It is evident the moment you walk into 126 Lower Kilmacud Road that its owners are not short on vision and taste. They are a young couple with three small children and have transformed this semi-detached house in the heart of Stillorgan into a magnificent family home, cleverly utilising every nook and cranny and adding aesthetic touches that lift the house way above the ordinary.
They built a superb rear extension several years ago, with double-pitched roof and roof lights, creating a wonderful, open-plan hub. More recently, they did another huge refurb job, converting the garage into a superb study/recreation room, adding a main bedroom and en suite above the garage, and converting the attic into a large guest bedroom with en suite and dormer window overlooking Sandyford and the Dublin mountains. The design was done with Kota Architects to ensure the highest standards were met.
They also pushed the living room out a metre to mirror the front of the converted garage, so the front now has a symmetrical look, with two magnificent bay windows bookending the wide front entrance with its fine, arched feature front door.
While they were at it, they redecorated every room in the house, bringing it all up to pristine standard, with interior designer Elizabeth Fingleton advising on the warm, rich colour schemes.
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Now, having created a spacious five-bedroom family home of 220sq m (2,368sq ft), almost doubling the floor space of the original house, the owners are looking towards their next home and are putting number 126 on the market with an asking price of €1.25 million.
To the front is a gravelled drive with parking space for three cars. The house is set well back from the busy Kilmacud Road, and the front windows have triple glazing, so traffic noise is not an issue. The entrance has mosaic tiles and recessed lighting and, in the hallway, the mosaic tiling gives way to solid oak herringbone floors, which run throughout the house, both upstairs and downstairs.
There’s a guest WC off the hall, and a large cloak and boot storage area, plus understairs storage. The converted garage has a bay window and lots of built-in shelving and drawers. You could possibly run a business from here, or let teenagers have the run of the place.
The living room on the other side has a matching bay window and a vertical radiator. Sliding pocket doors separate the living room from the kitchen/dining/living area, which is truly a showstopper, filled with light from the double-pitched roof and wide lift-and-slide doors leading out to the south-facing back garden. There’s room here for the fully fitted kitchen with large island unit, a lounge with wraparound sofas worthy of Gogglebox, and an enormous dining table.
The kitchen has no shortage of wall and floor units and has marble worktops and upstands and a dual Belfast sink. The island unit has granite worktops and breakfast bar seating, and there’s space for a fridge-freezer and all the integrated appliances to keep the home working super-efficiently. Even the underfloor heating can be controlled via an app on your phone.
And just to make life even easier for new owners, there is a large utility room off the kitchen, plumbed for a washing machine and dryer, with a dual sink unit, ample storage and more places to hang up coats. A roof light keeps it a bright working space, and there’s a handy door out to the back.
The private south-facing back garden has a patio area laid with Indian sandstone and the owners put down artificial grass to create the perfect play area for the kids. There is also handy pedestrian access to a laneway to the rear.
The new main bedroom on the first floor runs from front to back of the house, with a wide window providing a view to the back, and includes a fine walk-in wardrobe with floor-to-ceiling shelves and drawers, plus a large en suite looking out to the front. The en suite is just one example of the owners’ flair and imagination: his and hers sink units set into an antique writing desk, with taps mounted on the wall and storage below. The tiling is gorgeous marble from Miller Brothers.
There are three other good-sized bedrooms, one with feature fireplace and marble hearth, and a fine family bathroom with tiled floor, partially tiled walls, his-and-hers sinks with wall-mounted taps, heated towel rail and an encased bath.
Many attic conversions announce themselves with a narrow staircase winding up from the first floor; but not this one. The owners wanted to make the attic feel like part of the house, so they simply continued on from the main staircase, keeping it the same width, and with the same bannisters, ending in a lovely landing looking down to the first floor. The attic room itself is spacious, with a tall ceiling and a wide dormer window letting in lots of light. There is an en suite shower room on this level and to under-eave storage.
The location means you are within walking distance of the shops, restaurants and cinema in Stillorgan village, and just a short drive from Sandyford industrial estate. Dundrum Town Centre, UCD and the Airfield Estate are within easy reach, and the main bus routes run along Kilmacud Road and the nearby N11. There’s a choice of schools in the area and Kilmacud Crokes GAA is just a stroll away.
This property, with a Ber rating of B2, is on sale through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, seeking €1.25 million.
