This two-bed cottage on Grange Terrace may look small from the outside, but the well laid-out interior and sizeable back garden mean it is far from cramped and is likely to suit a couple or downsizers looking for a turnkey home.
The owners, who moved in with their parents to save for their first house, bought the 83sq m (893sq ft) south Dublin property as a fixer-upper in 2018 – for €440,000, according to the Property Price Register. Since then, they have completely refurbished it – it has been insulated, rewired, replumbed and redecorated – creating a bright, modern home, with a C1 Ber.
The 33m-long southeast-facing garden is an unexpected highlight of this property, exhibited in all its glory on a sunny April day. The first part off the dining area has a wooden decking, beyond which is a long lawn with trees the owners salvaged from before they moved in. You’d be forgiven for thinking that was it, until you walk to the back of the garden where there are concrete slabs creating a second, larger patio with plenty of space for a big dining table: “This is where we do all our entertaining in the summer,” the owner says.
Beyond that is a large garage (44sq m), where the fitness-forward owners have set up one corner as a gym while using the rest for storage. There is also a laneway behind the garage for off-street parking. The garden provides scope for an extension to the back of the house, subject to planning permission.
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On the Deansgrange Road, the cottage has a charming front garden surrounded by shrubs, with easy-to-maintain loose stones and a slabbed path down its centre, culminating in a step up to the black front door. The front porch is the only addition the owners made to the footprint of the property, and it provides a useful space in which to hang coats and store shoes.
Stepping further into the property you arrive at the livingroom; it is a good-sized space with a window out to the front garden and light wood-effect laminate flooring. The wood-burning stove and corner sofa create a sense of cosiness.
The second bedroom, the smaller of the two doubles, is also to the front of the property. It has a narrow layout but still has a decent amount of space, with a double bed tucked in the left corner as you enter and an office space by the window.
Further down the hallway is the main bedroom which fits a king-size bed and has spacious grey built-in wardrobes by Bespace on one wall. The room gets light from a window that looks out to a small, decked courtyard, that also faces into the kitchen, which you could fill with plants to create a feature.
Across from the bedroom is a shower room which has a roof light and a wood-effect unit which is likely to stand the test of time better than glossier contemporary units. On the other side of the wall is the main bathroom which has white units, a bath, light-blue metro tiles and a rooflight overhead; a wooden sliding door conceals the hot press.
At the back of the house is the bright kitchen-diningroom which has white wooden handleless units, grey countertops and a central island/breakfast bar, half of which has a trendy wooden finish. Beyond that is the dining area which is flooded with light thanks to glass French doors, overlooking the back garden.
A new four-storey apartment block is being built across the road from the terrace and it is planned it will have commercial units and a creche on the ground floor. The building is visible to the left from the front and back gardens but otherwise seems to impede little on the enjoyment of the cottage.
The property is a stone’s throw from the shops and restaurants of Deansgrange village while Seapoint beach is a 10-minute cycle away. The 46A bus stops nearby, taking you to Dawson Street in 40 minutes via the quality bus corridor (QBC), or you could drive into the city centre in 20 minutes. Looking to move on to a bigger home in the area, the owners have placed their cottage on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €545,000.
