This Portobello house from RTÉ’s Home of the Year is on sale for €1.5 million

Dating from the 1830s, 29 Heytesbury Street in Portobello is a period property that has been carefully updated to make it a comfortable home. You may recognise it as a finalist from this year’s RTÉ’s Home of the Year competition. 

Although it was not awarded the overall title, judges Hugh Wallace, Suzie McAdam and Amanda Bone admired its use of colour and the sense of personality throughout.

The pink front door sets the tone for the rest of the house, and you enter into a hallway with three arches and a ceiling reaching to 11 feet. A gold-plated cast-iron radiator contrasts with the original floorboards, which were supplemented with carefully-matched replacements where required.

The main reception room has an Italian Carrara marble fireplace, and a sash window with original shutters. The main bedroom is also on this level, sitting at the back of the house. It too has a fireplace, sash window, shutters and decorative coving, while a Juliet balcony looks out to the back garden. 

There is also a second double bedroom, as well as a bathroom with a rain-style shower and a skylight adding brightness.

The restored mahogany staircase brings you down to the garden level, where the kitchen and dining space is. The wooden kitchen units are handmade, and painted in Farrow & Ball’s Rectory Red and Lamp Room Gray. 

An Aga sits pride of place within an exposed stone wall, while the beautiful herringbone oak floor was reclaimed from a church in Belfast. A pantry cupboard and a Belfast sink are also attractive features.

Under the stairs is a clever utility area, while the third bedroom and a second bathroom are also located on this level. Outside, the walled garden has three distinct sections, with space for seating as well as many plants.

At the end of the garden is the ‘Barn Suite’, an additional space that the current owners use as a home office but could be put to many different uses, as it also has a bedroom with an ensuite. Through this space there is also access to a communal residents’ garden. 

This home will be auctioned digitally through DNG on June 30, with a disclosed reserve of €1.5 million.