Mum transforms ‘worst house on the street’ and adds £153,000 to property value

A DIY-loving mum has shared how she completely transformed her “derelict” period house increasing the value by £153,000.

Hannah Janikiewicz, 41, from Wirral, purchased her four-bedroom Victorian home in 2013 for £347,000 with plans to transform the space entirely.

The mum-of-three and her husband were eager to get started on the renovation the moment they got their hands on the keys, with their first task being to knock through the two bathrooms to make one large family bathroom.

They also re-wired the house, stripped all of the wallpaper from the walls in every room, sanded the floorboards, re-plastered and re-decorated to their tastes.

They got the house to a liveable state before Hannah’s husband’s work required them to move to Qatar.

The family – including their children Isabella, 9, Xabi, 7, and five-year-old Miller – rented the property out for the following five years, returning in 2018 for good.

By the summer of 2020, they finally had enough time to make their house a home and started a “massive” renovation project – which saw them reconfigure the layout of the downstairs of the property, knocking through the kitchen and dining room and removing five chimney breasts.

The house also needed a full rewire, new plumbing, new floors and windows – as well as a full redecoration to bring it up to scratch.

The family also decided to take out a double garage in the garden to open up the space.

“I wanted to create a large, bright, usable space for the family,” Hannah, who works as a project manager, said.

“We wanted to be really sympathetic with the original features and so had all the sash windows restored with double glazing.

“We reinstated an original fireplace in the front room as it had a 1930s one which wasn’t the right age for the house.

“We are finished with renovations for the moment.

“We are living and using the house totally differently now the downstairs works in such a better way for modern family life.

“The difference is unbelievable.

“It was one of the worst houses on the street, all the sandstone had either crumbled away or cracked, we had scaffolding up for seven months whilst stone masons painstakingly rebuilt it all to reflect how it would have looked originally.”

Hannah hired tradespeople while she home-schooled her children throughout lockdown, but pitched in with DIY jobs wherever she could.

The mum upcycled furniture including an old piano her daughter was gifted, which she transformed into a chic black organ, as well as painting parts of the home herself.

Hannah also created a fluted coffee table for the lounge.

She made a basic table out of MDF and sourced fluted cardboard that she then glued around the legs and painted black.

Other items around the house that have been upcycled include a sideboard, artwork and prints – all of which Hannah spruced up with a lick of paint.

She also came up with a clever wall light hack that doesn’t require any electricity.

She said: “I couldn’t face any more rewiring so I sourced two wall lights that I knew I could put in a battery-operated, remote control light.

“I stuck them in instead of a bulb and they were mounted on the wall.”

Despite struggling to juggle home-schooling with project managing the renovations, Hannah’s hard work has clearly paid off, with her home almost unrecognisable.

A self-confessed lover of all things monochrome, Hannah has upgraded the kitchen from a cramped space with dated cream and wooden cabinets to a stunning black-and-white sanctuary for the whole family to enjoy.

The open-plan design features a large marble quartz island, lit by dangling gold light fixtures and surrounded by black cabinets and appliances.

Directly behind it is a large wooden dining table, with French doors leading into the garden – drenching the room in natural light.

The lounge has undergone an equally dramatic transformation, with dated magenta walls and a patterned carpet removed in favour of herringbone flooring and fresh cream panelled walls.

The original stained-glass windows were retained by the family, offering a pleasant pop of colour to the room.

Upstairs, two small bathrooms were knocked to create one large, family bathroom – featuring stunning beige tiles, a large white tub and funky framed prints.

The master bedroom, once home to tired pink wallpaper and a black fireplace, was painted in fresh light tones with a seating area under the bay windows making perfect use of the natural light.

In the garden, as well as the garage being ripped out, the family ripped down the old fence and put in a new one, as well as a patio, Astroturf and three raised planters.

The exterior also saw a major makeover with sandstone-coloured paint to protect it, as well as newly-painted window frames, the added touch of a dark door to show off the colour of the walls and a driveway was created.

In total, the family have spent £85,000 on the transformation.

After having the property valued recently, they found they had increased its value by £153,000, with a new value of £585,000.

The family plan to continue the transformation with a loft conversion for 2023.