When the current family purchased their home at 7 St Martin’s Park in Kimmage back in 2014 – for €342,000, according to the Property Price Register – it was “very dated with several higgledy-piggledy rooms”.
“After we bought it, we knocked a few internal walls to make a more open-plan space,” the owner says.
Now the house has two reception rooms on each side of the hallway. A former garage was split in two; one half serves the kitchen in the form of a utility and loo, while the room to the front is a small reception room currently used as a guest bedroom.
On the right hand side is a larger livingroom, where the old hearth (though plumbed for gas it still has the option to be an open fire) is now illuminated with pieces by Wicklow-based Copperfish Lighting. An old fireplace in what is now an open-plan living-kitchen area to the rear has been upgraded to a wood-burning stove.
One in five people expect to pay mortgage in retirement, survey finds
Irish architectural great Ronnie Tallon built a home far superior to Mies van der Rohe’s original. Time to protect it
Sherry FitzGerald CEO Steven McKenna to leave firm to ‘explore new opportunities’
Avoiding double taxation on sale of a property abroad
Upstairs are three bedrooms and the family bathroom, with the principal bedroom overlooking the back garden – one of the real selling points of the property.
“It is a great space because we love to entertain. We have had 50-60 people here for barbecues.”
Extending to 80ft in length, it once featured in Super Garden on RTÉ (season 7, episode 3) in which designer Suzy Cahn created a space for the young family to entertain and grow vegetables. It has since changed to a larger lawned space, to accommodate the family’s children at play.
The semi-detached property lies next to St Martin’s Park, and has its own gated entrance to the recreation grounds. “It has been a great extra space for our kids to play, and our location is just super. You are near all the villages [of Rathmines, Rathgar, Kimmage and Terenure] and you have both older generations and young, new families here. We all know and look out for our neighbours and have summer street parties, clean-ups, and a dog show is held each year on the green.”
Describing herself as “a sucker for punishment”, the owner has her eye on a period renovation project, and has placed her C3-rated 116sq m (1,249sq ft) house on the market through DNG, seeking €745,000.
