Dalkey:€1.75m Cool and uncluttered after comprehensive restoration

Eglinton, at 47 Sorrento Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin, was sold for €880,000 in June 2003 and is back on the market with a guide price of €1.75 million.

In the time in between, it has been completely gutted and redesigned internally, even to having a 4ft excavation job done so as to raise ceiling heights.

The floor space has been extended from 195 sq m (2,100 sq ft) to a light-filled 232 sq m (2,500 sq ft), and materials - including Botticino marble and polished Merbau wood - used to create a cool, uncluttered look. When Eglinton went on the market in 2003, it sold for substantially over its guide of €550,000 and, though in need of work, attracted great interest. It will be sold at auction on November 4th through Lisney.

The semi-detached four to five-bed, which has fine granite steps to the front door, is one of two houses built in the 1840s by a man of some wealth for his daughters. It has three reception rooms and the main bedroom is en suite.

The new layout is immediately apparent in the extended livingroom. What was once a sittingroom and bedroom has been opened up to extend the width of the house and make for an elegant split-level room with a window to the front, French window opening onto a raised deck at the rear, Merbau wood floor, creamy walls and gas-fired marble fireplace.

These colours and style are continued throughout the house. The fully fitted kitchen/diningroom, which has a pair of bay windows and French doors to the 50 ft long landscaped garden, is in an extended area to the rear which also includes a family room.

At this level too there is a family bathroom and, to the front, two bedrooms. The main, en suite bedroom is up a short flight of steps from the entrance hallway. It has French doors to a decked area at the back and a walk-in wardrobe. The en suite shower room has a pair of Velux windows.

A fourth bedroom in this part of the house has built-in wardrobes. A study to the front off the bright entrance hallway could become a fifth bedroom. The front, gravelled area has parking for at least two cars.