House of the week

THERE’S an embracing extension added to the back of 6 Monswood — it projects out on either side of the house’s back like outstretched arms, all ready to hug you.

These Mount Oval, Rochestown houses are big and accommodating family homes, and generally sell well: one of last year’s better trading up sales in Cork was a 2,100 sq ft Monswood home that made over €550,000, but under its €575,000 asking price.

Now, No 6 comes fresh up for sale, and in general terms, it’s bigger at 2,600 sq ft, and brighter, and even better priced, guiding €510,000 with selling agent Timothy Sullivan.

Like its predecessor, the garden/site size isn’t overly large, with the new extension eating into the back garden, so some of the best remaining outside space is to the side, done out with brick pavers.

But, the upside is the usefulness and attractiveness of the extension, a real quality job, with a fresh and contemporary twist.

What a space: sort of W-shaped, it measures at its max 39’ by 17’, with matching high ceilinged wings at the extremities, and with a scattering of Veluxes to draw in the light to the house’s core. It all works very well, and there’s a mix of well-chosen modern pendant lights and spotlighting to keep things bright at night, and create atmosphere in spades.

There’s clearly been a lot of thought put into getting a certain look, and a fair share of money was invested too. This is a fairly high-end space, with swanky Siematic kitchen, with warm-hued granite worktops and splashback, with top brand appliances likely to make any cook feel like a semi-pro chef.

The owners have been here since the house was first built in 1997, and extended and altered it in 2002: apart from going out to the back to maximise light, space and aspect, they also bridged the open space to what had been a detached garage, creating a back hall, and a very large utility and larger guest WC in the process.

Now, while the open-plan kitchen/dining/family space is a bit of a scene- stealer, there’s nothing at all wrong with the rest of the ground floor, much of which continues the marble tile floor look for continuity, plus two interlinked reception rooms, with Junkers flooring and each have cast iron fireplaces, plus there’s a family/TV room and dining room.

In making the changes back in 2002, the owners removed a sun room which had been a standard feature of these overall 2,100 sq ft houses (1,800 sq ft plus conservatory) to make for a more seamless extension.

Meanwhile, upstairs No 6 reverts more to the standard Monswood layout, with four bedrooms, two of them en suite, with a four-piece fully tiled main family bathroom making for four WCs in all.

Given the lack of good trading-up stock in the Cork marketplace, it’s likely that 6 Monswood is going to be extensively visited and viewed, and Tim Sullivan’s firm has a recent suburban sale agreed showing that there’s buyers indeed at the €500k mark for quality product. No 6 has a matured site, with storage space in the part-colonised and upgraded garage, and is all good to go, in a location now recently served by a bus route almost to the door.

VERDICT: Given that the extension’s been here for 10 years, it is staying the course very well, showing that investment in quality pays off.