Smart and compact in Dublin 4

Eagle-eyed property watchers will recognise 24B Cranmer Lane, a two-bedroom semi-detached house that came to market last July asking €500,000. A bank sale, the house was since withdrawn and given a Changing Rooms-style make- over at the behest of the bank and is back on the market 12 months later with a lower asking price of €475,000, a reduction of 5 per cent.

The location is second to none. Cranmer Lane is a small c-shaped throughway that runs parallel to Haddington Road almost opposite the Beggar's Bush pub. It is near enough to Google town to walk to work but just outside its frenetic heartland. It's a rather old and established part of the city with Slattery's pub as your local and well-regarded eaterie Junior's and Lotts & Co as your corner shop. While smartly refurbished, the work on the house feels somewhat cosmetic as the Ber rating remains as it was last July, an E1, and the original electric storage heating is still in situ.

The front door opens directly into the open-plan living cum kitchen which runs the depth of the house and is floored in a limed oak.  The living room area to the front has an open fire. While the property has been staged for sale  by House & Garden, the next owner will want to give some thought as to how best to configure furniture here to make it feel homely and not like a large hall.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 4

The staircase bisects the open plan area and a second sitting area has been more successfully carved out here. It’s big enough to take a couch.

To the rear is the eat-in kitchen. It has a small number of units but no appliances.

A glass door opens out to the westerly-facing rear, which has been gravelled over. Much more could be made of this space. It is relatively private and by painting the back wall and installing grass, the real or artificial kind or smart patio paving with lots of potted specimen plants you could create a real oasis.

Upstairs there are two double bedrooms, one to the front, the other overlooking the garden. There is a bathroom, lit from above by a roof light, with a shower in the bath. The house, which measures 78sq m / 839sq ft, has off-street parking for one car, a real bonus on this lane.