Anyone on the lookout for unusual, funky housewares will already be clued in to the TK Maxx factor. The homewares departments of these shops are an Aladdin’s cave of one-off pieces of furniture, tableware, bathroom accessories and – well, you never know what you’ll find, which is what TK Maxx is all about. From June, however, you’ll be able to browse to your heart’s content in Homesense: a shop the size of a TK Maxx, but all homewares and no clothes.
Along with TK Maxx, Homesense is part of TJX Companies Inc, a mammoth international off-price retailer with more than 3,600 shops in nine countries. Through a combination of canny buying and no-frills retailing it offers goods at up to 60 per cent less than the recommended retail price – a concept we’ve embraced wholeheartedly here in Ireland, where TK Maxx first opened its doors 20 years ago and now has 26 stores throughout the country. Two of the new Homesense shops are headed our way this summer, the first in the Westend Shopping Park in Blanchardstown, Dublin, on June 8th, followed by a shop in the Capitol development on Cork’s Grand Parade on June 15th. homesense.ie
AND RELAX One glance at this chair and you're there: out in the garden enjoying the long summer evenings, glass of freshly-squeezed fruit juice in hand. The Helsinki garden lounge chair, part of Meadows & Byrne's new outdoor collection, is made from natural oak and rope, with a detachable linen head cushion. It has two positions – upright for reading, relaxed for snoozing – and doesn't require a seat cushion. It comes in oak, white, grey or black and costs €195. Add in a three-legged Cali table for your drinks (large €44.95, small €34.95), a cashmere check throw for chillier moments (€120) and a Bugatti embroidered pouf for your feet (€79) and nothing – short of a full-on rainstorm – will induce you indoors again until the autumn. meadowsandbyrne.ie
FIND YOUR TYPE As wall decals become ever more philosophical, they just get harder and harder to live with. "Laugh a lot," they say, in their fey and wilfully curly way. "Respect one another." Or: "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." Time to strike back with some sharp words of your own, courtesy of the interiors shop April and the Bear. They're celebrating typology and creativity with vintage-style letter boards. Each has a gold frame and 286 white letters that you can mix and match until you come up with a delicious, daft or deadly combination. If inspiration isn't your object, how about a retro letter jigsaw with 150 pieces which, once assembled, can be placed in the frame provided, and wall mounted? The boards cost €60 and the jigsaws are €23. aprilandthebear.com
MOTH ATTACK Since the Brexit vote and the Trump triumph, scary news headlines have been an almost daily occurrence. But here's one to raise the hairs on the back of your neck: "Bumper spring for moths, says Rentokil." Oh yes. Small furry creatures, sneakily laying eggs in places unvisited by the vacuum cleaner over the winter, or munching on those T-shirts you shoved into the attic a couple of years ago and never got around to bagging up.
Ireland has a whopping 1,350 species of moth, most of them harmless and many of them with glorious names such as the Peach Blossom Moth, or the Grass Emerald. Just four species like to invade our houses: the Common Clothes Moth, the Brown House Moth, the White-Shouldered House Moth and – a really cheeky house invader, this – the Case-Bearing Clothes Moth.
How do you know if these critters have made your home into their home? Some indications, and I quote from Rentokil’s press release, “include adult moths (often crawling rather than flying); maggot-like larvae (moth caterpillars); the silken tubes of cases in which moth larvae live; and pupae (silk cocoons) in which larvae turn into moths.”
Needless to say Rentokil can sort this out in a jiffy, either through traditional insecticides or a non-toxic heat pod treatment. And they’ve been busy: according to their experts, the first three months of 2017 have seen an increase of 128 per cent in the number of moth infestations in homes and businesses. It may have something to do with the warm, humid weather earlier in the year. One way or another, it’s enough to inspire us all to dust off the vacuum cleaner and get in under that bed in the spare room – just in case. rentokil.ie
