Eight years after 3 Charleston Avenue, Ranelagh, changed hands, it’s back on the market, renovated and redecorated and with a price tag of €795,000 through Hunters.
When its previous owner, the late writer and Irish Times columnist Nuala O'Faolain lived there, it was a two-bedroom house, essentially a 119sq m (1,281sq ft) two-up two-down terraced Victorian redbrick. The new owners changed the layout upstairs leaving the main bedroom, which runs the width of the house, as was, but as their family grew, they divided the back bedroom into two good-sized singles. They also increased the size of the bathroom so it could accommodate a free-standing slipper bath and a walk-in shower. In these houses there would originally have been a tiny bathroom up a further half-flight of stairs and this now been carved out as a home office space with a desk and chair.
Downstairs, the layout is as it originally was. The surprise in these houses is the size of the hall, wide and with good space for storage and a guest wc. Indeed the current owners have a piano in the hall. The layout is simple – there’s a livingroom to the front with a nice period fireplace and tall sash window and a room that runs the width of the house at the back that works as a dining and living area. The galley kitchen, fitted with units to maximise every inch of space, is off this back room.
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The back room opens directly out onto a decked patio – the 14m-long back garden is south-west facing – and is a what the agent calls “manicured”. In fact it doesn’t need any cutting or manicuring at all as the owners have replaced the grass with Astroturf that’s so convincing you’d be tempted to haul out the lawnmower. The new owners also planted trees at the end and shrubs in raised beds.
The last sale on this road was the house next door and it went for €650,000 this time last year. There’s now a large skip outside its door and a team of busy looking builders. Parking is on street.
