1: Get snug with a rug
While you hate saying goodbye to the physical warmth of the summer months there is something equally appealing about layering the home with rich textures that will add visual warmth to surfaces and spaces. One of the easiest ways to add texture to a room, especially one with polished floorboards underfoot, is to lay a rug on top. CC Tapis is very modern rug company. French in origin, but designed in Milan and handmade in Nepal it has collaborated with numerous designers to create pieces that fill floors but are also artworks in their own right. It most recently partnered with Patricia Uruqiola, one of the most prolific designers of her generation, to present Slinky a range of chromatically beguiling colourful forms; Slinky Pinky, one that represents a swirl, to the left of shot, a cotton weave and Himalayan wool mix that starts from €2,405 for a 144 by 133cm size and Triple Slinky, a design that feature more concentric swirls. Made from the same composition prices for it start from €9,217 for a piece 223cm x 300cm in size. Both are available to order from Dún-Laoghaire-based Lost Weekend. lostweekend.ie
2: Scatter some cushions
The high street fashion chain River Island is the latest to enter the home arena and it has nailed some of the best value buys of the season with a selection of Mongolian lambskin scatter cushions. These come in circular and square shapes, 40cm wide, and two rectangular sizes, the larger, pictured here in mustard yellow, 90cm by 35cm, €107,and in colours that will lift the blackest of moods. Priced from €60-€107 the collection will be stocked in just three Irish stores, launching in Blanchardstown where it is due on Wednesday, September 26th. The stock then arrives into its Swords and Dundrum stores the week beginning, Monday, October 15th with a more exact date yet to be finalised. There isn't a dud one but the standout pieces include the round coral pink, €60, and the two ombre designs; the burgundy and red square, and the grey and blue rectangle shape, both €75. riverisland.ie
3: Echo your surroundings
Irma Orenstein is Tel Aviv-based architect and interior designer whose guest toilet, pictured, designed for a penthouse on the city's coastline reflects the coastal setting. The walls have been covered in layered glass design with a wave motif fabric sandwiched between them. Behind the voile curtain is a floor-to-ceiling view of Tel Aviv's promenade and the neon yellow sculpture, made of undulating Uran glass, brings in colour and more wave formations. The rose motif sink and vanity unit was fabricated using silver foil. You can achieve a similar effect using vinyl applied to the back of the glass, explains Jake Campbell, of Myra Glass. This custom work will cost from about €586 per square metre and includes polished edges but is ex installation and a €200 design and proofing of digital file fee. For an additional fee Myra Glass can also install. This weekend Orenstein's limited edition designs are on view at the Start art fair, which runs from today to Sunday, September 16th at the Saatchi Gallery, London. She is also a keynote speaker, at the Israeli Pavilion, at the London Design Biennale, running until September 23rd at Somerset House. myraglass.ie, irmaorenstein.com, londondesignbiennale.com
4: Go natural
A Tibetan sheepskin, artfully thrown over the back of a sofa, can really soften the clean lines of modernism and cosy up a space for the winter, especially if you team it with walls of a deep Hague blue, a dark muddy Farrow & Ball shade that has a lot of underlying green in it. This space on Dublin's Merrion Square, designed by Neil Burke Kennedy, also includes some talking point art, an oil painting in a gilt frame and a bust, sourced in an antique shop on Francis Street years ago and set on a plinth painted the same colour as the walls. The Le Corbusier-style sofa has on-trend blackened steel legs and is pictured in a caramel-coloured leather. It comes in two sizes; the two-seat, pictured, costs €2,800. The three-seat costs €3,500 from CA Design where you can also buy the matching chair, €2,250. The Tibetan sheepskin rug, €185, pictured in Arctic sunrise white but also available form the Ranelagh store in five other smoky shades from grey to mink to bog black. The Carla rug underfoot was sourced from TC Matthews, has a Greek key design and a two-inch cotton tape border. It comes in three designs and costs €160 per square yard, ex border edging. cadesign.ie, eu.farrow-ball.com, tcmatthews.ie
5: Choose some red-hot design
The Plissé electric kettle is a solid yet sexy piece of everyday kitchenalia. Designed by Italian architect Michele De Lucchi for Alessi, the man who also delivered the very Memphis-inspired and instantly recognisable Pulcina percolator, to the same firm. The design started with a folded piece of paper and is named after its distinctive folds. Available in four colours the kettle is made from thermoplastic resin and includes clever design features, such as a hidden cable in the base and filtered spout. It costs But what is really interesting in this shot is the stippled texture on the wall behind – it's a look that bring many readers out in hives as they recall Artex-like coverings on ceilings and walls in homes of the 1970s and 1980s and how difficult it was to remove or repair. Well it's back with hipsters keen to create signature patterns in their own abodes. You can also create this look using concrete. It costs from €73.55 on questodesign.com. alessi.com
6: Turn to nature
Taxidermy is a decoratively fresh way to layer textures. Doyles, a rather smartly decorated hostelry at the crossroads in Phibsboro, Dublin 7 has set some boxed specimens on one of its walls to great effect. Run by the Refresh Group, it bought theirs as a job lot on Done Deal but you can find some specimens at auction – Victor Mee's upcoming pub memorabilia auction in Cavan on September 19th might deliver some interesting finds but they do need thorough investigation to make sure they're neither mangy nor moth-ridden so don't buy online. If the moth-ridden latter you can still buy them but suggest you treat with Zero, a very effective but also very toxic clothes moth killer, that should not be inhaled. Ideally treat in the open and leave in a garage or some such outdoor space for a couple of days before bringing into the house. refreshgroup.ie, victormeeauctions.ie
7: Kick back in style
London-based Elnaz Namaki is a London-based design studio that really understands the term creature comfort. Its new furniture collection features deliciously tactile shearling or clipped sheepskin. The range includes a neat Eclipse sofa that has a wood frame and back and a bainin-coloured interior, a long Luuna stool, perfect for the end of the bed and Coy, a dining chair with a heart-shaped back that guest won't ever want to rise from but the real scene stealer is its Jolene armchair, a fat and cosy confection, 74cm by 82cm by 89cm, and Truffle ottoman, 40cm by 29cm by 30cm, both pictured in baby pink that is the perfect place to hibernate this winter. The chair costs about €4,200 while the stool is about €1,665, ex delivery. elnaznamaki.com
8: Tart up your trimmings
Passementerie is back so start by swagging your curtains using tassel tiebacks to keep them in place. Samuel & Sons, is one of the world's top trimmings palaces. It first set up shop in Manhattan but has several outlets now including at Chelsea Harbour in London. It launched a new range by LA and Paris-based Timothy Corrigan, a designer with Irish roots at Decorex, which runs until Wednesday. Pictured is Chevallerie tassel fringe 58297, about €111 per metre, and double tassel tieback 58298 in argent, about €612 each, by Timothy Corrigan at Samuel & Sons. It's a decorative trope that has fallen out of fashion but you can see it very well executed in the easy chairs the populate the lounge at Ashford Castle, where you can enjoy afternoon tea as a guest, and also in the guest bathrooms, where a tented roof is beautifully trimmed. These renovations some years back were overseen by Toni Tollman, head of the design team at Red Carnation Hotels, daughter of president and founder Beatrice Tollman and French architect Philippe Bonino. samuelandsons.com, timothy-corrigan.com, ashfordcastle.com
