Portobello/€585,000: Two owned and designed by architects in Dublin 8 are on the market. One took nine years to renovate, Emma Cullinan discovers.

When it comes to doing up a house, what do architects know that mere mortals don't? At first glance, this three-bedroom period home in Dublin's Portobello owned by architects Orla Hegarty and Barry Kelly may not seem that much different to a home that's been refurbished and decorated by anyone else.

But once you start getting into the nitty gritty you realise that, not only is there a lot going on behind the scenes, but the things that you do see are bespoke and inventive.

The first lesson you learn from these architects is not to just rush in and do up a house but to live in it for a while. Then, once you do start working on it, says Barry, it pays to allocate funds carefully.

Many architects aren't scared of living in a semi-building site which helps when deciding to buy a wreck that few others would contemplate. It's also a bonus to be able to live in a freezing, ugly house while you wait to see which way natural light, and any sun, comes into the house, where the shadowy patches are and how you actually use the space. Crucially, it also allows you to build up the funds to start work.

When they first bought the house nine years ago Orla and Barry - who are now being forced by a growing family to move on - could see past the filthy carpets and bedsit paraphernalia (such as baths and heating systems galore) to the potential of the space, and they fell in love with the large livingroom opposite the entrance door.

They didn't do a lot to the house for two years after they moved in. And having seen how they used the space, and contemplated the incoming sun rays, their original ideas for the placing of the kitchen and dining area downstairs were jettisoned. Now they have a seating area next to a huge west-facing triple-glazed glass wall, which opens onto an exterior deck.

Barry advises that building work is strictly planned so that all of the structural work is done before any of the decorative stuff, even if that means the pretty finishes come a few years later. "There's no point in plastering a wall if you're going to be pulling it down in a year or two," he says. "The idea is never to have to undo anything you've already completed. It's easier to add to things than take away."

It can be frustrating if people can't actually see any of your hard work but Orla and Barry swear by playing the long game. Their other tip is that, if you've amassed a certain amount of money to pay for decorating, don't be tempted to complete the whole house at once, on a limited budget, but rather do one or two rooms really well and then wait for funds to build up again.

The house in Ovoca Road has had three separate building stages. The first stage involved the structural work in 1997, when they took the roof off, lay felt, and replaced the original tiles. They also installed a roof light in the hall, put down a floor slab in the ground floor and installed underfloor heating, replaced a granite window sill outside the house, and replastered walls.

In line with their quality philosophy they replaced the PVC windows with a timber storm-proof variety from Marvin Architectural. The front door, a compilation of timber and MDF with yellow glass inserts, was replaced with one that they had copied from a neighbouring house. On arrival you know this is the home of architects by the brushed steel ironmongery on the door, and the bell almost too beautiful to press.

The beech kitchen units were made by a carpenter with whom Barry was working on another project. He also created the wardrobes in the children's bedroom.This allowed for made-to-measure and ergonomic touches such as the fact that the stainless steel worktop, which houses the cooker and sink, is deeper than the usual 60cm.

There is a deep recess beneath the cupboards so that the cook's feet can fit in beneath them. The island has an indent to one side, beneath the work top, to allow someone to tuck their knees under when sitting on a stool. The dining table was specially made to fit into the island worktop to create more workspace or seat more people. Working within a small space has also meant that storage has taken priority. A chimney breast in the kitchen had a corner sliced off it to create shelves. The children's bedroom has built-in storage with deep cupboards.

The cupboards in the downstairs bathroom are kitchen cupboard doors lying on their sides because they fit the space better than off-the-peg bathroom cupboards would, and the stylish wooden unit that supports the green transparent basin (from Saldeban) in the upstairs en suite is a bedside locker from Habitat. Many mirrors in the bathrooms create a feeling of space.

Orla and Barry decided to keep the rooms with high ceilings, complete with cornices, in the period style, but because the ground floor rooms have undecorated low ceilings they've opted for a more contemporary look here.

Mixing the styles posed no problem: they even have a specially made, contemporary steel fire surround in the period sittingroom. They stress that this is ultimately a family home: they've opted for a comfortable space rather than a show-off house. The real comforts, they've found, are the underfloor heating, plus natural and artificial lighting. Much of the lighting comprises low-voltage lamps set into the ceilings plus wall lights to avoid having central pendants. This all creates a warm glow, they say.

Where being architects helped was being able to make decisions quickly. "I find that a lot of my clients take ages to decide on something," says Orla, "whereas Barry and I knew from experience what we wanted." They were then able to access tradespeople who they had worked with on other projects, and knew who was reliable. When they faced a conundrum over the underfloor heating they could turn to a services engineer they knew.

It was the same with fittings; they'd tried things on previous projects and knew which companies were reliable. They also found that knowing how tradespeople should be paid was a great help. It's a mistake to give deposits in advance. The way to keep a builder on a job is to give them payments in stages after each section of work is completed. A written contract can detail these at the outset.

Knowing how building work progresses also took the pressure off. They would understand why builders were doing things a certain way whereas they say that clients will often phone them in a blind panic, for instance, when foundations go in and the house looks small. The couple stayed put while the work was carried out. "Architects are not scared of disruption," says Orla. "We lived here even when the roof was taken off. We stayed in one room with a microwave and a tap. The builders had their own keys and would just work around us. We'd hear them drilling away in the kitchen as we woke up. Having said that, I'll never do it again, I'd definitely move out, but living on a building site is easier when you don't have kids."

While Orla and Barry saw the potential of the neglected, run-down house their families were horrified. "They said we'd be mad to buy it but now they say that we were so lucky. But it wasn't luck, it was hard work!"

31 Ovoca Road, D8, is going to auction through Sherry FitzGerald on March 25th. with a guide price is €585,000