The thirty-something couple who bought this three-bed semi in Blackrock, Co Dublin, in 2011 for €325,000 were told they were mad to do so. Prices were falling, and they'd never get it back, they were warned. Now their home at the front of the large Cloisters development on Carysfort Avenue is back on the market for €625,000 through agent Owen Reilly.
Number 2, Cloister Gate, Blackrock, Co Dublin, a 120sq m (1,292sq ft) house built around 1991, sits close to the bottom of a small cul-de-sac, next to a large detached modern house next door. The couple have changed the house since they moved in, installing double-glazed windows, upgrading bathrooms and the back garden. But with a small child, a big dog and a cat, it’s time to move on to something bigger.
If they could, they would trade up to a four-bed in the Cloisters. It’s a bit of a community, they say, where residents organise carols with mulled wine at Christmas, and another resident plants new flowers in the public space near their house every season. It’s very close to Carysfort Park and a pretty short walk from Blackrock village.
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Unusual shape
The house is an unusual shape, with the front door hidden from view at the side of the house. There’s a modest carpeted livingroom at the front of the house and at the back is a large open-plan, timber-floored sittingroom/diningroom. The classic U-shaped kitchen with timber units is just off the diningroom – but it’s self-contained, with a glazed door to close it off, a design chosen by the owners, who find it very practical.
Upstairs there are two double bedrooms – one with a wall of Sliderobes – and a single. A smart family bathroom with a large shower has replaced one small en suite and small family bathroom.
French windows open from the diningroom into the back garden, where there’s a patio beside the artificial lawn: the owners says it’s the lowest maintenance garden ever. There’s parking space in the cobblelocked driveway at the front of the house.
