A Belfast woman has told how she completely transformed a property and managed to add an extra £100,000 to the home's value, all in just six months.
Carly Anderson bought a three-bed semi-detached in the Four Winds area of Belfast in December 2020 for £150,000 and started to plan an upgrade for each and every room of the house.
The Civil Servant explained: "The house while structurally sound, was tired and dated and needed a complete overhaul. There was an old wooden conservatory that looked like something straight out of a horror film and had a smell to match it."
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"I really wanted to create a quality home, that felt like a new house where I would love to live, but I didn’t want the expense or hassle of adding an extension."
After rounding up her tradesmen to complete the big job, work began in February 2021 and Carly identified the key areas of the home she wanted to completely transform.
She explained: "This house had one little oddity, only one bathroom and it was downstairs. I spotted an upstairs cupboard that I could extend and turn into an additional bathroom, which would save anyone having to run downstairs in the middle of the night."
Carly replaced the rotten wooden conservatory with a modern black UPVC 'cube' style room which was used as an additional living and entertaining space, with direct access to the garden.
She also increased the energy rating with a new PVC door, windows and a heating upgrade.
"There was a large amount of wasted space in the kitchen, I added a large island which doubled up as the dining area that could comfortably seat the whole family. This freed up other space to provide two separate lounge areas."
The outdoor area was next on Carly's list and set out to create a blissful garden area to enjoy the outdoors, particularly as it was during the Covid lockdown.
"I brought in a digger to level the grass area and I created a new patio area with wraparound fencing. This space was so important as we were in and out of lockdowns and outdoor space was a necessity," she added.
Determined to prove that she could add substantial value to the South Belfast home, Carly's eye for detail and interiors served her well.
“I had lots of opinions from people saying that I should just knock the conservatory down and give it a lick of paint and it would be fine to live in, they believed I would never reach over £200,000 for a semi-detached house in that area, but I stuck to my guns and knew that if it I created a quality home with a beautiful interior I could smash the sale prices in the street."
By the end of last July, Carly was over the moon to learn from local estate agents that she had increased the house value to £250,00 in only six months from purchase.
Since then, the 40-year-old has sold this house and went on to buy another home in the area where she is in the middle of an even bigger renovation project.
Asked for her advice for anyone tackling such a project, she said: “It can be daunting to take on such a huge project and often buyers are hesitant but try not to think about all the jobs you have to do, instead focus on each job, one step at a time.
"If you are going to take on a big project, you have got to be able to deal with minor inconveniences. In this one, the joiner burst a pipe nailing down the floorboards, the wrong windows were delivered and the kitchen arrived with only bottom cabinets. You just have to be resilient, sort it out and move on, after all, everything can be resolved."
You can see more of this renovation or follow Carly’s latest renovation on Instagram.
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