Pre-war semi-detached houses in well-established areas are always much sought after as family homes, especially when they have been totally refurbished and are presented in walk-in condition.
Number 10 Glenayr Road, off Bushy Park Road in Terenure, Dublin 6, is such a house, on a quiet road of a dozen or so houses which were built in the 1930s. A four-bedroom house, it is expected to make £425,000-plus at auction through Sherry FitzGerald on September 22nd. The current owners moved in five years ago, when the house was pretty much in its original condition, and had some very attractive features to work with.
The house has a wide bright hall, large curved bay windows to the front and a feeling of spaciousness throughout.
First the couple did all the basics, including installing a new fitted kitchen and bathroom, and they built on a small, mostly glazed extension at the back, which makes for a spacious and particularly sunny eat-in kitchen. It has been fitted out with simple cream-coloured units and colour has been added by painting some of the cupboards a deep shade of blue. The floor is covered in terracotta tiles at the kitchen end and new maple flooring at the dining end. The original cream coloured Aga was reconditioned and it now separates the kitchen from another room, which was probably the original scullery, but is now a useful children's play area with access via double doors to the back garden. Also off the kitchen is a door opening in to the garage.
The good-sized reception rooms interconnect through sliding doors and there are French doors opening out from the back reception room.
Upstairs, there are four bedrooms, one small single, one large single and two spacious doubles. The main bedroom is particularly spacious as it benefits from having a large curved bay window.
The bathroom is small, but it has been nicely done with a maple floor and smart looking tiles.
To the front of the house is a standard-sized front garden; the back garden is particularly nice because it is long, maturely planted and bordered by tall old walls.
A useful, and indeed very fashionable, feature is the large wooden deck area just outside the kitchen.
A definite attraction for family-minded house hunters is that while this house is already spacious, there is still room to expand. Other houses in the road have expanded into the large attic, and the house's integrated garage offers further potential.
