Design Solutions: Hairdresser Shane Boyd of The Natural Cut on Wicklow Street lives in one of three adjoining houses in Rathmines that were built about five years ago by Dermot Boyd, his architect brother.

Problem: Dermot lives in one of them and interior designer Deirdre Whelan lives in another.

The houses are similar in many ways but each owner was able to make various alternations at the time of building to suit their particular way of living.

An open-plan space on the first floor of each house acts as the living, dining and kitchen area.

Shane chose to keep his kitchen compact and keep everything in room quite low, in order to increase the sense of space.

He also didn't want a conventional dining area: "I don't like the idea of having a dining table set aside with eight chairs sitting around taking up space that wouldn't be used very often. But at the same time, if I had friends around, I wanted to be able to create enough space for eating."

So the question was how to incorporate a table that would be sufficient for Shane and his girlfriend to use day-to-day but which could also adapt for entertaining larger numbers.

Solution: The kitchen is galley style with a stainless steel topped island separating it from the rest of the room.

"We had a dining table custom made to fit into a small recess that was designed as part of the island," says Shane. "When it's just us, the table sits up against the island and into the recess.".

When they entertain, the table is pulled out so chairs can sit on the island side of the table and other guests can sit on low bench-cum-storage units that line the parallel wall.

"The benches were made by a guy called Alan Gallagher, who also made the table and kitchen units," says Shane.

"They're MDF-coated in blue Formica and weren't very expensive."

They run right across the wall and if turned upright, could be used as shelving.

The chairs were bought at Enclosure in Bray and have a little give, thanks to a bentwood seat that makes them more comfortable.

This isn't a particularly complicated solution, but it's one that works and if building an island unit, it mightn't be a bad idea to include even the smallest recess which makes for a neater look when resting a table against it.

Phone book:

Alan Gallagher 087 2265362 Enclosure 01 2765000