People in glass houses . . . should paint them black

Design Solutions: Landscape designer Paul Keating lives on Wellington Road and unsurprisingly, considering his work, the garden is a very important part of his home. Eoin Lyons reports.

Problem: Which is why when it came to building a greenhouse at one end, he wanted the structure to fit quietly into the garden rather than stand out. The purpose of the greenhouse was not particularly to grow plants but to provide an extra room that Paul, who also paints and draws, could use as studio space. At the same time, whatever went up couldn't take away from the garden itself.

Solution: How Paul achieved this was to paint the wooden green house black. "I use black all the time in gardens and try to get other people to do so too, if I can get away with it," he says,. "The point is that the colour recedes."

As an example, he mentions that designer Laura Farrell of Scudding Clouds, with whom he often works, has painted one wall of her garden with black paint so that "it's like looking at a shadow".

The same idea applies to his glasshouse. "White is the traditional greenhouse colour but it's very dominant and comes towards you all the time. The darker an object is the more it drops away into the background so that you can see what you should see in a garden - the plants."

Ruhm Conservatories in Rathcoole, to whom Paul gives high recommendation, built the green house with double-glazing and a concrete floor.

"It was painted with a Sadolin black wood stain," says Paul, "Bondex also do something similar. It's a wood preservative that seals the timber rather than a paint that sits on the surface." The dark colour has worked well: "You can walk past and not notice it's there."

As if that's not enough, to screen it even further, bamboos were planted on one side that have now grown to about 12 feet high, creating a wall high above the glass windows. This is also a neighbour-friendly structure because as is often the case with such things, those in the houses on either side can also see what is erected in a city garden.

Now however, what is most visible are the white roses and white jasmine flowers that climb along the black wood - they appear graphic, sharp and elegant, a look which could not have been achieved had white paint been used.

Paul Keating, 087 2362414, Ruhm Conservatories 01 4589108.