Small is beautiful on Ranelagh terrace

Dublin 6/€500,000: Number 4 Bessborough Hall, Bessborough Parade, a curved residential cul-de-sac off Mount Pleasant Avenue in Ranelagh, Dublin 6, displays two very different styles of houses.

One side is lined with a smart terrace of Regency-style period houses and on the other there is an imaginatively designed short terrace of contemporary homes built in the late 1990s.

At the end of the cul- de-sac, the magnificent copper dome of Rathmines church dominates the skyline. Number 4 Bessborough Hall, a two-bedroom house, is for sale through Sherry Fitzgerald for a price in the region of €500,000.

The front door in this interestingly and cleverly designed mews-type house is through substantial silver-painted metal gates that fold back to provide carport parking for one car. The house has been designed to take full advantage of what must have been a challengingly small site. The bedrooms and bathroom are downstairs and the living area is upstairs in the 63 sq m (680 sq ft) house.

Just inside the front door is a double bedroom to the left; to the right is the other double bedroom and a shower room. It is probably large enough to take a bath but the owners have opted to keep the room spacious and sleek with slate flooring, mosaic wall tiles, and a large shower. A cupboard provides some storage.

The L-shaped area upstairs is open plan and throughout, the emphasis has been on letting in as much light as possible. There is a glazed pitched roof over most of the area, a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows as well as a set of fully glazed floor-to-ceiling doors opening out onto the wooden balcony over the carport.

The living area is a lovely space with blond wood flooring throughout, as well as an open fireplace in the living room area.

The kitchen area which is to the front of the house has wisely been kept simple with white painted units and stainless steel appliances.

There may be some scope for a roof garden.