The next move is yours

IT is said that three or four residences are required before you settle on the house of your dreams. The owners of this Waterford house clearly have not found that 'perfect' home as they are moving to their fourteenth.

The couple, with three children aged eight, six and two years, have lived in Dublin, Wicklow, Waterford and Tuscany, just north of Pisa, among other locations.

Now, they are Kinsale-bound.

They are swapping their architect-designed, 3,000 sq ft home at Faithlegg's Green Road for a more modest, new, three-bedroomed semi-detached house in Kinsale, but say that too is temporary.

"My mother thinks I'm a butterfly," jokes the 'woman of the house', who acknowledges that her children have never had a Christmas in the same house twice, to Santa's chagrin.

The vendor trained as an interior designer, and it shows.

Named Druid Rock, the four-bedroomed house being vacated is on a prominent 1.25-acre site near the Faithlegg golf course (six miles from Waterford city).

It has a €925,000 guide price via O'Shea O'Toole auctioneers. The stamp of quality is evident within and without.

Angled into its site, which gives wide-open, sweeping views of countryside back towards Waterford city, the house was built by Billy Moran.

Features include lofty windows and high-vaulted ceilings, for extra light and a sense of spaciousness, though most attention was given to the living areas.

Finishes are top-notch, as the owners, who have Waterford family roots, thought they were ready to settle down in this striking home, and thus spared no expense in materials.

There's an Italian Scavolini kitchen, with Corian worktops (if the names mean little to you, think 'expensive'). The floors of the living room and kitchen are mostly Travertine marble, with chamfered Travertine used as well for skirting.

Other floors are solid oak, and bathrooms have tumbled marble tiling with glass-block shower partitions and Sunflower-sized shower heads.

Special touches include blue LED lighting in the hall's steps, oak joinery, an Iranian sandstone fireplace in the living room, and surround-sound in the sun room, living room, kitchen and in the master bedroom, which also has a mezzanine gallery area/office overhead.

Heating is via oil, delivered under-floor instead of by up-wall space with bulky radiators, and windows, including the large apex one, are powder-coated aluminium. Finishes externally include stone and painted render.

"It is a must for today's family seeking a little bit more space and tranquillity," say the agents O'Shea O'Toole.