I bought a crumbling Victorian townhouse for $18,000 and transformed it into my dream home — see inside

• Betsy Sweeny bought a 3,025-square-foot crumbling Victorian house when she was 27 for only $18,000.
• She spent the past 2 ½ years rehabilitating the property to create her dream home.
• Here's how she managed the project, from how she financed it to before and after photos.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Betsy Sweeny, a 30-year-old historian in Wheeling, West Virginia, about restoring a 19th-century house. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm an architectural historian. I've always wanted to live in and work on an old house — something in a historic neighborhood that fit the lifestyle I wanted and my budget.