There is a genuine wow factor about 18 Vavasour Square when you step into the long (10.35m/34ft), wide and very bright entrance hallway. At its end there’s a wall of glass framing the exuberant greens and soothing water feature in the rear garden. The bedrooms are to the front and a large extension extends to the side and rear. The floors throughout are of polished walnut, the walls a subtle creamy white, the sense of space liberating.

Behind a hedge in a corner of Vavasour Square, with the Aviva Stadium as a backdrop, number 18’s modest, cottage-style exterior gives none of this away. Bought for €700,000 in 2006 (when it was in need of work) the owner brought in PLM architects and set about a complete revamp.

Today’s house, for sale by private treaty through agent Norths, has a floor area of 128sq m (1,377sq ft) with two bedrooms (the main with an en-suite wet room), family bathroom/utility and open space incorporating a kitchen/dining room, living room and study. The asking price, for what is an executor’s sale, is €800,000.

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Vavasour Square itself is something of a landmark in the world of Dublin's Victorian artisan houses. Grouped around a long rectangle of tree-shaded green, its initial houses were built in 1849. The square is named after Councillor William Vavasour who, from 1785 onwards, was responsible for reclaiming the salt marshes from Irishtown to Beggars' Bush. There is a gently eastern influence about the swaying bamboo canes in the L-shaped garden, the grey patio flagstones and an enigmatically smiling plaster face in a wall. All of this is integral to the composed mood of the house, impressing itself especially in the kitchen/dining room, living room and study.

There is a touch of drama too about the kitchen/dining room’s polished black granite worktops, black fittings and French doors to the garden. The living room has a gas fire set into the wall and six panels of hardwood-framed glass wall. Both bedrooms have extensive, built-in wardrobes and shelving. The en suite wet room and family bathroom have mosaic floor tiling.