Furnish me

Moving into your first home brings out the best in your family and friends. Many will offer to bequeath you all manner of furniture and furnishings. Don’t be afraid to politely decline, but this is one time when you should not look a gift horse in the mouth. An ugly piece of furniture may end up being incredibly useful. This writer still recalls a tired-looking but incredibly comfy one-armed sofa that fitted snugly into a corner of the sitting-room of her first home. Swathing it in a sheath of burgundy stretch wool mohair (this was cool in 2000) found in Murphy Sheehy made it look respectable.

Any offers of wooden furniture should be considered. A table and chairs can be given a really smart update with a lick of chalk paint that requires little or no prep work. Annie Sloan Chalk Paint is one of the most foolproof to use. It also comes in cool fashion colours.

You can find interestingly shaped furniture and accessories in places such as Ferocious Mingle Marcade, Dublin Flea Market and Dublin Merchants Indoor Market in East Wall, as well as auction rooms such as Herman Wilkinson in Rathmines and Buckley’s in Sandycove.

Websites such as DoneDeal and Adverts.ie cover every home-furnishing aspect from furniture to lighting and curtains and blinds. Jewellery designer Melissa Curry found some great mid-century tulip chairs by Eero Saarinen for "next to nothing" on DoneDeal. The site is also a favourite of interior designer Joanne Kelly of Think Contemporary, who furnished hip Portobello tea shop Wall & Keogh with pieces she found and upcycled.

The Upcycle Movement has an "inspiring ideas" category on its website that includes free wallpaper made from old Bunty and Mandy annuals, while Belfast-based ReFound Online makes works of art out of occasion pieces including side-tables and chairs.

Before you buy anything it is advisable to inspect it, cautions Kelly: “Check for woodworm and double-check measurements before handing over hard-earned cash. On such websites the adjective ‘antique’ is used liberally while ‘vintage’ is often used to describe a lot of tat that is just old.”

A new coat of paint can transform any space, says Neville Knott, colour consultant with Crown Paints and head of interior design at the Dublin Institute of Technology. “Colour is all about showing off your own personality, so making sure your colour choices reflect your own taste is crucial,” he says.

In a new home, take your time and get to know the space before making a splash with colour. For those living in a period house, painting old floorboards in a pale colour instead of replacing them will save you money and will bring a contemporary edge to the space and make it look and feel bigger and airier, says Knott.