First-time buyers turn 'dated' £230,000 home into something very different

First-time buyers often have two choices when it comes to buying their first property. They can either opt for a new-build, which means minimal work and a blank canvas to make their own, or a doer-upper, which are generally cheaper to buy, but will require time and money put into doing it up.

After renting in various apartments for 12 years, Carrie Boyd-Shah, 34, and her husband decided it was finally time to get a foot on the property ladder, and set out to find a 'move-in ready' home. But due to their budget being stretched, their house hunt took a 360 turn and they ended up buying a 'dated' home that required a full renovation.

After a huge DIY project, the couple have now transformed the 'old-fashioned' house that they bought for £230,000 into something completely different - a modern 'maximalist' family home. Mum-of-two Carrie spoke to the Manchester Evening News as part of our weekly Where I Live series, where we chat to a different homeowner about their buying and renovation journey.

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Carrie, who is originally from Belfast, has lived in Greater Manchester since 2011. After meeting her husband, the pair rented apartments in various parts of the region - from Didsbury to Sale, where they lived for seven years.

"After we had our second child, we started thinking that maybe it was time to buy," Carrie told the Manchester Evening News. "But as you know, family life and paying bills and everything else takes priority, so it was only really about three or four years ago when we thought we needed to knuckle down now and start saving for a deposit.

"We were