{"id":425584,"date":"2026-04-30T17:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T17:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/425584\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T17:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T17:58:12","slug":"charming-off-beat-features-at-off-the-beaten-track-e445k-northside-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/425584\/","title":{"rendered":"Charming off-beat features at off-the-beaten track \u20ac445k northside home"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you\u2019ve got an older property with quirks and a few off-beat features it can be more refreshing to lean into them rather than try erase or ignore them.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly the case with 11 Woodland Villas, Alexandra Road. Built in the late 1800s, the current owners chose to celebrate the older elements of the house. So you\u2019ve got original floor tiles in the hall, you\u2019ve got original fireplaces enhanced with modern decor, and you\u2019ve got a cast-iron bath upstairs.<\/p>\n

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Bought by the current owners just over 23 years ago, it was their family home until the family expanded and they moved more rurally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had been derelict before we bought in 2002, but these houses were built by the barracks up the road for lieutenants in the army so they\u2019re good and solid,\u201d the owner notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe insulated everything possible and the house now has a C3 BER and it does really hold the heat well. We stripped and rewired, we replumbed the bathroom, updated the kitchen, replaced the doors, there were custom Marvin windows installed at the front.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Those windows and doors are now a zingy orange with the garden gate and garage door done to match.<\/p>\n

Some of the less visible work included insulating the attic, adding a new gas boiler in 2020, capping the chimney and adding a water filtration system.<\/p>\n

The owners \u2014 and their children \u2014 took on a fair bit of the work themselves: \u201cThe back room was quite dark and we started chipping down the plaster work and saw that it was lovely red brick underneath. As it\u2019s an adjoining wall we knew it wouldn\u2019t be cold so we worked away at exposing all that section of brick. We\u2019re talking blood, sweat, and tears there! It looked so nice when it was done though that we added a window and a little seat in that corner then.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A key change was making good, modern-day use of the across-the-road garden. \u201cWe took the top part of the garden and turned it into parking for two or even three cars \u2014 or a helipad as some of the neighbours have joked \u2014 and that\u2019s been a gamechanger. The old streets here can be quite tight so to be able to get two cars in right outside your house is ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n

And just beyond the garage, which new owners could look at converting into a kids\u2019 play den, gaming zone or home office, is a tidy-sized garden, giving this city-convenient house a bit of everything.<\/p>\n

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The wall between the two downstairs rooms was opened up, giving good light and flow through the ground floor. And a nifty little breakfast bar\/work station in the kitchen, right by a vertical radiator, helps create different zones for at-home workers or a quick cuppa. Upstairs there\u2019s the bathroom and three bedrooms \u2014 two doubles and a single.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat old bath is literally one of the reasons I bought this house in the first place. It\u2019s fabulous. When we had the builder in he added reinforced supports underneath so the weight isn\u2019t an issue now even when it\u2019s full.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other individualistic touches include repurposing wooden venetian blinds to make a modern-looking dining room chimney facade: \u201cMyself and my 19 year old did that job \u2014 and they\u2019re easy to remove too if new owners want.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople are really liking the location here \u2014 a quiet cul de sac but you\u2019ve got great proximity to the city and to St Lukes with all it has to offer, from Goodhood pizza restaurant, to wine bars and a butcher\u2019s and shops,\u201d says \u00c1ine McLoughlin of AML Property Services.<\/p>\n

\n VERDICT: Tucked away at the top of a quiet cul-de-sac, 11 Woodland Villas is literally off the beaten track, offering a sense of privacy that is perfectly mirrored by its off-beat and artistic interior. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you\u2019ve got an older property with quirks and a few off-beat features it can be more refreshing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,144464,61,60],"class_list":["post-425584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-house-of-the-week","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}