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How to do a sleepover in style and who will fix up your furniture

The DFS Avenue bed.

Arminta Wallace
Jill Nesbitt
Sat May 19 2018 - 06:00

Sleepover in style

Pack your PJs and shake out your slippers: the adult sleepover is trending big-time. After all, why should teenagers be allowed to wallow around in onesies while demolishing their own weight in unhealthy snacks, bingeing on Netflix and exchanging nuggets of gossip from the safety of a sleeping bag, while us older folks – when we want to chill out with friends – have to shout at each other in crowded bars and restaurants?

The folks at design company KLD created a pop-up sleepover at the Chocolate Factory for DFS to show how beautifully it can be done; to copy them, just follow these simple rules:

1. Choose the comfiest bed in the house – such as the DFS Avenue bed (€1,169), with its snuggly cushioned headboard.

2. Make sure you have plenty of seating – the DFS Trafalgar chair is perfect (€1,039) – then add multiple layers of soft accessories. A white organic cotton bed set from White & Green and a selection of soft wool cushions and throws from Foxford should do the trick.

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3. Pyjamas and slippers are compulsory, but whether they come from Penneys or from Susan Hunter makes no difference.

4. Stock the fridge with pink prosecco, fresh juices and a selection of retro sweeties.

4. Arm yourself with plentiful playlists and cheesy movies. And you’re good to go. Or should that be stay?

Furniture facelifts

Gosia Lipinska of Attic Bizou rescues and restores old pieces, from vintage suitcases to mid-century finds, often adding her love of geometric pattern. However, an old oak table from a client’s grandmother’s house is getting “just a very simple, sympathetic restoration”. Reupholstered Chesterfields get a quirky touch with bronze studs in various sizes in the armrests. A chandelier she fashioned out of wood scraps featured in a Barry’s tea ad.

Some clients give her pieces they can’t bear to bin, like a pair of chairs given to grandparents as a wedding present, which will be sold together.

“It’s beautiful, it’s fully functional – why would you throw it out?” she says of an old two-seater couch awaiting its turn.

Having completed a masters in the revitalising of post industrial buildings in Poland, Gosia came to Ireland on holiday 12 years ago and stayed. She works in one of the studios in the Chocolate Factory on King's Inn Street in Dublin. You can find vintage pieces from Art Deco dressing tables to antique wardrobes just across the road in Oxfam Home for Gosia to work on.

Sideboard from Attic Bizou.

Pictured is a sideboard stripped, painted and with the drawers covered in a transfer print including one of Gosia’s favourite music albums by Miles Davis. See www. atticandbizou@gmail.com or call: 087 320 9583.

Tweed on wheels

English country style hasn't been what it used to be since the flamboyant Belgian-born multi-millionaire and former hedge fund manager Pierre Lagrange bought one of London's most historic Savile Row tailors, Huntsman, in 2014. This week, a number of items from Lagrange's personal collection are to be sold at Sotheby's first "online-only lifestyle auction".

Customised Harley Davidson by Huntsman.

The sale offers a peek into the everyday life of a man who has some €300 million – plus some small change – to spend. Whether it's a custom-built Harley-Davidson motorbike with tweed saddlebags (guide price £35,000-£45,000), a vintage oak pool table fitted in Gregory Peck's personal Huntsman tweed (£15,000-£20,000) or a pair of bespoke 18-carat gold Givenchy cufflinks (£2,000-£3,000), these are toys for very wealthy boys indeed.

Lagrange is also selling his Marc Newson hourglass: blown from a single piece of glass and containing millions of tiny stainless steel spheres coated with gold and silver – it can be yours for anywhere upwards of £35,000. All lots for the Huntsman sale are on view at Sotheby's, New Bond Street, London, from May 22nd to 29th. See www. sothebys.com

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