Design SolutionsProblem: Daphne Daunt is an interior designer based in Cork who has decorated rooms at Ballymaloe and Cashel House in Co Galway.

Her home is a 19th century building and as is often the case with such buildings, there was difficulty finding somewhere to discreetly locate a cumbersome central heating boiler.

"There wasn't that much free space in the house and because it's a listed building, adding a small extension to house the boiler wasn't an option without going through the battle for planning permission," says Daphne.

"I didn't want to put it in the kitchen or utility room because that would have meant losing valuable living space."

Solution: In an upstairs guest bathroom, against an external wall, Daphne had a unit made to house the boiler.

"It combines three functions," she says, "hides the boiler, provides some hanging space and there's a heater in the plinth it rests on. The unit was going against the only wall in the room that could take a heater so this was a neat way to fit it in."

It sits near the floor, barely noticeable. The doors are panelled with the upper two panels left open and covered with chicken wire with voile behind it to allow air circulate, less the boiler overheat.

Daphne designed the unit and local joiner Noel Barry from Colyne, Co Cork put it together.

"The finish of his work is excellent. The doors are backed where they meet, which means they're hung inside the frame rather than on it.

"It's a traditional style with splayed corners - I do this when I'm getting cupboards made as it stops them looking like a square mammoth box and you don't really lose any storage space."

So the boiler is tucked away behind what looks like a decorative wardrobe, away from the kitchen and without the need to build an outhouse.

Daphne Daunt 021 4357891

Noel Barry 086 2446305