A taste of the Med in the very heart of Dublin

BACK in the war years, they said Loose Talk Costs Lives, but in Dublin’s daily commuting battles, Luas Talk Makes Money.

Case in point is a handily-placed two/three-bed early 1900s house with an almost exotic backyard up for sale by Heuston Station and beside which a new Luas line is due to roll into service next year.

The speculation is that such properties are set to rise by 20% in value when the commuting line is in full swing.

Brand new on the market at McDowell Avenue in Mount Brown, near Kilmainham, the railway station and St James's Hospital is no 15, a terraced house that is nothing like you'd suspect from the outset.

Fully overhauled by its owner, who is deeply involved in the interiors business in this country, it has had an imaginative decorative makeover, with a 'girly' back garden done out on a Mediterranean theme, ready decked for Arabian nights and BBQs, complete with a pink glass block screen, cedar decking and low-maintenance landscaping.

No 15 is one of just a few double fronted homes here, with about 800 sq ft of living space, with granite details and yellow brick facade, in an area favoured by both first time buyers and investors.

With the proximity to Heuston Station, it may also find a buyer from 'down the country' who wants a pad with a difference in the capital, a 20 minute walk from the city centre and the option of a Luas link literally coming down the line. Selling agents Gunne Residential guide no 15 at €330,000, and expect viewers to be impressed by the quality of the interior (it made a spread in a glossy Irish interiors magazine two years ago,) while the prospect of capital appreciation will also lure in the more pragmatic investors.

The estate was built in the 1920s, to a design by an English architect, and no 15 has a wee front garden and a larger back garden than most of the neighbours.

The living room runs from front to back of the house, with painted wood panelled walls, polished floors and a wood-burning stove set within a brick fireplace, and double doors continue the flow to the gardens behind.

The feel is funky cottage, the galley-style kitchen has a mosaic floor and tile details picked up again in a wall border, and it has mod cons and integrated appliances such as fridge, freezer, dishwasher, and stainless steel cooker and hob with Neff extract, with an understairs area plumbed for a washing machine.

The house has two first floor bedrooms, both reasonable doubles in size, and there is a second ground floor reception room (currently used as a TV room) which could double up as a third bedroom in new usage if required.

The main bedroom again picks up a sunny Mediterranean theme, with colour-washed walls in yellow and a black and white chequered floor.

The vendors are trading up to another home in the area and are keen to roll up the sleeves once more on a larger canvas.