A man in a wheelchair was able to turn an abandoned store into a dream home

Vyacheslav Minchanin, who lost his legs long ago and can only move around in a wheelchair or with prostheses, was able to turn an abandoned store into a beautiful and comfortable house.

The man is originally from Minsk, but all his life he dreamed of living in the countryside, but he had no place to live there.

In 2011, the universe made him a surprise: he got an opportunity to buy an old building in the village of Kotyaty, Minsk district, which used to be an ordinary store.

From the very beginning Vyacheslav planned a small production facility there. The thing is that the man had a small and very unusual business. He was in the business of scenting premises. That is, produced equipment and smells, with which the offices smelled of flowers and wood, and the stores smelled of freshly baked bread.

But the business didn’t go. And Vyacheslav had the idea to equip the premises into a residential house.

According to the man, he made this decision very quickly, since he did not have a house at the time. His friends and relatives thought he was crazy, but Vyacheslav was sure he would succeed. It took two long years just to process the documents. The man does not hide the fact that it was hard for him, he had his doubts, but over time everything worked out.

Since the store that Vyacheslav wanted to buy was unprofitable, the authorities decided to put it up for auction. This is how the man was lucky enough to purchase the building. He bought the building with an area of eighty-five square meters for ten thousand dollars.

In order to do the most labor-intensive work, the man enlisted the help of professional builders.

He says that it was possible to cope alone, but it is difficult to do certain things while in a wheelchair. Vyacheslav wanted to finish the work as soon as possible before his son turned seven. He wanted the boy to go straight to the local school.

As soon as the house was heated and had a place to sleep, Vyacheslav and his family moved. In Minsk, the man lived in an apartment building. He was able to go down on his own, but in order to get up he needed help. Vyacheslav decided that moving would help him not to depend on other people’s help. In the new house he would be able to get around on his own.

The man had money set aside. Without it, he would not have been able to reconstruct even this small house. The cost of repairs exceeded several times the price of the building itself. They expected that twenty thousand dollars would be enough. But as the construction progressed, it became clear that more money would be needed than had been planned. If Vyacheslav had been told that the new house would cost too much, he never would have started the work. In this regard, the man says that in any business, the main thing is not to be afraid and start. Then something will work out.

Vyacheslav and his wife were finishing the «newly-made» house together. The most interesting thing was that the man had never been involved in construction before. He did everything by watching videos on YouTube.

At the present time, the repairs in Vyacheslav’s house are still going on. The family plans to increase the size of the house in the future. They want to build a terrace to the house. The man enjoys doing all the work and is happy that he will not have to sit idle, there will be something to do.