The owners who bought 22 Ardagh Drive off Newtownpark Avenue in Blackrock about seven years ago, as an investment property, knew they had work to do on the two-bed semidetached bungalow.

They set about renovating and extending the house to make it rental-ready, more than doubling its size – to 170sq m (1,830sq ft) – and adding an upper floor with two additional bedrooms, both with en suites. The also added on a very large kitchen/living room to the rear, its pitched roof dotted with rooflights to bring in light from all angles. The house was a corporate family rental for the past few years.

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A porch to the front makes for a welcoming entrance and the house’s plain appearance was further improved by making the front windows larger. Inside they replaced all the interior doors with contemporary oak ones, installed underfloor heating and replaced windows.

Of the four bedrooms, two doubles are upstairs and their rear-facing dormer windows offer panoramic, if distant, sea views. The two downstairs bedrooms are smaller doubles – there’s one to the front and another which opens out to the back garden. There is a large shower room off the hallway.

There is a small living room to the front of the house off the newly widened hallway but most family living will be done in the extended area at the back. A small dining room opens out to the back garden and into the kitchen extension. If new owners don’t want the formality of a separate dining room – there is plenty of dining space in the kitchen extension – they could use this room as a playroom. These roads are full of families and this house likely to appeal to a young family trading up.

During the build the owners brought services including plumbing and electrics down to the end of the mature back garden and laid a concrete slab in preparation for a garden room, They never built that room but it’s all there for new owners if they wish.

There is a garage to the side and plenty of off-street parking.

22 Ardagh Drive is in walk-in condition. It is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €870,000.