We’ve all seen various shows that document the transformation of a home or place into something truly astonishing such as Extreme Home Makeover, Flip or Flop, Flipping Out, Property Brothers, Fixer Upper, and so many more. As the viewers, we love to watch these shows because it inspires us to see what we can do in our own homes, as well as, even show us tips and tricks if we wanted to try flipping houses ourselves or even if we have the budget to build our own dream home.

In the hills of Worcestershire, a 38-year-old named Angelo Mastropietro transformed a 250 million-year-old cave in the Wyre Forest into a caveman’s dream home.

In 2007, Angelo was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that left him temporarily paralyzed and eventually inspiring him to switch from living the high life running a successful recruitment company in Australia to seeking a simpler life deep in the forest of the UK. In his own words, Angelo described this moment in his life as,

“Had a lapse that left me paralyzed essentially which was really the catalyst to make me review where I was at where I was going…”

So he set his gaze upon transforming the same cave that reportedly inspired Tolkein while he wrote the epic fantasy novel Lord of the Rings.

After switching his lifestyle, Angelo decided he was not only going to transform this cave but do most of the work himself.

“In the end, I spent somewhere around 1000 hours basically breaking rocks, cutting rocks, burrowing rocks. You know to total around 70 or 80 tons of rubble that I excavated out of this rock house by hand, and real proof of that is the whole of the terrace outside, is literally 100 square meters of terrace out there. None of that was there when I started .”

He notes the most impressive things about the house are the things you don’t see such as ventilation channels in the floor, as well as, keeping the integrity of the rock house by not cutting in any casings to hide wires.

Spending over £160,000 and working over 1000 hours Angelo turned this old cave into a cozy home. With all the features including a bedroom, kitchen, and shower that has fresh running water which comes from a borrow hole that Angelo sunk 80 meters into the ground. Another impressive thing you won’t see in the picture below is the heated floors he installed in the beautiful and unique bathroom.

Below a picture of the bedroom that connects to the bathroom through the walkway.

A look into the kitchen.

Even adding a nice fireplace to keep the cave nice and toasty on those cold days and nights!

Even more interesting that the astonishing cave the Angelo built is the fact he shared about his surname stating,

“I guess coincidentally my surname actually means master of the stone so you know maybe it’s kind of in my blood.”

Although currently Angelo only uses this man cave as his special holiday space. But he has hopes to one day make the transition to full-time living here.

Another home makeover and worthy lesson to all of what we can accomplish as long as we dream, believe in ourselves, and then put in the work to achieve those dreams. Maybe one day you will follow in Angelo’s footsteps and build the dream home or man cave of your own!

Watch the full video of Angelo below and SHARE this with your friends and family to keep the inspiration going!

Source: Rumble, Pexels

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By Dani Halteman

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Dani Halteman is a contributor at SBLY Media.