Number 33 Susanville Road in Drumcondra came to market last summer asking €135,000.
John Craddock of Craddock Estates on the Clontarf Road recalls, “Those who viewed it were mainly builders who knew what they were doing.”
The house needed to be “absolutely gutted”, Craddock says. The builder who bought the property has done a fine job on upgrading it. The house went sale agreed last September for €180,000. Now the 92sq m (990sq ft) mid-terrace property is back on the market with an asking price of €420,000, a 57 per cent hike in just over half a year.
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Smart use of space
The new-look house is unrecognisable from its former state. Its size remains the same but the internal flow has changed.
Reclaimed pitch pine flooring has been installed in the hall and formal living room at the front, where coved ceilings and cast-iron reproduction fireplace and free-standing Victorian-style radiator chime with the age of the house.
Access from the hall to what originally would have been the diningroom has been closed off in favour of access through the sizeable, open-plan, white gloss kitchen with Miele appliances.
This rethink creates two separate living rooms – essential in a small house – and is a smart use of the space. Now a family room, the former diningroom has a wood-burning stove and a walnut engineered floor.
From the eat-in area of the kitchen folding doors open out to a small red deal-decked space planted with bamboo.
Originally a two-bedroom property, the house now has three bedrooms. The large room that spanned the width of the house has been divided and now houses the master bedroom and a large single bedroom. What was the second bedroom has become a lovely bathroom clad in Turkish travertine with a wall-hung sink and a shower bath. The third bedroom is on the return, where the bathroom had been located.
Last September, the house had a G BER rating. High-spec insulation, replica-style PVC sash windows and a gas heating system zoned for three areas within the house with the capacity to heat the water in summer, have upgraded this to a B3 BER rating.
