Adding top interior to a top-end house tops-up price

Spending a bit extra on high quality kitchens, bathrooms and restoration work will attract buyers willing to pay a premium, reports Joyce Hickey

This year, street style shouted glamour and bling and this filtered through into house style. Sellers in south Dublin who sought serious money for their homes set about spending a lot on refurbishment and renovation and in most cases their investment gave a very high return.

Take, for example, number 17 Heytesbury Street, a villa-style house in a convenient location that had potential buyers spilling out of the auction room in October. Sold by Felicity Fox, who achieved a record price for the street of € 1.4 million (against a guide price of €825,000), the terraced house had had a breathtaking overhaul that combined exquisite period detail and modern comforts, including a wired sound system, a custom-made kitchen with quartz flooring, and underfloor heating which is no mean undertaking in an old house. Unusual touches included a glass balustrade and an outside terrace with a glass floor.

Also close to the city, number 51 Wellington Road was given a meticulous overhaul that took a year to complete. It made €4.1 million in June through Jackson-Stops, and all its period features, from the pristine ceiling plasterwork to the working shutters and working sash windows, were intact and lent a homely air. Yet it was not without modern creature comforts, including a high-quality kitchen with two dishwashers, an extra fridge and expensive Corian worktops. The garden was also a key selling point, with a pretty flagged terrace and a pleasing mix of plants and mature trees.

In Dublin 6, 1 Dartmouth Road didn't stay on the market long before a keen buyer snapped it up prior to auction for €3.9 million - that's €1.1 million over Jackson-Stop's guide price. Owned by a record producer, the quality of the restoration by the Coady Partnership was such that it won a conservation award. The house oozed gracious style and the modern interventions, such as plasma TV screens and a home gym, in no way detracted from the character of the home. The kitchen combined country and contemporary, all sanitary ware was top quality and Helen Dillon was involved in designing the garden.

Two Sandymount houses also did very well in October following lavish refurbishment. Strand Lodge on Strand Road sold after auction through Jackson-Stops for more than €3 million. It had been bought, in 2001, in mint condition but underwent further renovation, including the installation of a cherrywood kitchen with granite worktops and a built-in coffee machine. The sleek, chic interior was calm and unshowy with top-notch bathrooms and impressive reception rooms.

Nearby on Claremont Road a sedate redbrick named Glengarriff sold through Lisney for €4.2 million (the guide price was €2.8 million). The appeal of this house lay in the bright, welcoming reception rooms and in the generous kitchen and livingroom that stretched across the back of the house with doors out to the large back garden, part of the 0.33-acre grounds.

Farther out along the coast, Gortnadrew on Alma Road in Monkstown was a large 1870s home beautifully and sensitively renovated under the guidance of conservation architect Michael Kavanagh. The care and attention to detail throughout no doubt contributed to the strong selling price of €3.3 million, through Sherry FitzGerald, in May. The light-filled kitchen was a really warm family hub leading to a cosy livingroom and the reclaimed parquet floor throughout downstairs was heated from underneath. Breathtaking reception rooms, well-appointed bathrooms and the sea view from almost every room all combined to give this a definite 'wow' factor.

In Foxrock, joint agents Daphne L Kaye and Associates and Corry McMahon made €4.4 million for Woodbury on Brighton Road in February. This pretty, Tudor-style house was built in 1900 and later extended on both sides to give a modern layout with five bedrooms, a 30ft drawingroom and a country-style kitchen. The bathrooms were of luxury hotel standard and there were plenty of quirky details, including timber beams in the ceiling, antique stained glass and a hand-crafted staircase with a minstrels' gallery over the stairs.

The exception that proved the "spend a fortune, sell for a fortune" rule in 2004 was number 53 Palmerston Road in Dublin 6, the former home of Sean Lemass. A standard two-storey over basement redbrick at the front, with interconnecting reception rooms at hall level, the real action was at garden level where the space had been opened out to give a sittingroom at the front, a Poggenpohl kitchen in the middle and a double-height, glass-walled extension leading to the back garden. One of the five bedrooms was accessed via a glass walkway and had a curved bay window. The guide price, through Sherry Fitzgerald, was €3.2 million but the house was withdrawn from auction in June at €4 million: this remained the private asking price for a few months before the house was taken off the market.

The moral seems to be that, at the top end of the current market, spending a bit extra on high quality kitchens, bathrooms and restoration work will, in most cases, attract buyers who are willing to pay a premium.