Light and space

Number 17 Ebenezer Terrace, off Donore Avenue in Dublin 8, is a three-bedroom Victorian cottage that has been renovated with a lot of flair and now comes to the market in excellent condition. It is for sale by private treaty through the Gunne agency where selling agent Peter Kenny is seeking offers in excess of £140,000.

The double-fronted terraced house is the first home of architect Peter Oakes and bears all the hallmarks of an imaginative and professional redesign. When the owners bought the house five years ago, they gutted it and rearranged the living accommodation to make the best use of the light and space. The traditional notion of having the living space at the front and the kitchen behind was turned on its head when they put an ultra modern kitchen into one of the front rooms and knocked down walls at the back of the house to create an unusually large livingroom. They then extended into the attic to make two upper floor bedrooms and a bathroom.

Downstairs there are two rooms to the front of the house. Both have high ceilings and sash windows that are larger and grander than you would normally find in a modest cottage. The bigger one on the right would originally have been a livingroom but it is currently used as a bedroom.

On the other side of the hallway is the kitchen which was designed in a cool contemporary style with glass fronted Habitat units, industrial rubber flooring and very clever use of storage space. There is a wall of white doors that conceal cupboards and appliances. The kitchen opens through to the livingroom at the back of the house. This is a wonderfully bright room with two large windows on either side of modern French doors. The floor is maple and there is the original fireplace tucked away in the corner. Again this room has a surprisingly high ceiling.

Thanks to the clever redesign this house now has substantial attic accommodation with two bedrooms both with Velux windows, a very good sized family bathroom and a walk-in hot-press. Access to upstairs is by a smart maple covered spiral staircase in the hallway and the architect has solved the usual problem of finding space for a roomy staircase by breaking through the kitchen wall so that a part of the staircase juts into the kitchen and is finished to look like a piece of sculpture.

The south-facing back garden is small as one might expect, but it does have a couple of nice features, like the old brick wall at the end and a redbrick paved area close to the house. The French doors open on to a large deck. Part of the deck is constructed from the same maple used for the livingroom floor so that when the doors are open there is a real sense of the living space extending into the garden.