One dated, one done up: two homes on Ballinclea Heights in Killiney

A 1970s house needing modernisation, and a refurbished home from the 1980s are for sale. Eivlín Roden reports

Beech Court: €1.15m

29 Beech Court is one of a small enclave of about 30 large detached white houses in a cul-de-sac off Ballinclea Heights near Killiney Shopping Centre.

The 186sq m (2,000sq ft) house in need of modernisation being sold at auction through Douglas Newman Good on March 15th is an executor's sale. The advised minimum value (AMV) is €1.15 million

Built in the 1970s with families in mind, number 29 has five bedrooms, ample parking, garages and a sunny back garden as well as spacious reception rooms and kitchen. At the time the design would have been cutting edge modern, but current taste will want to upgrade the spaces.

The entrance hall is square- shaped with a coloured glass wall separating it from the large L-shaped livingroom; there are doors to the kitchen and a study off it. The livingroom is very bright with windows filling two walls and there is a white marble fireplace and a door through to the kitchen. Originally planned as an open plan sittingroom/diningroom, it is carpeted throughout but has timber flooring underneath. The kitchen is a large rectangular room looking onto the back garden and is fitted with timber units; there is a large utility room off it as well as a conservatory with Perspex roof and tiled floor. There is also a big family room/study and large shower room downstairs.

Upstairs, the five bedrooms are all very bright rooms and the main en suite bedroom has a great view of the mountains. The other four bedrooms are all spacious doubles with built-in wardrobes. Two are interconnecting, which could make a separate boudoir or a living area for teenagers. There is a family bathroom with an avocado suite.

Outside, there are two gateways and a semi circular drive with a garage to one side; there is side access to the back garden where there is a double garage.

Wanford Close: €750,000

A spacious three-bedroom mid-terrace house off Killiney Road is for sale by private treaty through Lisney with an asking price of €750,000.

On the outside, 2 Wanford Close looks like a townhouse with brick façade and square bay windows, but inside, with a floor area of 120sq m (1,300sq ft), the house is laid out in such a way that there is oodles of space, and a beautiful low maintenance garden.

The house, dating from the mid-1980s, has been completely transformed by its present owners to give it a contemporary edge combined with charm and comfort. A solid wooden door with oval glass insert leads into a pale quarry-tiled hall.

To the right a long sitting/diningroom stretches from the front to the back of the house, with a large window at each end, a new beech floor and a fireplace made by the owner with brick and a massive old timber lintel. Natural wooden shutters filter light and one wall is painted a dusty khaki.

A good kitchen/livingroom is the other main room at this level extending into the back garden. It has been newly fitted with a Shaker-style kitchen with stainless steel chimney extractor fan, wide breakfast bar, quarry tiles and wooden double doors which open into a paved patio area.

There is plenty of storage here along with room for a sofa and table. There is a downstairs toilet.

Upstairs the three bedrooms are bright and spacious; one currently in use as a baby's room is smaller than the other two but still has room for a double bed. All bedrooms are smartly decorated and have wide-slatted wooden blinds.

The family bathroom has a bath and large walk-in shower. This room has a door to the main bedroom as well as one off the landing. Outside, the front is landscaped and has room for a car, while the back garden is paved and gravelled, with sunny patio area with pergola outside the kitchen and a further patio at the end of the garden. Wanford Close is at the end of Ballinclea Heights on a quiet road.