If Instagram started making 3D houses, 11 Maxwell Square in Rathmines, Dublin 6, would be a perfect template. One of 14 homes built five years ago by Arx Developments on an infill site in a handy, settled neighbourhood, it's a semi-detached three-bed on three levels that flow seamlessly due to light-filled design by Extend architects, and the owners' inspired use of colour and furnishings.

It’s on the market for €725,000 through DNG, which sold the new houses in 2015.

The development, on the site of Winfield Motors, is located off Maxwell Road which connects, in a one-way curve, the Upper Rathmines Road to Frankfort Avenue. The tall houses' elegant exteriors feature powder-coated aluminium cladding, integrated garages and smart steel fixtures.

There’s a little green out the front, and a bench for children to chat on. Number 11 is tucked into the corner, and the cute planters on the wall by the front door flag the design flair within.

Airy feel

Floored in wide-plank wood and partly panelled, the hall leads into the wide kitchen-dining room, with glossy white units, integrated appliances, a feature brass tap on the quartz-topped island, and a low-key seating and eating space to the right.

The owners have turned most of the garage into an extra living room that has a separate door from the hall; it's a neat move that gives an airy feel. In these rooms, as all through the house, the paint colours really shine, as Farrow and Ball pinks, inks and off-whites are blended with imagination to both unify and open up the space.

Part of the garage was retained as storage for bikes and other necessities, but the treatment of the southwest-facing garden makes it feel like another extra room, with built-in seating along the green-clad walls and astroturf underfoot.

However, it’s not all form; the house functions flawlessly too, and every inch of the 112sq m (1,205sq ft) floorspace is used. Even the family dog has their own understairs burrow, beyond the bathroom. The paintwork up the stairs evokes a dado, and is a suitable backdrop for the owners’ art.

With the extra living space downstairs, this could be used as a fourth bedroom. At the front, across the landing and past a nifty shoe cupboard, is the main bedroom, with a hotel-swanky en suite and a dressing-table nook.

Stairwell sunshine

Skylights pour sunshine on the stairwells and into the main bathroom on the first floor, where there are two more beautifully appointed bedrooms with built-in wardrobes. More walk-in storage has been tucked into the plant room, which is the nerve centre of the property’s energy, water and heating systems that earn these houses an A3 BER rating.

There's a car-parking space outside, but other options include buses at the end of the road, two Luas stops close by and a newly fortified cycle lane through Rathmines. That village, and those of Rathgar, Terenure and Ranelagh – not to mention the city centre – are within walking distance and the range of local shops, parks, schools and amenities is impressive enough to understand this family's wish to stay within the area.

According to the Property Price Register, this house cost €502,203 new and since then the end-of-terrace at number 4 sold for €700,000 in 2018; a mid-terrace at number 3 made €640,000 in 2017.