A house in a cul-de-sac not far from Shankill village in Rathmichael, south Co Dublin has, above everything else, space.
It sits on nearly two acres of garden and orchard. There’s a large walk-in pantry and utility room off the kitchen, a very large en suite bathroom off the main bedroom and a walk-in dressingroom beside it. And it also comes with a converted garage which could be used as an office or a granny/au pair/teenager flat.
The house is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €1.6 million.
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The current owners bought Melmore, built in 1903, nearly four years ago (when it had an asking price of €1.1 million) and immediately set about completely renovating it: the house was rewired, insulated and modernised, but in a style sympathetic to the original. Almost everything was replaced, although the owners kept the original panelled doors and wooden fireplace in the drawingroom.
The result is a large 312sq m (3,336sq ft), comfortable home. The entrance hall has loads of space for hanging coats and storing boots and shoes.
It leads to the drawingroom and into the country kitchen/breakfastroom. This has a cream-tiled floor, a Belfast sink and a new Aga that replaced an old range (it’s included in the sale with a matching cream Aga fridge). The pantry and utility room are close to the cooking area; at the other side of the kitchen there’s plenty of room for a large table.
Six bedrooms become four
The drawingroom fits several sofas easily and French doors set into the large box-bay window area open onto a deck and garden. Off this is a diningroom, with a table that seats eight. There's also a big family room downstairs, where children can make as much noise as they want without being heard, says the owner.
Upstairs six bedrooms have been replaced with four: the en suite off the main bedroom is huge, with a clawfoot bath and large shower. There’s also that walk-in dressingroom, a guest bedroom, a boy’s bedroom – all blue walls and football prints – and an all-pink princessy girl’s room. A hot press on the big square landing houses a security system.
The converted two-storey 74sq m (800sq ft) garage is in use as a mirrored dancing studio for the young daughter of the house – she’s a champion Irish dancer, with the trophies to prove it. Originally it was to be a granny flat and it’s plumbed and ready for a kitchen to be installed.
There’s a deck with plenty of space for outdoor eating wrapped around one side of the house next to a long lawn, and plenty of hidden garden areas and an orchard on the nearly two acres of grounds.
Mullinastill Road is a quiet, almost rural, road off Cherrywood Road (off the N11 at the Silver Tassie pub) in a pocket of land bracketed by the M50. It's in walking distance of two national schools in Shankill, not far from the village, and a short drive to Cherrywood Luas stop (although with no public car park, this is of limited use).