Cheap doesn't have to mean nasty. Eoin Lyons has some decorating ideas that won't break the bank.
LIVING ROOM
The second-hand sofas at Oxfam Home (Francis Street, Dublin 8, 01-4020555 and Bray, Co Wicklow, 01-28641736) look hideous - old-fashioned fabrics and dated shapes. But they're cheap and clean, and they tend to be in reasonable order. At the moment they have large sofas for €200 and three-piece suites for €175. If you buy one, do something to smarten it up. KA International (Blackrock, Co Dublin, 01-2782033 and Jervis Shopping Centre, Dublin 1, 01-8781052) has white cotton slip covers for €200. They are made from one piece of adjustable cloth that fit over the whole sofa. These are the best ready-made covers you can buy.
Alternatively, have the sofa slip-covered properly. Have covers made to go over the body of the sofa and over the cushions. Slip-covered furniture can look sloppy, like a badly tailored dress, so be sure you and the person making it are in tune with the look you want. Husband and wife team Muriel and Noel Rice (01-4935303), Town & Country in Cork (021-4501468) and Orla Carter (01-2980371) make slip covers to order. Carter will cover a sofa for from €240 for a one-piece cover and €320 for individual loose covers.
Upholsterer Paul Dempsey (087-6660064) can give a couch a facelift by restuffing it and recovering it in the traditional manner. This should cost about €350 for an average sofa. Nick Summers (01-8256132) also comes recommended. You'll need about eight metres of fabric to cover a sofa. Furnishing Distributors in Bray, Co Wicklow, (01-2765811) deals in high-quality fabrics such as those by Andrew Martin, but it is currently selling some old stock at discounted prices.
The Renaissance furniture store (01-8873809), which was once on Camden Street and now occupies the old Oman Antiques building on Capel Street, is the place to go for inexpensive copies of Persian and oriental rugs. Some are handmade, but most are machine made. A 1.82 x 1.52m (6 x 5ft) rug sells for from €150. We've seen one renaissance rug used successfully in an apartment: colours are rich, and it covers almost the entire livingroom floor, but it looks as if it cost a lot more than its €100 price tag. For contemporary rugs, Plush Interiors in Sligo (071-9154912) usually has a good selection of wool- and-acrylic rugs that start at less than €200 for large sizes.
B&Q is also worth a look for rugs: a 2.43 x 1.52m (8 x 5ft) good copy of a Persian-style rug costs €295 - it's acrylic, but you'd have to be down on your hands and knees to know. The spring furniture at Dunnes Stores includes a repeat of a sell-out from last summer: a nest of solid-wood tables (above left) at a very reasonable €100.
You sometimes see great old lamps at fairs and auctions. But what makes a good deal? Don't worry about the condition of the cord - anything you buy should be rewired by an electrican, so you know it is safe. Lamps from the 1960s and 1970s often offer character and good value. Add a dimmer switch: it will cost only about €20. Keep an eye out for light fixtures from old office buildings, such as desk lamps, or oversized hanging fixtures that might have been used in hotel or theatre lobbies - perfect for a hall or stairwell or even above a dining table. For new lighting, try B&Q: antique-look fixtures and 1930s styles for €30-€50.
PAINT
Good paint is expensive. Farrow & Ball, for example, costs €70 for five litres. Cheap, watery paint is never worth buying. A paint that doesn't cost quite as much as others, but still provides good quality and a decent colour range, is the General Paints Professional Range, at MRCB, 12-13 Cornmarket, Dublin 8 (01-6798755); Maynooth Road, Celbridge, Co Kildare (01-6303666); and Tramore Road, Waterford (051-351299). Five litres costs €40.
DINING ROOM
Sharon Dunne of the Linen Berry (01-6293094), an interiors shop in Maynooth, Co Kildare, suggests an easy way to rejuvenate old chairs. "Invest in a staple gun and recover them yourself. Most seats can be unscrewed from underneath the chair. Do this and cover the seat with your new fabric, using the staple gun to secure it, and then rescrew the seat. You should only need a metre and a half of fabric to do six chairs." Dunne has good- quality fabrics from €25 a metre.
To find dining chairs, go to one of the sales held every Thursday at 10am at Herman Wilkinson's auction rooms (01-4972245), near the town hall in Rathmines, Dublin 6. Odd dining chairs tend to sell very cheaply and can look great mixed around a table. Also try Buckley's, in Sandycove, Co Dublin, and Sheppards in Durrow, Co Laois. Town & Country on Ormond Quay, Dublin 7, (01-87283000) organises house sales that can be a happy hunting ground for dining tables and chairs (as well as any other furniture). Its next sale is at a house in Dublin 6 on Sunday, March 20th. Denis Drum in Malahide (01-8452819) also auctions house contents. At all sales, examine the piece you wish to buy and determine how much any repairs will cost. Remember that what you are looking for is inexpensive, solid furniture: you're not going to get a rococo masterpiece.
To make a cheap, sturdy dining table, buy two trestles from Habitat at €75 each. Then go to Woodworker's in Harold's Cross (01-4901968): it will cut a sheet of MDF to whatever size you need. Prices are from €27. Finally, throw some fabric across the whole thing.
CURTAINS
Interior designer Deirdre Danaher (087-2834272) suggests combining expensive fabric, used sparingly, with cheaper material, to make striking curtains. "Buy €12-per-metre natural Irish linen from Murphy Sheehy (01-6770316) and add a border of Mairo printed linen (left), available at Inreda on Camden Street, Dublin 2 (01-4760362). This fabric costs €59 per metre. The two linens co-ordinate perfectly, and to create an eight-inch border along the top of a curtain you need only buy one metre for a large window of four widths.
"Murphy Sheehy's oatmeal linen also looks superb with velvet trims, available from Hickey's Fabrics (01-4784769). My favourite combination is three rows of lime and olive velvet trim along the bottom of the curtain - very cheap and very smart."
If you can, have curtains interlined (have raw cotton padding put between the fabric and the ordinary lining). "It will make the curtains fuller-looking and drape better - it's better to go for a cheaper fabric and have it interlined," says Maeve Ward of Maison in Navan (046-9066226). For something readymade, Dunnes Stores has faux suede curtains in beige and chocolate for €50 a width (142 x 229cm). Perhaps not quite good enough for a principal room, but fine elsewhere. Unusual curtains can be created from inexpensive six-metre-long Indian saris, which can be bought in Market Arcade on South Great George's Street. The writer Colm Tóibín has curtains made from a rich blue sari with gold detail in the kitchen of his Dublin home.
KITCHEN
Spending a huge amount of money on a fitted kitchen isn't always necessary. Alan Gallagher (087-2265362) can make simple units that could end up looking far better and costing a lot less. He'll design something around your budget (MDF or wood), make it and install it himself. A very pleasant guy, we haven't come across a client who doesn't praise his work.
In her Rathmines home, property consultant Liz O'Kane came up with a cheaper alternative to the very large, but very expensive, US fridge-freezer. Behind panelled doors that match the rest of her kitchen units, she has two regular, full-size Whirlpool fridges. The doors are hinged so they open away from each other, like a cupboard. Each cost €500, and she has more storage space than a US fridge would offer, but she didn't have to spend €;2,500.
BATHROOM
Home Store & More in Tallaght, Co Dublin, (01-4610430) is great for low-cost bathroom accessories: a mirrored bathroom cabinet is €50; good-quality - but slightly imperfect - bath sheets are €8.95. For small areas that need to be tiled, Mosaic Assemblers (01-6765328) sells end-of-line mosaics from €25 a square metre. Also available are mixed boxes of mosaic for €40. The Glass Centre (01-4541711) in Inchicore, Dublin 8, sometimes has odd pieces of mirror it sells off very cheaply. Call around bathroom stores and see what's reduced: at Tile Savers (01-8552606) a very plain white suite - including bath, basin, taps and toilet - costs €400.
BEDROOM
Antique linen has two advantages: it can be cheaper to buy and has been softened with age. Two antique linen sheets sewn together can create the ultimate luxury duvet cover. Antique linen is prone to rip, however, so keep your toes covered. Find old linens at the antique fairs held at the Tara Towers hotel, in Booterstown, Co Dublin - one is taking place this weekend. Keep an eye on the Saturday antiques pages of this paper for other fairs. Jenny Vander on Drury Street in Dublin has white damask duvet covers from the 1950s; prices start at €68.
For a leather bed that isn't terribly expensive, Dunnes Stores (St Stephen's Green and Cornelscourt, Dublin, only) has them in chocolate-brown stitched hide at €550 for a double and €699 king-size (matching padded side tables are €200). The only downside to such a great price is that the bed seems a little low. This could be a plus in small apartments, however, where low furniture can make a room seem larger. In the Argos catalogue, look up the Monaco bed (below). It costs €390 for a double and has a padded headboard and sides. It's completely plain but has good proportions. Neither comes with a mattress, but Home Store on Jervis Street, Dublin 1, (01-8726728) has a good orthopaedic, non-allergenic one for €300.