City redbrick in a popular spot

Dublin 8: €790,000: A redbrick house near the city still has a 'cottagey' feel, says Emma Cullinan

A three-bedroom terraced redbrick at 19 Emorville Avenue, in Dublin 8, is guided at €790,000 prior to auction through Felicity Fox on February 17th. The guide price shows just how well this area has performed in recent years with prices climbing towards the million mark (and sometimes going over that) in the past year.

The Victorian house has retained many of its period features, including cornicing, window shutters and a cast-iron fireplace in the interconnecting reception rooms on the ground floor (although the second fireplace just has a simple metal surround).

The kitchen to the rear of the ground floor is a recent addition and mirrors the comfort - but not the period style - of the rest of the house, with its tall windows (taking advantage of the evening sun from the west-facing garden).

There are nice touches in here - such as a beech window seat and an office space at the end which recognises the fact that most people like to strew bills and other boring post over the kitchen table. The desk is perfectly placed to take such bumpf.

The kitchen has contemporary fittings, such as low-voltage lights set into the ceiling, Neff oven and hob, and a steel Elicia extractor hood. The light floor tiles and white kitchen units help to create a bright space.

Beside the office is a utility room and wc, and beyond this is a storage space which takes up one side of the garden.

While this would be a useful clutter dump, buyers may want to try and get permission to build a further room out here or knock the existing structure down to make the already decent sized (47ft long) garden a bit bigger.

Upstairs, the main bedroom at the front of the house is a bright room showing off the best of Victorian proportions with its high ceiling and deep, east-facing windows.

Beside this is another double room overlooking the garden. In the rear return is a small room: a cosy quarter for a child or perhaps an office space. The neat bathroom has standard sanitaryware and the next door wc contains a tiny Armitage Shanks basin.

While well-maintained and painted throughout in pleasing, muted yellows, greens and creams, the home doesn't have pin-sharp interior finishes.

Instead, the house, which is in a quiet network of streets near to Dublin city centre, has a cottagey feel. It's a warm, pretty family home that will be easy to live in.