All dressed to impress

WHAT do you do when you have done it all to your house and the only thing to do is wait for the grass to grow so you can cut it once more?

Most of us might rest on our leather suites, laurels and patios, but the owner of this home is upping sticks and going to the country to build an even larger new home.

Family-owned 14 Oaklee, the last house in a cul de sac park off the Model Farm Road in Cork's western city suburbs, is an object lesson in home improvements.

The man of this house is indefatigable, and his input has made the house stand out.

It has been extended to each side, and out the back, and the roof has been re-slated.

He literally pushed back the site boundaries by buying more land to increase the garden size, every door and window has been changed for better quality ones, and as a result the 3,000 sq ft home has a wholly individual, cherished feel.

Decoration is top-notch, and even internal walls have been altered to give the place the feel of an older home than its 1970s/80s provenance might suggest.

A guest loo in the hall was taken out to open up the hall, which is now room-sized, teak stairs were put in and the rest of the hall's joinery (double doors, etc) is also teak. The kitchen was changed around and made much brighter.

much brighter with light coloured units put in. Next, patio doors went in off the kitchen/dining area, then a 15' by 12' conservatory with timber-clad roof and heat retaining glass was put on.

The family room to the front of the house was extended so it now measures 18' by 16' and it has a French stone fireplace with attractive pink granite insert.

The drawing room, 23' by 12', also with quality fireplace, has a bay window to the front. Also added on to this end of the house is a large garage with high ceilings and roof space which has even further conversion potential.

Overhead, there are four bedrooms. The master bedroom has lots of wood panelling and a wall of sliding mirror glass: slide back the left hand door and an en suite bathroom is revealed, shelving fills the middle space, while to the right a narrow passageway opens up to reveal access to a hidden large storage area for those who want a minimalist feel to their decor but hate throwing anything out.

An aerial photo of this house (hanging in the hall) taken when the bare back garden was enlarged in the early 1990s shows how quickly well-chosen trees can fill in an urban plot the home is on a very private tree-screened and walled site, with concrete cobble paved effect to the front.

The back garden has paving and patios, including a walled patio space at the corner of the garden to squeeze the last rays of sunshine out of the skies.

Oaklee is near St Oliver's cemetery off the Model Farm Road and butts into the Hilton estate; blink and you'll miss the entrance.

Most of the houses here have been changed about in the last two decades in a multitude of different ways since first built, but there's hardly one with as much work done to it as no 14.

It is on the market with Sheila O'Flynn and Ann O'Mahony of Sherry FitzGerald, with a €600,000-plus guide price, reflecting not only the work done but also the scarcity of really good trading-up homes in the western suburbs.

So, who will buy it? "It will be a family home," says Ann O'Mahony. And the new owner of this house could be the exact opposite of the vendor he or she won't have to lift a finger for quite a while in their new acquisition.