Selling up in Dublin and moving to the country has become a real option for people who find themselves with a valuable property in the capital that could buy them a new home, with equity to spare, out of town. Estate agents Sherry FitzGerald estimate that one in five Dublin sellers it dealt with this year planned to relocate to the country.
The Government's decision to give 100 towns and villages valuable tax incentives, both for owner occupiers and investors, should attract more buyers from the city seeking homes and businesses in a rural environment.
For artists Pauline O'Connell and Eamon Colman, selling their Dublin home means that they can buy a far larger house in the country where they can both live and work. Having just put their two-bedroom home in Dublin's North Strand on the market at £190,000, they are planning to move to Co Kilkenny in the autumn.
They are giving up their 1,000 sq ft artisan cottage in Dublin 3 to buy a large 18th century house in Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny, which needs complete refurbishment. The six-bedroom house has a range of outbuildings that both will use as studio space. Deceptively small from the outside, 37 Charleville Avenue is exceptionally bright and spacious inside, having been totally renovated by the couple over the last three years. The 1860s house had been divided into bedsitters, so they pulled down walls, ripped out the kitchen and bathroom and started again. Renovations also included re-plastering, dampproofing, rewiring and re-plumbing.
The hallway is a focal point of the house, with an old Victorian archway and natural timber floors that are a feature throughout. The livingroom is large and bright, stretching from front to back with large sash windows with wooden shutters overlooking the front and back gardens. There are two black Portland stone fireplaces and the high ceilings make this an ideal display room for artwork.
The kitchen extension has hand-made kitchen units with red alder doors, solid beech counter tops and an antique ceramic sink. This is a very modern room with a porcelain and granite-tiled floor and a teak French door leading to the garden.
An "urban garden" is how Pauline O'Connell describes this small space. There is no grass, but there are 12 varieties of trees in pots and many different plants providing splashes of colour. The front garden is tiny, and much to the neighbours' bemusement, there has been a wide assortment of tropical growth - cabbages, artichokes, a plum tree and sunflowers.
The entire attic space has been converted into a bathroom. A large stand-alone bath sits in the centre of the room, with an old exposed brick chimney, only discovered during the recent renovations, providing a backdrop feature. Wooden floors, an antique copper and brass heated towel rail and a Louis Mulcahy ceramic wash-hand basin in a specially designed countertop make this more gallery than bathroom. Light floods in through two skylights.
The convenience of city centre living was the initial appeal for this couple, and located just off the North Strand Road, this property is within walking distance of O'Connell Street.
"People think of North Strand as an inner city area with a bad reputation, but that is changing. North Strand is a residential area which is becoming increasingly popular, especially among Dublin's artist community, as people looking for alternatives to suburban living buy properties to renovate," says Pauline.
