Modern efficiency beside UCD with a blueprint to extend

The owners of 22 Nutgrove Park waited three years before getting the builders in to modernise their semi-detached house in 2015 and by that time they knew what they wanted. Energy efficiency was high on the list – the four-bed house now has a B3 rating – and they spent their budget on renovating throughout and reorganising the ground floor to make it more family-friendly.

Converting the side garage into living space gave them a play room to the front and a utility room and separate shower room to the rear. The rear reception room and original small kitchen were knocked through to create an open-plan kitchen and dining area that run across the rear with custom-designed floor to ceiling glazed doors opening to the garden.

They had planned that in the future they might extend out into the garden from this space, adding a sunroom, and the architectural drawings are there for new owners if they want. The original front livingroom – now updated with walnut flooring and an inset wood burner – opens to the rear of the house via partially glazed sliding doors.

The contemporary Kube kitchen is fitted against three walls, making maximum use of a galley space. Integrated appliances and silestone countertops make for a sleek uncluttered look.

Upstairs there are four bedrooms – two doubles and two singles. The good-sized bathroom has been smartly updated with Villeroy & Boch fittings. The small single over the garage is fitted out as a dressingroom and new owners if they have a mind to extend could do as others on the road have done and build over the original garage area to create a fifth bedroom or make the fourth a double. With future-proofing in mind, in case they themselves wanted to do such an extension, the owners when they were doing the work in 2015 installed load bearing foundations in the playroom to accommodate an overhead build.

The house currently extends to 116sq m (1,251sq ft).

The 21m (69ft) rear garden is north facing and has been landscaped by the owners. There is off-street parking to the front. Nutgrove Park in Clonskeagh (not to be confused with the Nutgrove area further south in Rathfarnham) is a stone’s throw from the rear entrance of UCD. Number 22, in walk-in condition, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald seeking €885,000.