The property boom is over but while it lasted, it was very good for Dublin's stock of period houses. In the last 10 years many of the city's 19th century houses have been bought by individuals as investments and renovated either to rent out or to sell at a profit.

Profits were considerable as long as house prices rose by between 15 and 25 per cent per year, but there was a bonus too for houses that had been renovated to a high standard. As the property market boomed through the late 1990s, finding architects and builders to extend or renovate a house proved such a headache that some buyers were prepared to pay over the odds for properties in walk-in condition.

It's that kind of buyer that Finnegan Menton is seeking for this terraced house overlooking the sea in Blackrock.

Number 4 Idrone Terrace is a four-bedroom house that has been renovated to a very high standard since it last came on the market in 1998. It was bought by Niall O'Farrell, who owns the Black Tie chain of dress hire shops and also invests in property. It cost him £495,000 at auction. Now, having spent a six-figure sum renovating it, it is back on the market at £1.4 (€1.8m) million in a private treaty sale.

The three-storey house is ideal for someone who likes to entertain on a lavish scale, and may not entirely suit a young family. There are superb reception rooms at hall level and an astonishingly large kitchen cum diningroom in the basement, but the layout allows for just two bedrooms on the top floor and the family bathroom is inconveniently small. However, with a total floor area of around 3,000 sq ft there is some scope to rearrange the space.

Entering at hall level, the reception rooms are to the left. Painted a deep shade of red with crisp white ceiling cornices and original slate fireplaces, these are highly impressive rooms calling out for a big party. Strong colours run right through the house with the hall and landings painted a deep mustard, and the main bedroom a deep marine blue.

A couple of steps lead down from the rear of the hall to the third reception room, a long light-filled space with doors leading to the garden. It would make an excellent playroom, family room or study. Upstairs, the first of the bedrooms is on the next return, alongside the family bathroom. Gold carpeted stairs lead on up to the top floor where the main bedroom runs the full width of the house with twin sash windows offering a floor to ceiling view of Dublin Bay. The adjoining shower room is tiny, however.

The second bedroom at this level is another bright high-ceilinged room, and has a deep walk in cupboard. The stairs lead on down to the basement level, opening directly into a big country style kitchen with its polished slate floor, cream painted units and massive granite-topped island. An Aga will keep this open-plan room warm as will the open fireplace at the other end of the 33ft room.

There is a small utility area off the kitchen under the front steps of the house - an awkward position for getting the washing out to the back garden.

The long return has a guest or staff bedroom and a marble lined bathroom which is bigger than the family bathroom upstairs.

French doors lead from the dining/sitting end of the kitchen to a paved patio with steps leading up to the landscaped back garden. There is rear access through electronically controlled gates to the laneway behind Idrone Terrace.

Future residents may use the gravelled section at the end of the garden for parking as there is no off-street parking in front of the house and the road, though quiet for most of the day is a bit of a rat run in the mornings for drivers trying to avoid going through Blackrock.