A house on Pleasants Street has won an architectural award while on Lombard Street West a house that was bought in the summer has been refurbished and is back on the market for €280,000 more than it sold for

Dublin 8 €725,00034 Pleasants Street, Dublin 8

Description: A stylish three-bedroom, end-of-terrace, upside-down period house that won an Architectural Association of Ireland award

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald

This three-bedroom end-of-terrace upside-down house comes with cool design credentials and period features.

The 154 sq m (1,660 sq ft)house, for sale at €725,000 through Sherry FitzGerald,was refurbished and extended by architect Roland Bosbach in 2000 and won an AAI (Architectural Association of Ireland) Award. The glass box design, considered revolutionary 12 years ago has stood the test of time.

You enter the house via a set of granite steps. There are original timber floors throughout. The hall has wonderful decorative plasterwork made to appear even more ornate by the use of pale contrasting paints and the shadow play of a light pendant – a design classic from one of Ikea’s PS collection, Maskros, inspired by a dandelion clock.

To the left are two interconnecting reception rooms that run the length of the house and offer views up Synge Street. The sitting room is to the front of the house and the dining room is to the rear. The rooms have matching fireplaces and period colours on the walls.

The monochromatic kitchen to the rear is very simple. White floor-to-ceiling units hide the dishwasher and washing machine as well as tall pull-out larder units. The units include a pull-down table designed by the architect that sits on a pull-out pedestal. It’s ingenious, is inspired by caravan living and can be stowed away if you like your kitchen to look sleek and tidy. For the family living here it stays down most of the time. They’re trading up to a bigger house nearer their children’s school.

Huge floor-to-ceiling glazing in the kitchen makes this a fantastic space to spend time in. A door opens onto an anodised steel platform and a set of steps that lead down to the small, south-facing garden. It has an Astroturf lawn, pedestrian access onto Synge Street and a creeper-covered garden room that would make a very roomy home office or workshop, especially if you added additional light sources.

The three double bedrooms are downstairs and accessed via a stylish solid oak balustrade leading down a narrow open-tread staircase. A shower room is to the front. A door leading off it conceals another well thought-out, family friendly feature – a bike shed hidden under the granite steps.

The main bedroom to the rear has an en suite bathroom with storage set into the walls and large picture windows that may freak out the introverted although the room is not overlooked.

The view is verdant. The small internal courtyard off the main bedroom makes the room light-filled.

For such an urban address the garden level feels green and very quiet despite being a stone’s throw from Camden Street, the late night bar and club quarter of the capital.

Dublin 8 €485,000 31 Lombard Street West, Dublin 8

Description:Two-bedroom period terraced house that has been completely renovated after being sold earlier this year

Agent: King Estates

The two-bed house at 31 Lombard Street West is for sale for the second time this year. According to the Property Price Register it sold for €200,000 on July 5th. Four and a half months later – now thoroughly modernised – it is back on the market through King and Associates for €485,000.

The property is off Clanbrassil Street, in Portobello’s redbrick heartland. It has been extended and now measures 99 sq m (1,066 sq ft). The house is refreshingly pristine – cynics might even say staged – and househunters jaded from traipsing through dreary probate properties in need of renovation will appreciate this.

It has a smart black-and-white tiled hall with a high ceiling. A walnut door leads into the sitting room with an open fireplace and period features that include a ceiling rose and cornicing, a bay window and high ceilings. It is furnished with neat salon-style furniture that makes it appear bigger than it will when you try to install your large squishy sofa.

Stairs leads to the property’s single bathroom, which contains a corner bath, separate shower, limestone floors and smart sanitaryware.

To the rear is an open-plan kitchen/dining/living room with a painted kitchen with laminate countertops. There is room for a breakfast bar and dining table as well as a sitting area set around a stove, giving the house a second sitting room. Outside is a new Indian sandstone patio. It is well turned out although sunlight will be limited given that it faces north-west. There is a shed and pedestrian rear access.

Upstairs are two double bedrooms. Both have free-standing wardrobes. The main bedroom has a small cast-iron fireplace painted to match the walls.