Just above the point where Lower Albert Road meets Sandycove village, number 80 is a double-fronted mid-terrace, with off-street parking for two or three cars ("it depends on how good you are at parking", the owner says). It's a particularly nice example of a housing type that gives character to the charming streets in this locality, but despite the elegance of the exterior, inside one would frequently expect a darkish, narrowish hallway and the usual layout of matching reception rooms on either side.
Instead, the owners, who have lived here for 15 years, did something a little radical: at the same time as opening up the back to extend it into a light and airy kitchen/livingroom/ dining space, they also pushed back the staircase and opened one of the front reception rooms so that a library area flows directly from the entrance hall to the right. You still get a cosy den on the left, so it’s a house that caters for all moods.
The owners love a project, and though remaining in the area, they are moving to take on another. In fact, they put number 80 on the market in 2011 with a price tag of €1.385 million, but as property buyers and banks were still in an anxious phase back then, it was withdrawn.
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Now, at €1.545 million with Sherry FitzGerald, what's on offer is a 232 sq m (2,500 sq ft) house that's in walk-in condition, combining period features with sleek Tiger-ish touches, such as polished travertine floors, and a huge Geba kitchen with marble counter tops, plus every appliance you could need.
French windows
An enormous contemporary gas fire warms the sitting area, flanked by a pair of French windows that open on to a lowest-maintenance garden. Pale-grey decking flanks an AstroTurf square, which is surrounded by tastefully trimmed box hedges and topiary.
“The kids can play happily there with friends, and there’s no mud and no fuss,” says one of the owners. There’s also a sitting area, and a trompe l’oeil mural at the end, so you can squint and imagine you’re in the formal gardens of some incredibly grand mansion, albeit scaled down.
Back inside, the large extension also houses a study spot, so you can keep an eye on the kids at their homework while you rival The Great British Bake Off in the epically appointed kitchen.
There’s a separate utility room, WC and downstairs shower room too.
Upstairs are four bedrooms, three of them doubles, and more travertine in the swish family bathroom that wouldn’t be out of place in an upmarket boutique hotel. Clever touches – such as a light well immediately beyond the hall door that makes the entrance even lovelier, hand-painted friezes in the children’s bedrooms, window seats in the master bedroom and high spec in absolutely everything – make this house an obvious choice for those who like their period details served up with a dash of sweeping chic.
