A couple have spent $20k turning the "worst house on the block" into their dream home - with skills they learned watching YouTube. "

Chris Hennessey, 36, and his wife, Athena, 34, bought their three-bedroom house in Chicago, Illinois, US, in June 2023, for $370k.

They claim it was the "worst house on the block" - as it was outdated and unkept - and started renovating by ripping up the flooring."

After refurbishing the original wood flooring and making the kitchen functional, the pair moved into the house in September 2023 and have been living in it while renovating.

Since buying the house, the couple have rewired all the electrics, reworked the plumbing, and added a bathroom - through skills that Chris learnt in education and YouTube videos.

The couple say they are close to finishing and would like to turn the basement into an office, and their attic into a spare room or play space for their unborn baby who is due in February 2025.

The couple has spent $20k transforming the property using savings and their salaries.

Athena, a post-production artist, said: "We fell in love with the house straight away, we were definitely looking for a fixer-upper."

"We started renovating on day one and moved into the house in September 2023."

"Through the renovation, we have definitely formed a special relationship."

"Doing something on this scale could either make or break a couple. I feel like this has made us stronger and more creative."

Athena and Chris say they fell in love with the house before they bought it in June 2023 for $370k.

On the first day of owning the house, they removed all the carpets to expose the original hardwood floors and refinished them before moving in September 2023.

Chris said: "The floors were the first thing we tackled, we ripped up all the carpet to expose the original hardwood."

"We then proceeded to tackle the flooring throughout the house, we figured if we could get those floors done and the kitchen working we would be able to move in."

Athena said the couple have touched "every square inch" of the house to transform it into their dream home."

They have completely transformed the house - including rewiring the electrics, installing new plumbing and adding a bathroom.

Chris said: "We have pretty much changed every inch of the house, our biggest renovations were the dining room, we put some very dramatic wallpaper in there and built a custom bookcase."

"We sealed up the old entrance at the back of the house and used that space to create a bathroom with a full bath and shower."

"Then we completely gutted the kitchen, reconfigured the appliances repurposed all the low cabinets and added some cool modern metal upper cabinets."

"We ran new electrics throughout the whole house, it was a fire hazard and decrepit - that was a huge project too."

The couple say the renovation was not smooth sailing as the basement flooded in their first week and the plaster walls in the house were crumbling apart.

Athena said: "The majority of the walls in the house are made of plaster, the house is so old, fragile and crumbly."

"We did the best we could to repair it and have used wallpaper in most rooms in the house to hold everything together."

Chris added: "In our first week we had an absolute downpour. "

"When we did the walk-through of the house we couldn't see any visible water damage and then in the first week, we flooded."

"That was a moment like 'oh no, what do we do?'."

"I ended up going downstairs and water-sealing the foundation of the house. We had to rip up the backyard to make it drain better, and we haven't had a problem since."

Chris and Athena have nearly completed the renovation and only have the basement, attic and bathroom left to transform.

Since starting the project, the couple spent $20k and have done most of the renovations in the evening or on the weekends.

Chris said: "We haven't done any major renovations to our living space, we plan on building a fireplace with some built-in bookcases next to it."

"I am going to have the basement finished soon, I am currently in the process of turning that into a work-from-home space for us."

"Finishing the bathroom was a major milestone for us, it is one of the first spaces I feel like we have nothing left to do in there."

"The fact we have done this in our spare time on a realistic budget of $20k is incredible to us."