Dún Laoghaire two-bed, between the sea and the shops, for €625,000

When the owners of number 6 George's Place, a discreetly appointed and really well-located two-bed terraced house sandwiched between Dún Laoghaire's main shopping drag and its seafront, bought the property in 2017 for €470,000, they had a five-year plan.

They wanted to renovate and upgrade the property, which was a grocer’s shop in the 1930s, and trade up.

They’ve done just that, ahead of schedule, managing to extend the house, install a new staircase in the living room, one with open treads and a glass balustrade so it doesn’t dominate the open space, rewired the house, replumbed, put in new windows, flooring and a slick white kitchen into the bargain so that it is ready for the next owner to simply customise to their liking. The hard work is done.

The house is accessed via a set of limestone-clad steps that lead down into its front, west-facing yard. It opens directly into the living room where they’ve carved out a window seat, closed up the fireplace and cut a vertical half-wall opening through to the kitchen to the rear.

The kitchen has bright white units, a large window overlooking the garden and a discreet utility room with guest toilet hidden off to the side. It opens out to the garden, a space that they overhauled during lockdown, adding limestone-paved steps down to a timber deck and further steps down to a large sun-trap terrace. The couple also added a garden room that doubles as a home office and occasional drying room. It has a stylish sloping roof and to its side is a really clever tall space, concealed behind large sliding doors, where you can store bikes out of the elements and where there is room to keep the unsightly trio of bins – brown, black and green – all out of sight.

To the rear there is pedestrian access to a gated lane that leads directly down to Scrumdiddly, one of the seaside town’s best-loved ice-cream shops.

Upstairs, there are two double bedrooms that share a shower room they also installed.

The property gets lots of light to both front and rear. Local pub McKenna’s is diagonally opposite and there is disc parking on the street.

The property, which extends to about 80sq m (861sq ft) and has a D1 Ber, is asking €625,000 through SherryFitzGerald.