The rising cost of building works means that houses in turnkey condition tend to sell far faster than those that need work. The modern interpretation of turnkey tends to focus on insulation and comfort factors within the home, because paint colours and kitchen carcasses can be changed with very little disruption.

When the owners of 140 New Cabra Road – a solid 1930s redbrick semi – bought the property in 2013 they paid €310,000 for it, according to the property price register.

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Situated almost at the intersection with Annamoe Road and Quarry Road the original layout was still intact with a formal sittingroom to the front with a mahogany fire surround and leaded window panes in the bay window. The previous owners had changed the windows to the front to uPVC frames but retained the original leaded panes.

The couple opened up the rooms, removing the interconnecting doors that lead through to the formal diningroom, and installed the kitchen here, with a design by Co Tyrone-based Greenhill Kitchens featuring a granite-topped island. The kitchen now spans the width of the house with its eat-in part where the original scullery would have been. There’s a small utility with access to storage under the stairs off this room.

The south-facing rear garden has a smart raised timber deck and some sheds for gardening equipment. The garage to the front of the house is now a children’s playroom adjoining a small guest toilet.

Upstairs the house had four bedrooms originally. The smallest of these is now the family bathroom where there is a separate shower and freestanding reconditioned cast-iron bath. The original bathroom has become a windowed shower en suite for the back bedroom, which is a double and the quietest room in the house.

There is a fine-sized double to the front and a large single, big enough to take a double or queen-size bed. The original toilet at the top of the house is now a hotpress, but could accommodate a proper staircase up to the attic where there is scope to convert, subject to relevant planning permissions.

As it stands the house measures 125sq m/1,345sq ft but what really appeals here is that all the expensive and invisible work has been done. The house has been rewired, replumbed and insulated to levels that give it a generous B3 Ber rating. The owners are moving on to Dublin 15 to be closer to family and have place number 140 for sale for €595,000 through Sherry FitzGerald.