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If your chairs or sofas are looking a bit grubby, but you can’t bear (or afford) to replace them, it is worth considering a re-upholstery job – especially if the eagle-eyed in-laws are descending for Christmas. A specialist in this area, Plumbs Upholstery can give a no-obligation visit your home and recommend the type of upholstery best suited to your needs. For those families with kids or dogs, it can also make up loose covers, which can be removed and washed as and when you need. By choosing to keep and revive existing furniture, you are also doing your bit for the environment.

With over twenty years experience, Kathy Andon really knows her soft furnishings. Hand-making everything from curtains, blinds and pelmets to bed spreads, loose covers and more, her shop in Maida Vale is a real hive of industry. Roman blinds interlined with black out lining start from £135 and curtains lined and interlined from £65 per width. And until the end of November readers can benefit from 20 per cent discount on all curtain and blind orders.

A good quality rug can be expensive, so it’s always worth checking out the bargain or clearance pages of a few “rug” websites to get the best deals. That said, pickings are often slim, with dull colours and moth eaten corners a standard characteristic of the supposed “deals” on offer. Not so at Wovenground.com where a sister site, Budgetrugs.co.uk, has been set up selling quality and colourful clearance rugs at up to 50 per cent less.

This week: getting prepared for winter

• If you can’t afford new curtains this winter, add a look of luxury to tired fabrics with tasseled, chord, beaded or rope tiebacks – Collybrook.co.uk has an excellent selection.
• Arrange to have the chimney or flu cleaned. Blocked residue or birds' nests can disrupt ventilation and endanger your health.

Luxurious linen blankets and throws are great for windy days on the beach or long al fresco dinners, and LUMA has a truly top class collection – all naturally dyed and ethically produced. And, in order to make way for its Summer collection, LUMA is running a clearance on its Spring collection offering reductions of up to 40 per cent. The new Spring sale section launches on LUMA’s website today and it is offering Really useful readers an extra 10 per cent off across it’s entire range.

The only company in the UK certified by the Soil Association to produce a range of organic bedding products, Abaca makes mattresses entirely from natural materials, with a key component being organic Welsh wool. Naturally warm and fire resistant, wool has the added advantage of being much more organic and chemical-free than the cotton alternative; which can also have positive implications for your health, as well as the environment. Prices start from just £525 for a ‘Snowdon’ pocket sprung mattress.

Getting you prepared for the doubtless glacial conditions that will arrive in the not too distant future is the Glacier bedlinen range at VirginVieathome.com. Made from an extra fine cotton mix set with hand embroidered detail, and with a cool white and blue colour scheme, this is ideal for winter. It’s not too pricey either at just £28.50 for a single duvet cover and laundry bag, and £9 for a pillow case. You can also save yourself £10 when you buy a double duvet (£40) and two standard pillow cases.

Today’s answer to yesterday’s beanbag, the newly launched LoJo is both portable, flexible and, above all, a comfortable seat. When zipped, it forms a sphere shape, useful as a stool or footrest; when unzipped, it forms a stylish and contemporary lounge chair. The seat is filled with beans for comfort, whilst the back is sculpted to support your lower back, and there are a variety of different colours, fabrics and finishes to choose from. All designs are priced at £99 and are available online at Lojoball.com

The collection of art at Adila is reason enough to visit and buy from this well-presented website. The fact that it is all good value and fair trade is an added bonus. Combining ethical production with innovative design, it offers a small but perfectly formed range of art and accessories. Ten per cent of profits made from painting such as this example (£520) by Altaf Kramer are donated to Bowy House, a care home for children and babies diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, and throughout the month of September its African Mohair throws are reduced from £85 to £63.

An excellent example of what Fair Trade is really all about, Tearcraft works with 19 producers in ten countries including Bangladesh, Thailand and Peru. The idea is to give advice and assistance in costing, design, employment practice, production and marketing with the long-term goal being for producers to become self-sufficient businesses. In the mean time, we the consumers can snap up hand-crafted, elegant tables such as this Strawberry Table – a small shesham wood table with a glass gemstone art panel (£35) - with a clear conscience.

Don’t miss the House Couturier summer sale this month where a selection of its fabrics, furniture, cushions and curtains have been reduced to make way for new stock.  Crystal lamps in burgundy are down from £395 to £149, black silk shades from £248 to £125 and Burgundy cushions with crystal trim (pictured) reduced from £169 to just £88. The sale ends 31st August 2007 - not one to miss.

There are few prepared to scrimp on cost at the expense of comfort when it comes to their beds, so when Cologne & Cotton holds a sale, it’s well worth getting down there. Offering up to 50 per cent on selected items, you can snap up “Josephine” single sheets reduced from £35 to £28, “Sateen Dotty” pillowcases down from £12.50 to £8.95 and quilts such as this “Fleur Quilt” (handmade in Rajasthan, no less) for £39.95 instead of the usual £65. Quality, comfortable bedlinen -minimal damage to the bank account. The sale ends 5th August 2007.

With the British weather living up to its reputation this summer, snuggling up on the sofa with a DVD has never been so appealing – particularly when the thing you’re snuggling up  to  is this luxury Mongolian cashmere throw from BLACK. As part of a July promotion, BLACK is offering its Grey & Ivory basket weave throw and its Cream & Taupe throw for £119 instead of the usual £170. Great for the sofa, brilliant for the bed – and utter bliss as a travel blanket on those long haul flights.

There are few who can resist a good quality fabric, and even fewer that can pass up a fabric sale. Those nodding their heads in agreement should then make their way down to the Ian Mankin summer sale where a wide selection of its fabrics has been reduced by up to 50 per cent. Ticking 18 for example is down from £16.50 to £8.25 and don’t forget to check out the cushions and vintage fabrics which are down by a not-to-be-sniffed at 10 per cent. Sale ends 28th July 2007.

For a rug that is unique to you, as well as environmentally friendly, visit The Natural Rug Store. The first online rug store company in the UK to offer customers the facility to build bespoke rugs from scratch, its Rug Builder allows you to choose from a massive range of natural materials and colours, then have your rug bordered, piped or double bordered with cotton, leather, suede, wool, linen, tapestry, picallo and more – in whichever size you would like.

An independent family-run business, Knots has been working in the trade of rugs for three generations now, and offers a wide range of both traditional and contemporary styles. And to make way for its new and world exclusive Florence Broadhurst rugs, it is holding a massive sale with 10 per sent off everything in store, and savings of up to 40 per cent on a huge range of Missoni Home, Art Deco and plain modern rugs, as well as traditionals such as Persians, Kilims and hand-made silk and wool Tibetan rugs by Tashi Murik.

Watch out for the Roger Oates Clearance Room Sale starting this Saturday (23 June) where you can find up to 50 per cent off Wilton runners, 100 per cent wool flat weave rugs, fabric lengths and cushions. The discounted collection includes sample stock, remnant lengths and discontinued lines and represents exceptional savings. This Pisa Red runner is approx. 60cm wide and is reduced from £89 to just £45 per metre. The sale ends 7 July.

Wallace Sacks announces the start of its seasonal sale (1 July) and whopping discounts of up to 75 per cent off selected items.