Side order

WE all love to have beautiful things in our homes, but it really just takes one carefully chosen object, something we might call a conversation piece, to transform a room and have your friends talking, and it doesn’t have to cost the earth.

The design industry keeps churning out new products to tempt us into a spending spree, but bear in mind that it’s also nice just to muse on what’s new and give ourselves something to aspire to, or to inspire us.

Think about the sideboard, so beloved by 1960s and ‘70s designers who chased after the Danish design look. Nowadays the sideboard is back, big-time, and it’s not just new versions reflecting contemporary design trends. Authentic sideboards from the 1950’s, ‘60s and 70’s are hugely in demand. Next time you call to your auntie’s house, check out her G-Plan version which made her the envy of her friends and neighbours in the ‘70s, but by the time you sat up and took notice of furniture as anything other than a spot to sit and slob upon, these little retro treasures were decidedly out of fashion. Thankfully, the parsimony of an earlier generation meant most people hung on to theirs, not least because the quality of these sideboards is very good. Mass-produced on a small scale, of sorts, the materials used tended to be teak and mahogany, both of which are darn hard to come by these days.

There are still quite a few around, and most of the furniture-buying public either want antique or modern and haven’t quite cottoned on to the value, fiscal or aesthetic, of these mid-century modern beauties.

Similar sideboard treasures, but less of them around I’m afraid, were made by a Scottish company called McIntosh. A smaller company than G-Plan, and therefore churning out fewer pieces, their yummy sideboards made from teak and mahogany feature red baizelined cutlery drawers, and dinky little features like pull-out shelves in the drinks’ cupboard on which a James Bond-like sophisticate might once have stirred a martini. Expect to pay around €550 for a genuine McIntosh in great nick but less for a G-Plan as there are more of them around.

Of course, you will find G-Plans cropping up in second-hand furniture shops for less than €100 but, believe me, you will have to put many laborious hours into cleaning, sanding and oiling one to bring up the grain of the wood and to make it a piece you’ll want to have seen in your house.

Although its natural home is the dining room, the sideboard also makes a great spot for the TV using the cupboards and drawers for DVDs and other television related kit. If you prefer a cabinet for everyone to see your lovely dinner party sets of china and glassware, then a glass-fronted cabinet might be the right one for you. ¦ Next week it’s colour for summer