When the current family purchased their home at 7 St Martin’s Park in Kimmage back in 2014 – for €342,000, according to the Property Price Register – it was “very dated with several higgledy-piggledy rooms”.
“After we bought it, we knocked a few internal walls to make a more open-plan space,” the owner says.
Now the house has two reception rooms on each side of the hallway. A former garage was split in two; one half serves the kitchen in the form of a utility and loo, while the room to the front is a small reception room currently used as a guest bedroom.
On the right hand side is a larger livingroom, where the old hearth (though plumbed for gas it still has the option to be an open fire) is now illuminated with pieces by Wicklow-based Copperfish Lighting. An old fireplace in what is now an open-plan living-kitchen area to the rear has been upgraded to a wood-burning stove.
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Upstairs are three bedrooms and the family bathroom, with the principal bedroom overlooking the back garden – one of the real selling points of the property.
“It is a great space because we love to entertain. We have had 50-60 people here for barbecues.”
Extending to 80ft in length, it once featured in Super Garden on RTÉ (season 7, episode 3) in which designer Suzy Cahn created a space for the young family to entertain and grow vegetables. It has since changed to a larger lawned space, to accommodate the family’s children at play.
The semi-detached property lies next to St Martin’s Park, and has its own gated entrance to the recreation grounds. “It has been a great extra space for our kids to play, and our location is just super. You are near all the villages [of Rathmines, Rathgar, Kimmage and Terenure] and you have both older generations and young, new families here. We all know and look out for our neighbours and have summer street parties, clean-ups, and a dog show is held each year on the green.”
Describing herself as “a sucker for punishment”, the owner has her eye on a period renovation project, and has placed her C3-rated 116sq m (1,249sq ft) house on the market through DNG, seeking €745,000.
