of designer Laura Farrell.
PROBLEM: Like many who take on such a project, after completing the structural work and buying the main furnishings "you get to a stage where you just don't want to spend any more," says Domini. "Unexpected building work eats up so much money. I had to say stop and think about what I could do with the things I already had, revamping them rather than investing."
One such item was a sofa bed from Habitat that sits in her office on the first floor. "Everything goes on in this room - my daughter uses it as a playroom and has friends to sleep over.
"The sofa bed was five years old and a nasty colour - it had seen better days. I was debating giving it away but it's hard to get rid of these things."
SOLUTION: Recovering the outer fabric of the sofa made more sense than buying a new one. Domini bought the fabric from her designer for €100 (it's by a company called The Swedish Trade Council and called Haggastrand); it would normally have cost much more but was left over from another job.
She suggests this is a good way to get fabric cheaply for something small: "Ask fabric suppliers about discontinued lines or odd bits."
The next thing was to find someone to do the job: "Whoever was going to cover the sofa had to be clever because there was barely enough fabric. Finding a good upholsterer is becoming as hard as finding a builder but a guy called Paul Dempsey did some work for us in Itsabagel so I gave it to him to see what he could do. "A week later I got a call to say it was ready. I couldn't believe he did it so fast and so well. The whole thing was pulled tight, like giving it a facelift. It feels like a new couch. The amazing thing is that this cost €320 - that included picking up the sofa, doing the job and delivering it back and up the stairs".
WHERE TO GET . . . fabrics: Furnishing Distributors in Bray deal in high quality fabrics by Andrew Martin and others, supplying five-star hotels and embassies.
They have a large stock of end pieces that they are selling at discounted prices over the next few weeks to make storeroom space. Most fabric orders add 10 per cent to what is needed and these are what are known as end pieces. On jobs of 2000 metres, this percentage can be substantial.
Incidentally, it's nice to hear that Furnishing Distributors recently donated 25,000 metres of bed linen to the Chernobyl Children's Appeal.
Contact Furnishing Fabrics before visiting to make an appointment.
PHONE BOOK:
Paul Dempsey 087 6660064/01 6264557
The Swedish Trade Council 021 4823622
Furnishing Distributors 01 2765811
Laura Farrell, Scudding Clouds 01 4761004
