Primrose Hill home renovation job sets a very high bar

A quality home like this is a rare commodity for the price it's at

4 Primrose Hill, Tower

Blarney, Cork
€295,000
Size	92 sq m (990 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	B3

FOR a gold-standard example of a tip-top renovation job, see No 4 Primrose Hill, a dormer bungalow in rural Tower, near Blarney.

On the market with a €295,000 guide price, it's been re-purposed to get maximum traction out of a compact space.

The couple selling No 4 have done two reconfiguration jobs in the past decade, the first in 2010 when they hauled a kitchen out of a back corner into a living area, and turned the former kitchen into a downstairs bedroom. They also got rid of the oil central heating system and installed a gas combi boiler to power both central heating and hot water.

Five years later, they took on a more ambitious level of renovation, upgrading the insulation and replacing windows and doors with triple glazing, installed by Ballincollig-based glazing specialists 2020 Glazing, with whom the man of the house works. They also replaced floors throughout and put in a new German fitted kitchen (from Classic Kitchens, Carrigaline), as well as a new ventilation system. 

They replaced an open fire with an inset stove (to save on space), set into striking granite cladding, with a salvaged oak mantel and a black glass hearth. This fireplace is a focal point of the opened-up living space which includes kitchen/dining/lounge area, all previously separated. Two ceiling beams were installed in the living space to pick up on the oak mantel.

Bathrooms upstairs and downstairs were gutted and renovated and fitted with stylish sanitary ware and they hired a carpenter to make smarter use of under-the-stair space, which they integrated into the kitchen to house a fridge freezer, cooker and custom-made wine-rack. 

The carpenter also took out the old bannisters and put in white risers and a glass balustrade.

The upshot was a bright, light-filled, clever kitchen space that opens via French doors to the rear garden. 

 In a downstairs bedroom (former kitchen) an old PVC door was replaced with a feature-length window overlooking the garden.

The garden was also given a significant overhaul and the owners say it’s “ultra private” despite being part of an estate of more than 60 homes, albeit No 4 is in a quiet cul-de-sac section.

The couple love their back garden and with one half of that couple Italian, and missing outdoor living and warmer climes, they set about creating an area where they could sit out “and enjoy Irish weather”. They opted for the end of the garden, which gets the sun until 7pm/8pm.

To make it more weather-friendly, they installed a pergola with a glass roof over an Indian sandstone patio, surrounded by lots of greenery. There’s also a steeltech shed.

The woman of the house says while they are moving into deeper countryside in Inniscarra, they will cherish the memories of their first home as a married couple.

“Our first child was born there and it has served us well since. Anything done here was done with love, and while we didn’t have a huge budget, we really tried to maximise the space.

“It’s not a large property so it took a bit of creativity to use it properly. The house has a lot of detail now that you might not find normally,” she says.

Pat Falvey of Coldwell Banker Carlton Estates is selling the 92 sq m house and  says it’s attracting huge interest from first time buyers and down-sizers and people returning from abroad.

“There’s a lot of three and four bed semis around, but the fact that No 4 is detached, to get something in that kind of order in that price category (€295,000) is rare,” he says.

VERDICT: Not many detached homes of this quality come at this price.