Where small is beautiful

It was a different time in Ireland when Mary Cummins, one of the pioneering female journalists of her generation, moved into a two-bed cottage in Gray Square in 1981.

The Liberties was seen as a no-go area and people said she was mad but it became a wonderful home for Mary and her daughter, Daisy, who is now selling it.

Built as artisan cottages for Guinness workers, Gray Square is more of a quiet, meandering cul de sac than a formal geometric shape.

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It’s still got that inner city feel but the area has become far more hip. Its proximity to town, only a 15-minute walk, was a convenience that Mary studiously ignored, preferring to drive to work to her office, then on D’Olier Street, every day.

Mary bought the house for Punts £17,000 in 1981 and decorated it in Laura Ashley wallpaper – prints that she loved. It is now asking €185,000 through agents SherryFitzGerald.

While only 42sq m (9,137sq ft), its good ceiling heights make the open-plan kitchen and gas-fire living area feel bigger than they are. Off this room is a small bedroom big enough to fit a queen-size bed that was Daisy’s room when she was growing up.

She recalls hearing Mary and fellow agenda-setting feminists Nell McCafferty, Mary Holland and others discuss the subjects of the day “quite vocally” over glasses of wine. She also recalls her mother celebrating Mary Robinson’s 1990 presidential election in the house.

Through the original back window of the property you can see into the double bedroom behind, which is to the rear of the kitchen. Adjacent is a small bathroom that includes a bijou-sized French bath.

To the side is a sizeable yard that is covered in by plastic sheeting.

The nine square metre space (29sq ft) could really add to the scale of the house if, subject to planning, you could raise the roof levels to the rear.

Living in it as an adult Daisy changed the decor, got rid of the Laura Ashley wallpaper and installed a new kitchen. The house has been rented for the past two years generating €900 per month

Daisy is a novelist who has written about 28 novels for Mills and Boon and penned her debut, Chosen as the Frenchman's Bride , for the publishing house while living in the house. It's a great place to write, she says. "You don't hear a thing."