273 Blarney Street, Cork is
Fully Rebuilt,
Fully Furnished, and
For Sale Sold!
What has it got?
A Living Room … Obviously
Features:
Bright, sun-lit double height space.
A reclining, swivel, rocking chair … everyone loves this chair.
A reclining sofa for cosying up with company 😉
The goal of any living room in Ireland is to feel spacious and airy during the bright summer days but warm and cosy during the cold winter nights.
The double height makes it feel spacious by day and the floor layout gives it that necessary cosy feeling at night.
Kitchen & Dining - the most important room
Features:
Designed to the natural cooking flow of: food storage -> prep -> cook -> clean.
A very solid, custom-built table. This table is made to take the odd bit of rough treatment.
A coffee machine because sometimes waiting more than 30 seconds for coffee is not an option.
Good kitchen layouts are often an afterthought during design.
Have you ever noticed how restaurant kitchens are compact, efficient spaces? That’s because if you’re a professional chef you know that you don’t want to do 10,000 steps just to make a salad.
This kitchen was designed inline with the natural flow of: food storage -> prep -> cook -> clean.
Mezzanine Office
Features:
Full office suite: desk, chair and monitor. The desk is custom made and can fold away.
A fully kitted out sofa bed for one, or two, guests.
The glass handrail and roof window keeps the space bright and feeling spacious.
This has been my office for the last 4 years and I can honestly say that it has been the best office I have ever worked in.
However, my previous offices didn’t have a day bed in them. That might be the reason.
Bedroom
Features:
Quiet. It’s a very quiet room. It’s sound insulated and positioned at the back of the house.
A bed, naturally, but it’s a sturdy, custom built bed. If you’re going to spend a third of your life in it, treat yourself to a decent one.
Built-in wardrobes, a dressing table, and mirrors, plenty of mirrors.
The stand out aspect of the room is it’s quiet.
The house is located on a mature residential part of Blarney Street, which makes it unexpectedly quiet for a house 15 minutes walk from the city centre.
Coupled with that, locating the room at the back of the house gives it an extra feeling of cosy, seclusion.
The Rest Inside
What’s left:
The WC with sink, shower, toilet and demisting mirror.
The Utility with a washing machine, a dryer, and storage.
Under stairs storage. Some people think this is very clever and others think that it’s creepy. Me, I just put my suitcases down there … honest … that’s all.
This house comes ready to be lived in.
For anyone who has never fully furnished a house from scratch, trust me, it takes triple the time and twice the money you're expecting.
And even for the most committed, shopaholic, amateur, interior decorator, eating your dinner while sitting on a bare floor waiting weeks for furniture to be delivered, gets old very quick.
Roof Deck
Features:
South facing and sheltered
Artificial grass; deep pile, carpet-like softness under bare feet.
Tables, chairs, sun loungers and external sockets, for all your afternoon cocktail needs.
I could describe the design details of this deck, how the roof structure is built to carry dozens of people, how the rubber underlay could withstand cattle, how the artificial grass has a 10 year guarantee, or even how the railing complies with very specific building regs.
But let’s be honest, you don’t care, you just want to know if you invite people over for drinks, will they be safe partying on your roof? The answer is yes, they definitely will.
The Rest Outside
What else:
Covered back yard for dry storage.
Parking. Easy parking usually outside the front door.
And pretty pink flowers because why not?
The back yard is covered with clear perspex making it a dry and bright outdoor space.
Most of the time there is parking outside the front door and, if not, it’s always within 50 steps of it.
The flowers, well, they just look nice.
Location, Location, Location for Social Life
Some highlights:
City centre for shopping and socialising: 15 min walk or 5 min taxi
Myo for a coffee by the river: 10 min walk
Fitzgerald Park and Lee Banks Walkway: 10 min walk
The location hits that sweet spot of close enough to town to be an easy stroll to pop in but far enough away to be quiet and relaxing.
So you don’t need a car to live here but if you do drive the north a south links are easily accessible without going through the city centre.
Location, Location, Location for Work
Some highlights:
Apple: 5 min drive, 10 min cycle, 15 min bus, 30 min walk
UCC Main Campus: 5 min cycle, 20 min walk
Mercy Hospital: 10 min walk
The house is close to some of Corks largest employers.
Many of my neighbours walk to work in the city and those going a bit further cycle and use electric scooters (or maybe they are just a little lazier 🙂).
The back yard is a secure place to store bikes and scooters.
Neighbours. The Best for Last.
The house is blessed with having good neighbours. I am really grateful for their friendliness, helpfulness, and how they make me feel like part of their community. For the past four years they played a big part in making 273 Blarney Street feel like home to me.
When neighbours knock on your door to let you know that you’ve mistakenly left your key in the outside lock, you know your in a good place.
So thank you to (in alphabetical order so I won’t get in trouble 🙂):
Billy and Breda
Bill
Christine
Denis
Eimear
John
Justin and Sandra
Martin and Monica
Monica
Paddy & Jamsie
Stephanie
Timmy
