Family four-bed with separate studio

DUN LAOGHAIRE:€699,000:THREE YEARS have made all the difference to 185 Rochestown Avenue in Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.

Semi-detached and built in 1969, it was very much of its time when the vendor bought in 2006, its décor dependent on long decried 1970s materials like formica and beauty board. All this has been done away with in a radical makeover which remodelled the entire ground floor.

As well as installing a new kitchen, the vendor has converted the then garage-with-lean-to into a large, bright studio with its own, separate entrance; this could also be used as a home office. A utility area is large enough to double as a work room and a one-time front porch/sunroom is now an outer reception area with a hand-cut slate tiled floor and four long, feature windows. An inner reception hall makes for a great deal of space in this part of the house.

The entire house is good-sized at 177sq m (1,900sq ft) with four bedrooms, two reception rooms, kitchen/breakfastroom and studio/office. Douglas Newman Good is the agent and the asking price is €699,000.

The rooms to the rear of the house make the most of a flourishing rear garden made private by high hedging and trees. The kitchen, which has integrated appliances and pull-out storage units, overlooks the garden through both a wide window and a glass door. A centre isle in the kitchen has a breakfasting top of solid wood and the floor is of walnut. In the adjoining family/diningroom, where the floor is of birch, sliding patio doors overlook the garden.

The sittingroom, accessed through double glass doors from the family/diningroom, gets a spill-over of light from the opened-up rear of the house. A Portuguese sandstone fireplace is a notable feature, the flooring is birch and there is a picture window to the front. The four bedrooms are off the first floor landing, two to the front and two rear-facing. The front garden has been pebbled over to create parking for up to four cars. There is planning permission for the conversion of what is a large attic space.

185 Rochestown Avenue, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin

Four-bed in walk-in condition with separate studio/home office

Agent: Douglas Newman Good