Lisney expects bids in excess of £850,000 for a twostorey over garden level house at 1 Otranto Place in Sandycove, Co Dublin, which goes to auction on June 21st. One of a pair of handsome Regency-style houses that overlook Scotman's Bay, the four-bedroom house has lots of its original features intact, and the benefit of a west-facing back garden.

It has just over 2,500 sq ft of living space and there is potential to extend to the rear. It is decorated in an exotic colourful style, using a good deal of William Morris-type wallpaper, but new owners will almost certainly refurbish and redecorate to their own taste. Unusually, the kitchen is located at hall level in the rear reception room, with an open arch from the front-facing sittingroom. Both rooms have original fireplaces and ceiling cornices.

This is a sensible arrangement for those who want to make the most of both the views to the front and the light from the rear window.

However, the next occupants may decide to relocate the kitchen at garden level, or on the return, where it was originally. The former kitchen is now a formal diningroom and it has French doors opening on to an old timber deck engulfed with climbing plants. The neighbouring house has built out at this point, creating a sunroom with steps down to the garden.

Upstairs, the first of the bedrooms and a bathroom are off the first landing. High overhead, a big stained-glass fanlight throws a mellow light on to the upper floor.

This floor has two rooms, one of them a superb drawingroom that runs the full width of the house and has three sash windows tooking out over the bay. Painted a dusky grey-green, it is a very elegant room with its original marble fireplace at one end and a monumental gilt-framed mirror at the other that may be sold separately.

There is a second bedroom at this level, and two further bedrooms at garden level where there is also a games room and bathroom. The west-facing garden is about 70 ft long and is mostly paved, but has many shrubs and trees.