The owners of a Dublin 4 ground-floor apartment bought it five years ago for €550,000 – and then almost completely gutted it to give it a modern makeover. They rewired and replumbed it and got Irish interiors company Christoff, which custom-builds kitchens and other rooms in its Co Louth factory, to completely revamp their home.

The result is an apartment pretty much in walk-in condition: painted mostly white, it is bright, with floor-to-ceiling windows and doors looking on to gardens at the back of the block.

Number 3 Shrewsbury Court, 50 Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4, a 91sq m (979sq ft) two-bed apartment, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €850,000. It has a C3 Ber rating and an annual service charge of €1,800. Shrewsbury Court is a small, two-storey apartment block with seven apartments, built in the 1980s.

A good-sized entrance hall with a cloaks closet and a utility room leads to the kitchen/dining area. There’s an arch leading into the kitchen space, which has smart white units and a polished granite countertop. A cleverly designed corner cupboard conceals a larder.

Double-glazed sliding doors open into the livingroom, which has its original marble fireplace and smart built-in cupboards. It’s dual aspect, with windows looking on to the gardens.

Both bedrooms are doubles. The larger main bedroom has a fully tiled en suite with shower and built-in wardrobes. One of the wardrobe doors conceals a small walk-in dressingroom. The family bathroom, like the en suite, is fully tiled with pale tiles.

The owners tend to use the door from the kitchen to enter and exit their apartment – it’s easier, they say, than entering through the common entrance area. There’s plenty of room to park in the area at the front of the block, shielded from Ailesbury Road by tall trees. The owners say that they feel very safe in the area – with so many embassies nearby (the Norwegians are next door), there’s lots of surveillance in the neighbourhood.