How one DIY couple turned their 1970s house into extended three-bed home in Dun Laoghaire

Asking price: €695,000

Agent: DNG Dun Laoghaire, (01) 2301616

​If you want a job done properly – and at a fraction of the price – make like homeowner William Bradshaw and do-it-yourself. It’s not always necessary to spend a fortune when renovating a property. If you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and have a little imagination, it can be done on a budget.

This is what Bradshaw was thinking when he came across 27 McIntosh Park, a three-bedroom semi-detached former council house in Dun Laoghaire.

Despite growing up around the corner on Rochestown Avenue and being routinely familiar with the neighbourhood, Bradshaw had failed to notice 27 McIntosh Park was for sale.

It was his wife, Karolina, who originally comes from Poland, who pointed it out to him. “She suggested we take a look and once we did, we could see its potential,” he says.

The location and orientation appealed to them both. They liked that the house had a big south-west facing garden that gave them privacy.

But Bradshaw was also attracted to the challenge of the project. “I knew I could add value to this house. But it was literally a shell when we first bought it. It had no heating, no boiler and no insulation. In fact, the attic was insulated with newspaper.”

Built in the 1970s, the walls of the now 1,249sq ft home had been constructed with poured concrete, and it had a side extension that was built in the 1990s.

The couple bought it in June 2017 and got to work immediately, moving in the following October.

To save money, Bradshaw roped in his friends, and together they stripped it back to the four walls. “Then we did all the tiling in the kitchen and the bathrooms ourselves. We pumped the walls internally and dry lined them, and we replaced some of the drains outside,” he says.

In addition, they knocked down a wall between the kitchen at the front of the house and the dining room and the sitting room at the back, to make it open plan. They also did away with a door leading to the kitchen from the hall.

“We added a step down from the kitchen into the sitting room, which gives us extra height and makes a big difference to the feeling of space,” says Bradshaw.

There is a wide skylight in the roof here, and a floor-to-ceiling sliding glass door – which takes up almost the entire wall – was added at the back. It provides views of the back garden and floods the room with natural light.

The sitting room, with its pale blue couches and yellow cushions, a 1970s-style sideboard and coffee table and a turquoise ceiling lamp, is their favourite room; and where they usually congregate. “Wherever we go, we will be replicating that space. There’s so much light in it – it’s just beautiful,” he says.

The flooring here is oriented strand board (OSB), an engineered wood product made from compressed layers of wood strands or flakes. It is usually used in construction, and is unusual for a residential building. “We just liked the colour and the detail in it, and we thought it added warmth to the room,” he explains.

“It’s a floating floor, which we gave a light sanding once it was laid. We added two or three coats of polyurethane. It not only looks good, but is extremely durable.”

The addition of gas central heating makes the house particularly cosy in the winter. The dining room section has an open fireplace, currently covered in with logs though it can still be used. “There used to be a fireplace in the back bedroom too, but we closed it off,” he adds.

There are three bedrooms upstairs, two of which are double. All are carpeted in grey and two have feature walls in a block colour.

As they were working with a limited budget, they added a porch on to the front of the house, rather than spending money on the kitchen.

“Instead, we found a second hand kitchen in a local house that was in good condition. We got the worktops in Ikea, then sprayed it navy ourselves. In total, with all the appliances, including the Fisher & Paykel fridge, it cost us less than €2,000.”

In the hallway, they painted the staircase navy and added a pine sideboard, with a round mirror and artwork on the walls.

There is a bathroom to the right of the stairs, which has a sage green and beige colour scheme with white units and patterned tiles. There is also a separate guest toilet off the hallway.

The extension at the side of the building has a utility room and an office/TV room. “I use it as an office when I’m working from home, but our children, Matthew (8) and Dylan (5), watch TV there also,” Bradshaw says.

The kitchen opens to a patio at the back, which has another step down, making it closer to an expanse of lawn, currently used as football pitch by Michael and Dylan and also home to their trampoline.

“The garden is south-west facing, so you get sun there from 11am all day to early evening,” says Bradshaw. “The lawn is below the patio, and the Griselinia bushes behind it afford us complete privacy. When you’re sitting in the living room looking outside, all you can see is the green. It’s very peaceful and private.”

The house is set back from Pottery Road and is well placed for accessing amenities. “You can walk to Dun Laoghaire from the house in 20 minutes,” says Bradshaw. “It’s great to be so close to the sea, and it’s well serviced for buses into Dun Laoghaire and the city centre.”

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Bradshaw and his wife are selling the house now as they’ve found a slightly bigger one in nearby Foxrock. “That’s the only reason we’re selling because we’ve put a lot of effort into making the house our own and we love it,” he says.

27 McIntosh Park has an asking price of €695,000 with DNG Dun Laoghaire.