Sales of the century

Classics

The minute you stop reading this, make straight for Haus in Crow Street, where classic pieces by some of the biggest names in furniture design this century have been marked down to levels that will make you blink in disbelief. The famous Le Corbusier chaise longue is down from £895 to £595. Charles Eames's Group Lounge Chair - a swivel chair with aluminium frame and black stitched hopsack seat - is down from £1,245 to £699. Most astonishing of all, there are a number of Alvar Aalto webbed dining chairs - black webbing on a birch frame - down from £285 to just £20. Also pretty stunning is Vico Magistretti's classic Atollo lamp - a big, 1960s-style table lamp with metal base and shade, down from £525 to £263.

Sofas

You'll have to move fast to capture any desirable sofas at hefty discounts. The Sofa Factory, for instance, is selling showroom pieces (over 100 of them) less 30 per cent and 50 per cent. Even though its sale started only last Saturday (January 9th), most will have been already snapped up.

A better bet, perhaps, may be to avail of special offers on made-to-order sofas: less dramatic savings, but you'll end up with exactly what you want. O'Hagan De- sign at Arnotts is offering the deep, square-ended and very contemporary Crack 503 sofa in the fabric of your choice at £1,060 instead of £1,178, with matching armchair at £465, down from £579. The big, squishy Kinsale sofa - a roomy two-seater - is down from £795 to £695, and there's the whole Crack leather range to choose from, with savings of around £100 on most sofas, bringing the two-seaters to well under £1,000.

Beds

An unbeatable buy in the sales: with 10-25 per cent off top quality made-to-order mattresses and bases, you risk nothing. Arnotts has some of the most generous discounts. On the King Koil Performa Contour chiropractor-endorsed beds, you can save anything from £100 on a three-ft bed (down to £459) to £230 on the six-ft version (now £949). In the less expensive Odearest Orthopaedic range, there is £100 or more off; and the King Koil three-ft guest bed, with a second pop-up single tucked underneath, is a great buy at £319 (was £389). For total indulgence, you might fall for the Sealy Ultra Lux Silken Elegance six-footer with drawers, down from £1,859 to £1,399. Clerys' discounts are a little lower on a broadly similar selection - except when it comes to children's beds. Here, Arnotts wins with £100-£150 off the Stompa multi-function timber bunk beds, and the JayBe sofa bunk in sturdy steel is down from £599 to £499.

Chairs/Tables

The snazziest chair around for kitchen or casual dining is the Rondo at Haus. In moulded plywood, lacquered bright blue or red or with a natural beech finish, it has a little round back, chrome legs and a great price - down from £89 to £45. Team a set with the Wow extending blue table, down from £595 to £395. Slightly more formal and also a great bargain are Habitat's Tulip chairs, with beech frames and upholstered seats and backs - down from £130 to just £66; slip covers are an optional extra at £10. Foko's smartest dining deal combines the Rialto extending dining table with cherrywood frame and glass top (down from £425 to £379) or wooden top (down from £545 to £459) with neat Isola chairs - also in cherry, with black leather seats, and reduced from £125 to £109. Useful to slot into a roomful of pale wood are Foko's chunky River chairs in beech, with velour seats in paintbox colours - down from £155 to £95.

Wardrobes

What is it about wardrobes that makes tempting ones so hard to find, sales or no sales? At least Brown Thomas is offering 15 per cent off its smart and solid-looking Deptich range in hand-waxed aspen wood, bringing a roomy two-door wardrobe down from £2,999 to £2,549. And there's an equally timeless and supremely elegant five-drawer chest to match, down from £1,699 to £1,444. At Arnotts, classic Celine mahogany wardrobes come with a similar reduction, bringing the three-door model down from £1,295 to £1,099 and the two-door down from £1.195 to £1,019.

Lights

Leading the way with discounts is Light Ltd, in Donnybrook, with a minimum of 20 per cent off all fittings, and some prices are cut by as much as 50 per cent. That means the best-selling item in this chic haven of modern lights, the Brilliant low-voltage halogen standard lamp, is now £61.60 instead of £77 in the black finish, and £71.20 rather than £89 in brass. Free-standing up-lighters - also popular because they suit so many settings, especially in tight apartment spaces - are £49.95. Light Plan in Fairview, another bright spot for contemporary lighting, has discounted all stock by 10-50 per cent. There's 20 per cent knocked off the minimalist Italian Lamiprogetti range (as seen on Beyond the Hall Door), and also off the steel and glass wall, floor and table lamps from French manufacturer Lucien Gau. Among the handful of striking lighting reductions at Habitat, look out for tall, cylindrical light bases in brushed steel - down from £45 to £31. Style addicts will appreciate the Ligne Roset Libris light, which doubles as a book end available, at Minima for £109, instead of £129.

Mirrors

Prices have been slashed by Foko on a range I've coveted all year. Magia mirrors look strikingly modern, with their wavyedged frames of brushed steel, and come in generous sizes - horizontal, vertical and square. The square one, down from £275 to £245, makes the most impact. At Minima, there's a 15 per cent reduction on the tall and handsome L'u mirror by Ligne Roset (and indeed all Ligne Roset furniture, too). Designed to lean against the wall, L'u has a cherrywood frame and in-built top light. A classy item, now £335. A more basic but still attractive vertical wall-leaning mirror is marked down in Habitat from £55 to £39.50. In traditional vein, Clerys has the kind of simple 4ft by 3ft gilt-framed, beveledged mirror that would look good almost anywhere, reduced from £210 to £160.

Kitchens

A 10 per cent discount doesn't usually set the pulse racing - but on an outlay as significant as the cost of a new kitchen, it could save you a stack of money. Until the end of January, Dundrum Kitchen Centre is offering 10 per cent off the cupboard content of all kitchens. That could mean a saving of around £500 on an Irish Shaker-style maple kitchen, or up to £2,000 on a luxury German one. Houseworks is offering from 7.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent off Siematic kitchens. Its display kitchens are on offer with discounts of up to 50 per cent.

Bathrooms

The place making the biggest sales splash is Elegant John in Rialto, with a 25 per cent discount on everything bought or ordered before January 31st. As this is one of the best sources of bathroom fittings in the country, it's an offer worth taking seriously. You'd save £1,000 on a top-of-the-range suite such as the Vernon Tutbury Medina, for instance - down from £3,900 to £2,900, accessories included.