How to give a red-brick Edwardian home a makeover in 48 hours

Asking price: €550,000

Agent: Movehome (01) 8844690

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but a red-brick Dublin Edwardian can be completely upstyled in two, it seems.

Professional home stager Sarah Evers was recently called in to transform the look of a 1900s-built red-brick family home at Fitzroy Avenue in Drumcondra, Dublin 3, to optimise it for sale, with 48 hours to do it.

Having had a look around No68 weeks previously, Evers handed the owners a list of prep work for painting and decoration before calling her trucks in with all the furniture, mirrors, lamps, throws, shades and ornaments required to complete its new look.

“The advantage was that I was starting with a house that already had a pretty cool vibe inside,” she says. “A great canvas to work with. Some aspects of the interiors were a bit dated but generally, it was pretty good.”

Buyers love Dublin’s Edwardian homes for four reasons. First, they embody much of the grand scale of the preceding Victorian era, minus the elaborate internal styling fuss. Room finishes are clean and cool, as Evers says, without stucco spaghetti.

Second, comes the craftsmanship. The early 1900s was peak arts and crafts in Dublin, which put quality of workmanship on a pedestal.

Third, the Edwardian era was the first to produce period homes with a layout that suits modern living today. There are no dark basements or crampy dormer attics.

Finally, there’s location. Because of this period in the city’s development, an Edwardian home is usually located outside the city centre, but centrally enough to walk to it. In this case, Drumcondra ticks all boxes.

Home stager Evers would also argue that those stylishly clean rooms lend themselves equally well to more modern furnishings, not least her much favoured mid-century modern retro looks.

This early 1900s red-brick was most likely built by the very reputable construction outfit of Stringer, whose hallmarks include a crisp and durably sealed orange brick and rough textured silver granite mounts over the windows with a pleasing glint of mica.

Such was master builder Thomas Stringer’s efforts to top the quality charts that his long-extinct construction outfit (he died in 1925) is still very much a ‘live’ brand today when it comes to housebuyers.

While Stringer took his time getting things right, Evers had to act promptly. The three-bedroom house spans 1,130 sq ft, which places it in the ‘average’ size realm for Evers.

“I can do a small house in a day and a larger home could take three or more, but two days would sort out No68.”

Evers’ list of prep work for the owners included painting over two bright purple feature walls around the fireplace breasts in the main receptions.

Both timber surround chimney pieces were painted, white in the front room and black in the rear.

“Feature walls are dated now. You need to keep a degree of neutrality when presenting a house for sale. I worked with the existing pale mauve/lilac colour on the rest of the walls.

“I removed the curtains (they eat up space) and installed roller blinds instead, which are less intrusive and don’t kill the light like plantation shutters.

“I removed the standard alcove shelving and installed some more stylised versions and had them painted in the same lilac.

“I did all I could in this room to add brightness with whites and chromes in the pieces arrayed on the shelves, and with the huge off-white rug added to the floor. So I put up floral prints, but made sure they were mirror-framed, along with a silver grey pendant light.”

For a bit of fizz, she installed a brass and bamboo hostess trolley. A brass and glass side table from Mindy Brownes in Mullingar brought a slight whiff of Eileen Gray and Evers coupled it with an ephemeral standard lamp.

On the other side, a large brass and glass console table is anchored with two very large lamps.

A pop of colour is provided by two mid-century-style Jasper brown leather sofas, and a soft texture off-white boucle armchair (all from Vida) completed the look.

In the hall, Evers stuck with the mid-century look, going for a narrow marble top metal leg console with a thin yellow shaded lamp and some modern sculptural ornaments.

Two black frame circular mirrors complete the look and help with bouncing in the light.

In the dining room space, she installed a mid-century-style rounded stone top pod leg table and four boucle barefoot dining chairs. “We’re tying to keep things light and bright.”

A particular challenge was the owner’s workshop and utility, a long extension room linked into the kitchen.

“Like any workshop, it had a fluorescent strip light, which we changed. The ceiling was skimmed by the owner and a new floor put down. We left the utility area on one end, but turned the other into a relaxing work space with the help of a small ebonied antique writing desk and a lime sofa/futon bed.”

A large Persian-style rug completes the effect.

Finally, the upstairs landing, which offered a decent-sized space, was utilised with a mid-century walnut desk/workstation.

The accommodation includes a living room and linked dining room, both with tiled period chimney pieces. The latter room blends on to the kitchen with its black gloss units.

There’s a downstairs WC and a fourth bedroom or home office/playroom (formerly the workshop), which overlooks the home’s outside courtyard area.

On the first-floor return is the family bathroom with a power shower. Up again on the first floor are two double bedrooms and a single.

Fitzroy Avenue is located off Clonliffe Road, close to Croke Park, Clontarf Golf Club, Morton Stadium, Clontarf rugby and cricket clubs and the train station. The seafront and city centre are within walking distance. Moovehome seeks €550,000.

For Sarah Evers’ services, see stagingyourhomeforsale.ie.