It can be difficult to know exactly what you are looking for when it comes to buying your first house. Some people opt for a new build home that is near enough ready to move straight into, whereas others prefer to take on the task of renovating an older property.
Despite there being pros and cons to both options, one positive of buying a period property is that you can often strip it all back and make it your own unique space, all whilst taking advantage of the character and original features that the house has to offer.
First-time buyers Lou Crane, 34 and Ryan, 26, bought a 115-year-old house in Cheshire back in 2021 and ever since they have been restoring and transforming it to suit their authentic style. Lou spoke to the Manchester Evening News, as part of our Where I Live series, to tell us about their home-buying journey and the costs involved; whilst showing us inside to see how they've renovated.
READ MORE: The Greater Manchester house transformed on a £10,000 budget
Lou who is originally from Stoke-on-Trent and her partner Ryan, from Winsford, Cheshire, rented with some friends in Monton, Salford whilst saving up to buy their first home together.
The couple then rented their friend's apartment in Northenden, Manchester, for a short while before deciding it was time to start house-hunting.
“We lived and rented with some friends in Monton and then decided to rent my friend’s apartment for one last summer before we bought a property," Lou told the Manchester Evening News.
"But then lockdown hit and so we found ourselves in a glass apartment with no garden or balcony, working and living in the same open plan space. We then decided to move out to Cheshire and rented a property there first before looking to buy."
Lou and Ryan knew exactly where they wanted to live, but had different ideas of what they wanted for their first house.
"We knew we wanted to live this end of the north because it's near to Ryan's family and it’s also just a nice middle ground. We can get to Altrincham in 20 minutes, Liverpool in 35 minutes and Manchester in 30 minutes, and we’ve got countryside ten minutes the other way," said Lou.
"But the problem was that we had different ideas of what we wanted. Ryan liked a new build and I always loved period properties so I had to try to find one that I could convince him on."
Due to the market being so competitive during the pandemic, and the couple not being able to agree, they gave up viewing for a while.
"It was a bit of a nightmare with the pandemic because the market just went really crazy. We only viewed about two or three in total as it was hard to get Ryan to view anything because he was determined that he didn't want to live in a period house," Lou explained.
"We stopped looking for a little while and then this house just came out of nowhere in October 2021. I saw it and just fell in love."
Lou came across a four-bed semi-detached house in Northwich which was on the market for £270,000 and had all of the original features that she loved.
“I just love a period property and I knew I wanted a massive project to keep me busy since I was no longer living near my friends in Manchester," she said.
"When we viewed it it was all structurally sound but the people who lived here before us had a very eclectic style and the colours were just bonkers. One room was yellow, the next room was green and another was blue, and it was colour from the floor to the ceiling.
"I just saw so much potential in it because it had lots of original features from the windows to the fireplace, parquet flooring and picture rails. So from a restoration perspective it had loads of really good gems that we could bring back to life."
The couple put an offer in for £265,000 which was accepted and the buying process ran very smoothly.
“We were the first people to view the house so as soon as we did we put an offer in and asked them to take it off the market," Lou said.
"We bought it for £265,000 which was probably at the higher end of our budget. The mortgage process was super easy but I was really lucky as my friend is a mortgage broker and my other friend is a solicitor.
"We were in our house in two and a half months."
The couple got the keys to their first home in January 2022 and began transforming it room by room.
"We did the living room first because it was a case of needing one room that we could retreat to amid the chaos," Lou said.
"We then painted the rest of the house with a white base coat because all of the colours were just too much. We moved from room to room so after the living room we then did the guest bedroom because I wanted a nice space for people to stay in."
With no budget left for renovating, Lou and Ryan relied on their income each month and did the majority of work on the house through DIY.
“It's been really challenging because we haven't had anyone in to do work apart from an electrician. We've done everything else ourselves from restoring the floors to painting, panelling and I recently built wardrobes in the dressing room," Lou said.
"We have never done this before so Google has been my best friend as well as some sheer determination. I don't think there's anything I can't do.
"The floors were the biggest job because we restored two rooms with parquet flooring and three rooms with original floorboards. All the floors were really uneven so you couldn't really hire a floor sander, we had to do it all by hand."
The couple are still in the midst of renovating but Lou says she thinks they have spent around £6,000 on their home in total so far.
"We've never had a budget, we basically put an amount into our joint bank account every month," she explained.
"That pays the mortgage, bills and food shop and then whatever's left over is what we use that month to do any of the jobs around the house.
"We didn’t come into this with a pot of money. If we hadn't done this ourselves then we would still be on the living room. We've had to work out how to do things in a cost-effective way."
Lou is thrilled with how their home is coming together and is excited for the remainder of the renovations.
“I love how it looks and how we’ve done it. We know this isn't our forever home but I also haven't done it up to sell it. I've just done what makes us happy and I think that's the best thing you can ever do," she said.
"I'd say our style represents the period of the house but with a modern twist. A lot of it came from my own ideas but I also took inspiration from Instagram.
Lou added: “Our house is traditional in its features but so modern in its style and I love the way that we've used colours and patterns.
"Every room is different and there's no set theme. You could come into each individual room and think you're in a different house because it just expresses a different side of our personality which I think makes it so special.
"We've still got the hallway, stairs and landing, the bathroom and the top bedroom to do and then eventually we want to landscape the gardens."
Giving a tour around their home, Lou explained: "When you come through the back door you've got a large farmhouse kitchen which was extended by its previous owners. There's a downstairs bathroom and cloakroom as well.
"From the kitchen you enter the living room which is at the centre of the house with the main chimney in the middle, and then you come out the living room into a hallway.
"We've then got a front reception room which I call the green room which is our disco office. This is my favourite room just because it's so multifunctional.
"I don't think you should have a room that you can't use at the weekend as well as during the week, so it’s an office in the week and then it’s got a bar and a disco ball hanging from the ceiling so on the weekends it is our party room."
Lou continued with the tour: "If you go up the stairs straight down the corridor you've got a guest room. You've got the main bathroom to your right, you've got the dressing room and then at the front of the house is the master bedroom.
"Then we've got another set of stars that go up to the top floor to the other guest bedroom."
Having bought their house whilst paying rent, Lou and Ryan have proved that it is still possible to save and get on the property ladder this way.
Giving advice to other first-time buyers, Lou said: "Often nobody wants to house share but if you can do what we did for a couple of years and rent with friends then it definitely helped us to save more money.
"Having a Help to Buy ISA also helped, although we didn't manage to get the extra bonus from the government because ours was over the threshold, but having that direct debit going out every month really built up and after a while you don’t realise it’s coming out."
Lou also recommends people try their hand at DIY: “I genuinely believe there's nothing you can't do yourself. Everything takes 10 times longer but if you're willing to invest the time, you will save so much money.
"We could have had everything done so much quicker but it's also really fun. It's nice to sit back and look at it and go 'I did that myself'. Just invest in good tools and then they’ll last forever and do 20 different jobs for you."
You can view more of Lou’s home on her Instagram account @notaperioddrama.
Want to get involved in Where I Live? If you are interested in featuring your home in our weekly series, please email your details to phoebe.jobling@reachplc.com.
Sign up to our free weekly property newsletter by clicking here
READ MORE:
First-time buyer transforms dated £225,000 Victorian terrace into Instagrammable pad
'We had to pay a full year of our £1,150 a month rent upfront to get our flat in Manchester'
‘We bought a run-down rental for £205,000 and transformed it into our dream family home’
'I've been an avid saver ever since my paper round at 14 - now I've bought my own £139,000 home'
'My £49,000 deposit wouldn't go far in London - so I found my perfect loft apartment in Manchester'
