Ranelagh: Rose Doyle visits a restored terraced house built in 1895 that has a back garden landscaped by Diarmuid Gavin

Towards the end of the 19th century Ashfield in Ranelagh, Dublin 6 was an area of thriving market gardens and nurseries into which builders were beginning to move.

Number 33 Ashfield Road was one of a number of houses constructed by such a builder in 1895. It has four bedrooms, two main reception rooms, a kitchen and family room. Sherry FitzGerald, which will auction it on February 11th, is quoting a guide price €770,000.

A refurbishment some 10 years ago carefully retained and gave new life to most of the original features. There's a mellow mood in today's house with white, a dark, sea-green and the honied tones of polished wood the predominant colours throughout.

Original floorboards were stripped and polished, as were several of the original doors. Tongue and groove ceilings were given the same treatment and sash windows, where they were too far gone to be retained, were replaced with the Vendrola, modern sash kind.

The redesigned kitchen and a family room added to the rear bring light and openness to this part of the house. Overall, there is a floor area of some 156 sq m (1,675 sq ft).

The drawingroom is to the rear of a pair of interconnecting reception rooms off the high-ceilinged hallway. It has French windows opening to steps down to a patio area where a pergola leads through to a 50ft long garden landscaped by Diarmuid Gavin. The drawingroom floorboards are polished and the original (and functioning) fireplace is of cast-iron with a high mantel and ornate tile inset.

Both this room and the adjoining diningroom have picture rails, cornices, ceiling roses and sash windows. The diningroom has a fireplace similar to that in the drawingroom. Coloured, leaded glass in the front door throws refracted light into a hallway typical of the period with dado rail and arch leading to the latter part of the house. In the hallway, too, there is a guest shower and toilet.

The kitchen has a quarry-tiled floor and hand-made timber units at floor and wall levels. A black and shining Rayburn, fitted into a red-brick chimney breast, is both cooker and boiler and the ceiling is polished tongue and groove.

The family room, directly behind the kitchen, has a similar tongue and groove ceiling as well as the only new and gas-fired fireplace in the house. It has a timber surround and cast-iron inset. Two large side windows and double glass doors to the garden give a great deal of light in this part of the house.

The bannisters along the stairs to the return are original and stripped. On the return itself there's a bedroom with built-in desk and shelving, wash hand basin and side window. The family bathroom is also on the return and has a bath with shower, wash hand basin, white tiling with wood detail and white painted wooden floor.

The other three bedrooms, as well as a storage cupboard, are off the first floor landing. To the rear there's the main bedroom with its feature, gray marble fireplace with cast-iron inset. Coral and off-white are the colours used here, the latter on the extensive, built-in wardrobes. A third bedroom, to the front, also has a range of built-in wardrobes as well as intact cornice work. The fourth, box bedroom is to the front and has further cornice work, shelving and a sash window.

The rear garden has a westerly orientation while that to the front is railed and neatly gravelled.