A WOMAN who hit “rock bottom” bought a “crumbling pile of bricks” for just £1 and turned it into her dream home.
Maxine Sharples snapped up the home in Merseyside infested with rats, rotten windows and sporting holes in the roof.
The £1 property had been abandoned for 15 years but it didn’t stop the 36-year-old transforming the run-down house into a home.
Speaking to the CNBC Make It channel on YouTube, Maxine described how the property had “water ingress” and the “brickwork was crumbling”.
She added: “There was a lot of work to be done.
“I fell in love with it, it was my crumbling pile of bricks.”
But Maxine turned her rags into riches after completing an incredible renovation of the dilapidated property after being given the keys in 2020.
She turned the Victorian terrace into her dream home for less than £60,000 before finally moving in.
The 36-year-old is the last resident to move into their £1 home as part of a regeneration project by Liverpool City Council.
Launched in 2013, it offered 130 derelict houses to locals for £1 on condition they renovated the properties and did not sell for at least five years.
Thousands applied including Maxine, who was a university project manager and yoga teacher at the time.
She had a vision of flipping the house upside down to create a light, plant-filled home.
Internal walls and ceilings were knocked through to create an open plan, double-height kitchen with living space upstairs.
Skylights were put in the roof and the two bedrooms and bathroom were shifted downstairs.
Maxine quit her full-time job to do the renovations herself in May 2020.
To save money, she lived in a camper van or stayed with friends.
Maxine also took on some of the tasks herself during lockdown, stripping the house down 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.
It comes after a couple shared their home renovation journey after they turned a derelict Victorian house into an adorable cosy cottage.
Dominique and Shaun shared their home renovation journey via videos posted to their TikTok channel @cottagerenovationcwmrhys.
And another couple showed off the home transformation they underwent after buying a 1940s rundown bungalow.
Luke Wells and his girlfriend, from Bournemouth bought the dated house complete with a lemon yellow bathroom and grubby garage but made it look completely new in just nine months.
Taking to social media, the couple showed off the renovation.
The bathroom appliances were all lemon yellow while the kitchen was kitted with 70s style mahogany wood cupboards.
It was clear that the bungalow hadn’t been touched for a long time and was in need of some TLC.
