My £1 dream home: wife, 35, spent two years and £60,000 transforming a dilapidated house into her perfect path… after buying it for a bargain price in the basement
- Maxine Sharples, 35, bought a Victorian patio for just £1, but it needed work
- She spent two years and £60,000 transforming it and has now moved in
- Miss Sharples said ‘It’s been a long journey’ but an ‘amazing transformation’
The chance to buy a house for just £1 was too good to turn down – but there were a few catches.
The property picked up by Maxine Sharples was partially dilapidated, infested with rats and had holes in the roof, rotten windows and a tree growing in it.
But after two years of blood, sweat and tears, she’s transformed the Victorian terrace into her dream home for less than £60,000 – and she’s finally moved in.
Maxine Sharples transformed the Victorian terrace into her dream home for under £60,000
The 35-year-old is the latest resident to move into their £1 home as part of a Liverpool City Council refurbishment project.
Launched in 2013, it offered 130 derelict houses to locals for £1 on the condition that they renovate the properties and not sell them for at least five years.
Thousands signed up, including Miss Sharples, a university project manager and yoga teacher.
Heavy lifting: Miss Sharples goes to work
Abandoned: what house looked like at the start of a two-year project
Bright idea: the renovated Victorian terrace
She had a vision of turning the house upside down to create a light, plant-filled home. Interior walls and ceilings were removed to create a double-height open kitchen with living space above.
Skylights have been placed in the roof and the two bedrooms and bathroom have been moved downstairs.
“It’s a really great transformation,” said Miss Sharples. ‘It has been a long and arduous journey. There was a time last year when I got tired of cowboy builders and had to take a break. Many tears have certainly been shed, but it’s well worth it now that I can move in.’
Switch: the bathroom has been moved to the ground floor
Intimidating: in the dilapidated building during renovation
To save money, she lived in an RV or stayed with friends. Miss Sharples also took on some tasks herself during the lockdown, stripping the house to bare brick and using YouTube to learn how to mix concrete and lay bricks and underfloor heating.
Her home in the Wavertree area is now worth more than double what she paid to transform it.
But money isn’t everything. Miss Sharples said, ‘I can finally settle in a house that I have brought back to life.’