Espinho | House in Espinho, Portugal

The first time we saw this house inside, we immediately fell in love with it!
It's a typical house of Porto region from the 1st half of the XX century, straight and tall (high ceilings), symmetric, with a long and large corridor along with the whole house. Rooms have 2 doors, closing towards each other, resulting in a very pleasant feeling of space when both doors are open. It feels like you're living in an open space, but with walls and rooms. You should try it yourself to get the feeling!
This house, in particular, has 7 major advantages:
1. it faces 2 streets: street 10 and street 12, which results in a higher amount of natural light all over the day. That's why we have decided to call it ten2twelve! On bedroom 3 we have installed an electric Velux window on the rooftop, turned to the sunny south, which increases the feeling of light all over the house when its doors are open. This window shuts down automatically in case of rain;
2. It has the best possible solar orientation, with the 2 main bedrooms facing east and living room, kitchen and balcony facing west. Bedroom 3 (we call it the kid's bedroom) faces south as explained above;
3. Its location is precious: 2 minutes walking to the train station and only 3 minutes walking to the beach, supermarket and city center (shopping area). And it is located in a calm and possibly the most beautiful street of Espinho;
4. Private parking. A rare commodity in the area and a very useful resource, considering the difficulty to park by the beach. You can park your car directly in front of the garage or in the garage itself (parking starts 10 minutes before check-in time and ends up immediately after check-out time);
5. It is suitable for big families or 2 families making holidays together;
6. Fully equipped kitchen + laundry area + bikes' area + self-service baby equipment;
7. It's basically brand new, considering that it was renewed end of 2019. To make sure the final result would be according to my standards and tastes, I decided to head the reconstruction project myself. I tried to keep its original character, though giving a modern and comfortable touch at the same time. We had to work on each ceiling and wall of the house. Most ceilings have now thermic isolation. The only exception is in bedroom 1 and 2 because as you can see in one of the pictures, it has a historical ceiling made of plaster. It would have been a shame to eliminate it.
There are 2 floors:
- 1st floor: bedrooms, bathrooms, living room, kitchen and porch.
- ground floor: garage, laundry area, bikes area and self-service baby equipment.
Neighborhood:
this house is located in probably one of the most beautiful and convenient streets of Espinho. It is really pleasant to stay in a quiet, beautiful, sunny street and at the same time to be so close to the beach, to the train station and the city center. There is a huge diversity of restaurants nearby, some fancier, others more affordable. For your breakfast, there are bakeries across the street.
Espinho Train Station is just 2 minutes away. From there, you can reach Porto in 20 minutes on a direct train. Other cities can also be reached directly from Espinho, like Aveiro, Coimbra, Lisbon, Braga, Guimarães, etc.