TAKEN on as a covid project by a woman used to working in and with small spaces was the Kinsale cute cottage, end of terrace 7 Mandeville Terrace off the top tourist town’s Bandon Road.

Tardis-like 7 Mandeville Terrace seems bigger on the inside than outside. Tardis-like 7 Mandeville Terrace seems bigger on the inside than outside.

Entrepreneurial and well-travelled grafter Tracy Keoghan has had a varied career, including sailing and crossing the Atlantic through storms on a 32’ Moody yacht, and more longer term working on super yachts for the rich and famous, for wealthy owners in many of the world’s sunny playgrounds, from the early 1990s up until 2005, and a return to Irish shores and Kinsale.

Among those who sailed on those super yachts in her time as guests were the likes of Italy’s Agnelli family of motor fame (Fiat, Ferrari etc), actors Demi Moore and Denzel Washington, banker John Morgan, and many more, all hosted in 50m+plus super yacht floating palaces — “soft sailing”, as Tracy (pictured here) observes.

Home and dry: Tracy Keoghan Home and dry: Tracy Keoghan 

The experience clearly stood to her. Post-crash, she opened the highly regarded Lemon Leaf cafe bar and townhouse accommodation on Kinsale’s Main Street, and in March this year branched out to open a smaller cafe at Kinsale’s 17th-century Charles Fort: “the OPW tells me it’s the only cafe within the walls of a National Monument.”

Time spent on boats and cabins also instilled an appreciation for working with limited spaces, hence she wasn’t a bit fazed when she came across the end-terrace century-old No 7 Mandeville Terrace back in 2020, all 750 sq ft of it, with rear yard.

Sliding barn door to storage space in the covered courtyardSliding barn door to storage space in the covered courtyard

It was in a pretty basic condition, and online searches show it as it then presented, when it came for sale with €185,000 AMV and trailing a lowly G BER, with electric heating.

The Price Register shows No 7 selling by September 2020 for €175,000 “and I was told by an auctioneer it was the last cheap house in Kinsale”, Tracy recalls.

And, so it came to pass, as her next door neighbour’s No 6 sold in 2022 for €230,000… also now looking quaintly cheap after years of strong price growth across the market, and more so in Kinsale than anywhere else.

It’s a different home now, not any bigger, but a whole lot lovelier, way more comfortable (the BER’s now up to a more acceptable D1) and a whole lot more ergonomic, and stylish.

In its new state, redone top to toe, No 7 went to market last week via Gobnait O’Connell of Engel & Volkers Kinsale with a €395,000 price and the omens look good for its sale in such an appealing, walk-in condition: E&V’s Instagram account had it topping 30,000 views by the first weekend, with hundreds of likes, shares, and downloads to date.

That’s many, many multiples of E&V’s usual social media interactions: they describe the response as “viral,” and while the price point may be one factor (the firm’s no stranger to €1m+ sales) they attribute its take-off to the owner’s skills and her property’s presentation.

Redone are floors (herringbone in quality laminate, with carpeted bedrooms) along with upgraded finishes, kitchen, bathroom, and built-ins, including banquette seating and a window seat with storage underneath.

Two on-trend sets of black glazed double doors — similar to the Crittall steel design — open to a now-enclosed rear courtyard, with glazing sourced via Rationel instead of the proprietary brand, still with quite a slender profile; also new is the front door, midships in the repainted front facade which bears the Abbey Lane address on a blue street plaque. 

Windows, previously replaced and double glazed, have been given an interior visual lift thanks to fitted painted shutters, plantation style, both on the two at street level and the two roof dormers above.

Behind, more out of sight, opening up the back courtyard like this was a game changer, creating a sort of half-way indoors/outdoors room, with polycarbonate roofing on timber lean-to supports up to a back exposed stone boundary wall, while to the side is a useful covered storage room for bins etc, with a door on a sliding runner, barn-style.

A layered interiors design look sets just the right tone of warmth.

There’s an open plan kitchen/living/dining, with ground floor bathroom with large walk-in shower and tiled floor, and dual access to the craftily covered courtyard. There are feature vertical radiators, exposed brick in a wall by the front door, and a carpeted stairs going to two first-floor bedrooms, each with built-ins.

VERDICT: Worth pushing the boat out for? No 7’s vendor worked on $1m plus yacht refits for wealthy boat owners, but at home in Kinsale her covid project kept things more grounded.

Pics: Jakub Walutek