Small terraced home is quirky, colourful, and cool
This small, but charming, terraced home is cheap and cheerful, says .
Terraced houses in Cork city come in a range of sizes at a variety of prices, but few are as quirky and colourful as 173 Lower Glanmire Road — while none are quite as affordable.
On the market with a guide of €70,000, it’s a two storey, one-bed property with 349 sq ft of living space. Although it is exceptionally small, it’s not the smallest in the city, the same selling agents, Sherry FitzGerald sold an even tinier 279 sq ft one on Vicar Street last year for €66,000.
Given that the front door is painted purple and yellow in abstract patterns and has a green surround, it will not come as a major shock to viewers to find that the interior is highly unconventional.
Inside the colorful door is a room described as a study/ bedroom but which is much more multifunctional. At one side there’s a built-in raised bed, at the other side a washing machine, while in between the two there’s a cute timber spiral staircase. Proving that you can fit a lot into one small space, the owners hang their bicycles off a hook on the side wall.
Then, at the rear of the ground floor, is a small blue bathroom with a shower cubicle.
At the top of the spiral staircase is a living room / kitchen which, like the front door, has a cheerful yellow, purple and green colour scheme, but with splashes of red. The space has wooden floors and is lit by bright yellow Velux windows and is attractively eccentric and interesting.
The living room end has a stove surrounded by knickknack-laden shelves painted mostly in yellow with some occasional purple. Decorating with a purple throw and quirky cushions, the owner added extra colour by papering a pole with posters. As a final touch she brought in the world – a globe shaped lightshade showing the continents and the oceans.
The other end of the room has a kitchen with conventional modern pine units and a bright red and green colour scheme.
When the owners purchased the property in 2014, it was quirky but dull.
“It had the spiral staircase, the stove and the kitchen, but everything was beige and white.’’
Setting out to rectify this, the owners discovered that in a property this size , a pot of paint goes a long way. Paints left over from the sitting room, brightened up the front door and the design on it ‘’ just happened”.
As quirky features go, it would be hard to beat the rear sun deck /lean to which has been built under the eaves and is accessed via a ladder from the bathroom. Long and narrow with red , yellow and green painted window frames, it is according to the owner, a great spot for drying clothes.
Built in the 1800s, the property has double glazing and a storage heater downstairs and a stove upstairs. “Because it’s so small it is very easy to heat – it gets warm when you turn on the oven.’’ Pointing out that you would pay upwards of €120,000 for a one-bed apartment in the city, auctioneer Gillian McDonnell says it would be hard to find something less expensive than this. (A search on a popular property website does not show anything cheaper in the city.)
“ It’s quirky and affordable and its location on the Lower Glanmire Road means it’s within walking distance of the city cenre,” says Ms McDonnell.
The owners says they are sad to be leaving their quirky home but are returning to Germany.
About as affordable and as quirky as it gets
Lower Glanmire Road, Cork city
€70,000
Sq m 32 (349 sq ft)
Bedrooms:1
Bathrooms:1
BER:G
