80 Braemor Road, Churchtown, D14: Description: Four-bed semi on three levels, with large extension, backing onto Milltown golf course. Agent: Sherry FitzGerald
There must have been a major Grand Designs moment when the current owners were working on 80 Braemor Road. You know the bit, when Kevin McCloud rubs his chin and looks up from under his hard hat to gaze at the enormous cranes hefting a 10-metre girder into place, before muttering, “I’m seriously worried about this build”.
Devotees of the TV series will know that it always works out well in the end, and although it never featured on the show, the same is true for this house.
The steel girder in question is supporting an extension that opens up the back of what might otherwise be a rather ordinary suburban semi-detached house, creating an absolutely massive kitchen, and a stunning top floor office-cum-screening room, with views onto the 13th hole of Milltown Golf Course.
There are other special surprises in the house, including wiring for an integrated sound system, dual boilers to heat different zones separately, and, my favourite, a television screen built into the wall of the main bathroom, so that when you have had enough of gazing out the window at golfers, you can watch your favourite soaps from the bath.
With a mixture of solid wood floors, carpeting, and Travertine tiles in the kitchen, the house has been done up with an eye for quality materials. The new owners will probably want to repaint, but there’s plenty to attract with three double bedrooms and one single, a separate sitting room alongside the huge kitchen/dining/
living room, and a pretty landscaped back garden planted with mature shrubs, but with nothing to impede the view of the golf.
It’s 15 minutes’ walk from the Luas at Dundrum, and close to local shops at Churchtown. Braemor Road is on a bus route, and there are plenty of schools nearby. This is the kind of house that will make a great flexible home for a family, especially if one (or more) of them happens to be a golf fanatic. And Kevin McCloud? He would have loved it.
