Professional renovator, known as 'The Space Man', Wesley O'Brien flexes his skills at his family home to create a house ready to move into, in Cabra, Dublin 7
Address: 100 Quarry Road, Cabra, Dublin 7, D07 ACW6
Asking price: €540,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald
Set in a small cul-de-sac, number 100 Quarry Road is an end-of-terrace three-bedroom, two-bathroom property.
It has potential to extend for it boasts a generously sized front, has about four metres of a side garden and a south-facing rear with scope to expand out to the side and back in time.
But for now, it has everything you could need in a home, all lovingly refreshed for sale by professional renovator Wesley O’Brien.
He acquired the nickname “The Space Man” for his ability to see the opportunity in existing spaces, reimagining footprints and floor plans to create a better sense of flow.
He started off renovating small cottages and two-up, two-down terraced houses in another part of Dublin 7, Stoneybatter.
O’Brien estimates he’s done about 25 of these and has since graduated to much bigger jobs.
But his heart has always been in Dublin 7.
He grew up in this house, which is situated across the road from what was the Cabra Grand, a 1600-seat cinema designed by Samuel Lyons of Henry J. Lyons.
While emotionally involved in number 100 Quarry Road, a house that was built in 1934 for ex-servicemen by the Irish Soldiers and Sailors Land Trust.
O’Brien’s father, Paddy O'Brien, who saw action in World War II in the Far East, bought it in 1955 from another war veteran.
And Wesley has brought a sense of military precision to the property with a level of polish and finish that would-be sellers should try and replicate.
The property has been rewired and has had kitchen and bathroom upgrades in the last 10 years.
The living part of the house is now open plan and dual aspect. It runs the depth of the property but is broken into zones.
The living room is to the front with a stove set into a chimney surround.
The entire house has been painted for sale using Fleetwood’s new Prestige range, selected by Wesley’s daughter, who is a colour expert.
There’s an eat-in kitchen to the rear where doors open out to the large, south-facing garden.
A rear extension was added in the early 1970s.
This now houses bedroom number three and a bathroom, which means you could rent a room, and all parties would enjoy a degree of privacy.
Upstairs, there are two further double bedrooms and a bathroom.
It has lovely period details, including a cast-iron fireplace in the principal bedroom, four-panel internal doors with balloon handles and the distinctive sloped quarry-tiled windowsills, preserved in their natural state.
The D2 Ber-rated property, which extends to 85 square metres, is seeking €540,000 through agents Sherry FitzGerald.
“The next owner is getting a house they can move into,” he says.
