I turned a derelict garage that people used as a loo into a stunning 2-bed home – I ended up in A&E but saved thousands
MANY people would shy away from a rotten garage that people had been urinating in – but Georgina Burnett saw its potential.
The savvy home whizz – who posts online as The Home Genie – revealed how she transformed it into a stunning two-bedroom home.
Hailing it as her most challenging project to date, Georgia shared how she had owned the garage as part of a seven-bedroom property she had nearby in Kent.
She said on YouTube: “Because it was near a station, people often used it as a toilet.
“Sadly, the garage was too rotten to save but I decided I could probably make something of it – so I built what is essentially a two-bedroom property.”
Georgina now uses the space as a workplace and as guest accommodation which she rents on Airbnb – and saved thousands by using mainly recycled materials.
The home whizz told Fabulous: “The plan really was for it to be my studio but that all evolved as we were building it and realised it was going to be pretty spacious.”
To add light into the dingy garage, she added a skylight and bifold doors which help sunlight to flood inside.
She said: “I rescue and repurpose whenever I can. I’ve jumped into skips to save Victorian picture rails so they can be reused.
“That’s really important, not only because of the history of a house, but because it just feels wrong to throw away something that works.”
The two-bedroom home now has a gorgeous blue door which leads into the airy living space.
Speaking of her lounge, she told Metro: “This is filled with either preloved or former display furniture.
“There are two little round side tables that were left on the street.”
All she did to the tables, which she called her “pride and joy”, was give them a lick of paint and add a marble effect on them.
She also has a homemade chandelier made from an old bike wheel that she painted gold.
Meanwhile her TV stand was from a charity shop and she painted it white.
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She added: “This is the great thing about upcycling – if you can’t find what you need, you can just make something into what you need for next to nothing.”
Georgina has one bedroom on the top floor, and the other on the bottom, and they were decorated with bargain finds too.
The plan really was for it to be my studio but that all evolved as we were building it and realised it was going to be pretty spacious
Georgina Burnett
The plan really was for it to be my studio but that all evolved as we were building it and realised it was going to be pretty spacious.”
The top bedroom’s headboard was from a charity shop and she stapled a nicer fabric on top, and she also got side tables for both rooms secondhand too.
The task “took minutes” and will have saved her hundreds of pounds”, she claimed.
Georgina revealed she had an injury when doing the artwork in her bottom bedroom, and explained: “I ended up stubbing my toe, dislocating it and having to go to A&E, which was so inconvenient considering I hadn’t finished the artwork at the time.”
In total, the work took one year and £100,000, but is now a gorgeous property.
However, she loves the finished result and said: “It’s far more spacious than I could have imagined but also goes to prove that homes can be made out of the most unexpected buildings.”