Restored Ranelagh home mixes formal with contemporary style

Dublin 6: €1.85m. The owner of 32 Leeson Park Avenue has lived here for over 20 years and has refurbished the two-storey over basement house in a comfortable style.

The terraced house was built in 1845 in a prime location on a quiet, handsome road within walking distance of the city centre and Ranelagh village.

The 186sq m (2,000sq ft) three-bedroom house is for auction on May 26th through Palmer Property Advisors, joint agent with Ganly Walters. It has a guide of €1.85 million Up a short flight of granite steps, the front door opens into a bright well-proportioned hall off which are two interconnecting reception rooms.

All the period details, including cornice work, matching marble fireplaces, sash windows are there and all have been restored. Decoratively, the rooms are formal in style and atmosphere. Upstairs there are three bedrooms, two to the front, one to the back and all are good-sized doubles.

The return was originally single storey but the current owner has built it up to a two-storey return making room for the bathroom on the first floor return and a home office on the hall level. There's also a guest wc outside the home office.

Downstairs at basement level is where the owner spends most time and it is both cosy and welcoming. The stairs lead directly into an informal diningroom that opens out onto a paved patio via double doors. Off this room is the kitchen which was refurbished two years ago with well-designed cream-painted solid timber units and a long list of extras, including a wine fridge and a water filter system. The kitchen was extended some years ago with a flat roofed single story extension and it was given a new look during the makeover two years ago by the addition of a large dramatic looking hexagon shaped timber rooflight.

There's also a good-sized warm and comfortable livingroom at this level to the front of the house. The owner, a keen gardener, has created a lovely colourful cottage garden in the front garden so that's the view from this room's window. The back garden is around 10 metres long and has been planted in a lush, full style with a sun trap at the bottom. A pedestrian lane runs at the back of these houses and there is access to the basement level by a door under the front granite steps.