A redesign in Donnybrook
DUBLIN 4 is a good place to turn if you want to study the phenomenon of rising property prices.
By way of example, Number 56 Home Villas in Donnybrook last sold in December 2012, according to the Property Price Register, fetching €270,000. Now, less than five years later, it’s on the market for more than twice that sum.
To be fair, the place has had a complete makeover since that sale. Beginning in 2013, the new owners gave it a full overhaul, extending it to the design of an architect, as well as rewiring and replumbing it, installing new floors and windows, and adding skylights.
The result is an unexpectedly bright and chic open-plan house in a secret corner of the Dublin 4 heartland — Home Villas is a U-shaped street abutting Herbert Park, lined with cute redbrick terraces, and it’s only about five minutes’ walk from Donnybrook village.
Number 56 is still a pretty compact house, at 700 sq ft, but every last square inch has been carefully made use of in the redesign.
The front door opens into a tiny hallway, where the stairwell is. To the left, a glass door leads through to what is now the main, open-plan living space — all knocked through into one room.
The kitchen is at the front of the property, and has a brick fireplace surrounded by high-gloss cabinets and a breakfast bar.
Beyond it is the living and dining room with roof light, where the brick chimney breast continues with a castiron fireplace.
At the end of the room is a glass wall with sliding doors to a courtyard — neatly paved and just big enough to dine out in.
Upstairs there are two bedrooms, both with the original fireplaces, and a shower room.
It’s for sale for €595,000 with Lisney Leeson Street, (01) 662 4511.