€395K Dublin 8 cottage with ‘home cinema’ is Suir to please

Number 39 Suir Road in Kilmainham received much media attention when it appeared on the market in 2015, as what originally started life as a two-bed boilerplate two up two down had been totally transformed by its then owners Seamus and Nete Daly.

The house was bought in 2016 by advertising director Nick Leonard and his solicitor wife Mary for 350,000. The couple and their young family are moving to Skerries and have placed their home on the market through REA Grimes with an asking price of €395,000. This represents a 12.9 per cent price increase in line with the 12.7 per cent rise, reported in the CSO Residential Property Price Index for Dublin between 2016 and 2017.

The property, though not large at 82sq m, now has three bedrooms and a mezzanine as a result of an excellent redesign and an extension to the rear of the house which opens out to a small courtyard garden.

The ground floor consists of one large open plan space with engineered Wild Dale oak flooring. As the property was completely renovated – and in a sense almost rebuilt, the energy rating is now C1 thanks to new roofing, windows and a stove – it’s estimated that 80 per cent of the heat in any room is lost through an open fireplace.

An electronic “home cinema” screen sits flush with the ceiling and at the touch of a button descends over the front window allowing the entire room to transform into a home cinema when required, while also allowing the room to be streamlined like the rest of the property – thanks to good storage ideas and whitewashed walls.

The reconfiguration of the upstairs gives the property three bedrooms. The attic space has been converted into a mezzanine, offering more storage and throwing lots of light into the master bedroom.

While the asking price may seem ambitious for a small property in Kilmainham; looking at the recent sale of 7A Meath Square, at 47sq m which sold for €305,000 in 2017, and the listed asking price for 62 Rothe Abbey at 60sq m for €325,000, both of which have two bedrooms, 39 Suir Road is significantly larger than both. Located just a minute from a Luas stop, it appears good value for money.