Fresh paint in shades of grey, artfully placed cushions on new sofas, beds that look never to have been slept in and unobjectionable pictures on the walls are a sure sign these days that the decorators have been in to spruce up a house for a sale.

And in the case of 39 Brighton Road the fact that the house has been vacant for several years is a further clue that this is a receiver’s sale. Driving into Brighton Road off Terenure Road east you can’t miss number 39 – it’s the first house on the right, one of a pair built around 1900 that are different from any others on the road.

They are grand two-storey over basement redbricks with timber trimmed bay windows jutting out from the hall floor and a front door up a very tall flight of granite steps. Turley Property Advisors are the agents now selling number 39, with an asking price of €1.35 million.

It’s difficult to think who this house is right for because its layout, after a major makeover some years ago, is peculiar. There are two bedrooms at the top of the house, both doubles and neither particularly large. The family bathroom is up here too at the front.

Down at garden level via the original staircase there are two further double bedrooms, one with a large en suite bathroom, the other with an en suite shower room. A smaller room downstairs is listed in the brochure as a fifth bedroom but the decorator has kitted it out as a small study which is probably more realistic.

It’s not usual in these type of houses for bedrooms to be down at garden level so that’s not the chief peculiarity in the layout. Instead that arrived with the double height glass box extension to the back and side.

The family kitchen, lined with cream gloss units, is in the return at hall-door level and the extension is built on here making space for a small dining table in a mezzanine area beside a new modern staircase leading down to a small seating area and the utility room.

It’s hard to know what the architect was thinking – and new owners will almost certainly change the layout, possibly knocking that glass box extension. The two reception rooms off the wide hall interconnect and the back room also benefits from a window in the gable, so it is bright. The front room has that lovely bay window. These rooms, while grand with lovely period details, are not as big as might be expected.

The site is at an angle along Harrison Row and there is a narrow 25m back garden. There is off street parking for four cars in the gravelled front garden.