Bargain Hunter: Barbies, sofas, and the Ideal Home Show

Linen line for neat seating

This Argo two-seat sofa,100cm by 152cm, is neat enough to fit into small houses and apartments. Like the matching armchair, 93cm by 83cm, it has a striped linen seat with linen-covered button detailing and studding along the frame. The sofa normally costs €1,818 and the armchair €1,198 at Browsers (061-414490, browsers.ie), Upper William Street, Limerick, but until April 30th the shop is offering Irish Times readers who present today's column in the store, or mention it over the phone, 10 per cent off this range. Delivery costs €80.

Paving the way for collaboration

The Co Meath-based Kilsaran (01-8026300, kilsaran.ie) launches its second paving collaboration with designer Diarmuid Gavin at this weekend's Ideal Home Show (idealhome.ie), opening tomorrow at the RDS, Dublin. New ranges include Haddington, Quayside and Tie-Stone, ranging in price from €26 to €36 per square metre. Pictured is the classic Gavin-designed flagstone Old Priory, which emulates classic limestone slabs. Irish Times readers who present today's column at the Ideal Home Show can buy any of the paving ranges at a 10 per cent discount, meaning the circle below would cost €184 rather than the usual €205. Offer ends on Sunday.

Retro barbies, Memphis style

Add personality and colour to your outdoors with this retro Memphis barbecue, 114cm by 126cm by 45cm, at €449, and matching patio heater, also €449. The latter comes with an adjustable hood that allows you to tilt it to direct the heat as you want. They are available at Hearth and Home (hearthandhome.ie, 01-6206777), 2 Fonthill Retail Park, Dublin 22, and Irish Times readers who present today's column can purchase either or both less 15 per cent. Offer ends on April 30th.

Industrial furnishing for kids

Revolutionise the way you decorate kids' bedrooms with goods from Tolix, the well-known French metal-furniture company. The children's range, available at Santry-based Showtime (01-8162101, sho.ie) and on view this weekend at the Ideal Home Show in the RDS, Dublin, is a fresh way to get in on the industrial trend. The collection features an armchair, at €275; a pedestal table, €300; a bench, €199; a desk, €315; and a family-tree coat rack, €375. Best buy of all is the toy box, €310, a memento children can take with them into adulthood.

Present today’s column at the brand’s stand at the show and you can get 10 per cent off anything in the Tolix collection.

Cooks should check out the two Lacanche ranges on show, each to be significantly reduced on Sunday. A two-oven Citeaux, normally €15,165 will be selling for €11,950 while the Savigny, normally €9,700 will be going for €7,500.

Trending . . . rethinking materials

Cédric Ragot is one of Roche Bobois’s most prolific designers. The Frenchman injects a sense of humour into many of his pieces. For 2015, he’s launched Radian, a smart and textured side table that comes in a variety of coloured glaze bases and either an alternate-colour or metallic-finish top. Prices start from €650.

Also part of the new season's collection is a life-size bonsai tree, 26cm by 26cm, a motif that the designer has played with in the past. It is available in a white ceramic or gold finish, ideal for the not-so-green-fingered. It costs from €770 at Roche Bobois's Beacon South Quarter shop in Dublin 18 (01-6531650, roche-bobois.com).

Three of the best . . . Outdoor colours

Cork-manufactured Dulux Weathershield paint (weathershield.ie) has become synonymous with the colourful houses in Irish heritage towns such as Dingle and Kinsale. Try Overtly Olive, Nutmeg White, Heron Blue or the new colours designed to celebrate the paint's 60th birthday, Knock na Rí and Atlantic Way, each €38.99 for five litres.

Smooth masonry paint from Sandtex (sandtex.ie) comes in 30 soft versions of on-trend colours, such as slate grey, at about €49.99 for five litres in Cornmarket-based MRCB Paints (01-6798755, mrcb.ie) in Dublin. Create contrast on the front door with a hot mustard shade at about €10.60 for 750ml.

Little Greene has launched two new paint finishes, an exterior eggshell, at €28.50 for one litre, and an oil eggshell, at €33 for one litre, which, once primed, work perfectly to add colour to garden sheds, decking, furniture and railings. Each finish comes in all Little Greene’s great colours.