Extensions can be tricky – too small and they can be a missed opportunity to make a difference to your living space, too big and all sense of proportion can be lost.
In 20 Gilford Avenue, on sale through Gunne with an asking price of €695,000, an extension at the back of the house has added a sleek, modern kitchen; an airy, bright living area and a beautifully landscaped garden area that manages to combine shrubbery, a water feature and a paved area for parking within the electric gates.
All this has been done while creating a coherent, open-plan living space that sets this new work against a backdrop of architectural history – the house has original coving, fireplaces and banisters – without compromising on a sense of harmony.
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Downstairs is light-filled and spacious, with clever storage solutions making the most of its 157 sq, ( 1,700 sq ft). Two reception rooms to the front lead back into the modern kitchen cum living area, which opens on to the back garden by means of fully opening patio doors.
The first bedroom – a box room that would perhaps better serve as an office – is to the rear of the house, beside the main bathroom (there is a guest toilet downstairs). Up a set of stairs again, a further two bedrooms are of a decent size. One looks, like the box room, to the back, while the master looks out to the front of the house and on to Gilford Avenue.
Smart storage
Expecting a master bedroom en suite, it is a surprise to enter a room with four solid walls, one of which is entirely wood-pannelled, concealing smart storage space. Not only that, but it conceals a door that leads up to the attic space, which has been converted to a stylish and modern dressing room cum en suite, reminiscent of London's Sanderson Hotel, whose bedrooms have bathrooms behind glass walls.
Despite its appearances – as just another terraced house on a leafy, Dublin 4 street – number 20 is a study in elegant extensions, and reveals a home with space, style and lots of storage. And it would be remiss not to mention the location; Sandymount Strand is visible from the front door, with the city a mere five minutes’ drive and the bus and DART a stone’s throw away.
