DesignSolutions: Problem: Bronagh Rowell opened the first Harriet's House interiors store 15 years ago and although still very much involved, her son Cormac now plays a big part managing and directing the business.

With premises on Dawson Street and in Blackrock, Harriet's House stocks small pieces of furniture, decorative items, prints and accessories for the home, both traditional and contemporary in style, as well as creating large scale interiors for clients at home and abroad.

Although he's married and long out of the family home, Cormac decorated some of the garden level rooms of his parent's house on Raglan Road. The house, incidentally, is featured in the current issue of the English magazine Homes & Gardens.

There are two bedrooms at this garden level - one of which is still used by Cormac's brother - and when renovating some years ago, it was decided to make the area self-contained.

"We wanted a kitchen and a bathroom alongside the bedrooms," says Cormac, "but the only area we could get these into was the return, which didn't give a lot of space.

The room at the return was divided in two with one side becoming a small galley style kitchen and the other a bathroom."

The original window in the external wall was now on the kitchen side. While there would of course be artificial light in the bathroom, Cormac also wanted to find a way to let in some natural light.

Solution: "There's nothing like natural light in a room, even if it's only a little or just being able to see something of the outside," says Cormac. The way to make the bathroom less box-like was to make some kind of opening in the wall between the two new rooms, opposite the window to the garden outside.

An old ship's brass porthole provided Cormac with the means to do just this.

"I bought it in an antiques shop on Francis Street. I don't know how true it is, but the guy told me it was from an old German U Boat. It was in a bad way so we had J&M Brassworks repair it."

The porthole was mounted onto the kitchen side of the wall after a hole of the same diameter was created, breaking through the two rooms. On the bathroom side, a circular brass edging was made to cover the opening.

"The porthole was raised high on the wall so unless you're very tall or stand on something, you can't see in from the kitchen.

"Now light can shine through to the bathroom but the two rooms are still very much separate."

Both the kitchen and bathroom side of the wall were clad in sheets of mirror to reflect light and make both spaces seem larger.

Apart from achieving this result, the porthole is an attractive, decorative thing in itself, and quite appropriate to it's location without relying too heavily on the clichéd nautical theme in a bathroom.

It's a masculine thing, too, and with one brother still in residence, it's just as well.

Brass ship portholes are particularly difficult to find, but try architectural salvage yards , antique shops or even the internet auction site ebay.com. Letting shops or dealers know that you're looking for one is your best bet.

Harriet's House, Dawson Street, D2, 01 6777077
30 Blackrock Shopping Centre, Co Dublin, 01 2884822