New homeowner Anne Alcott was devastated when her sewer pipe burst just three days after moving in – but she was delighted to find a beautiful surprise beneath her damaged floors.

Alcott tells PEOPLE that she bought the house in May and “within the same week the pipe burst.”

Since the entryway of the house was newly carpeted, the water damage meant that the carpet had to be ripped out to prevent mold and mildew from forming.

But to the surprise of 36-year-old Alcott, there was something even better hidden under the carpet: red and white terrazzo tiles with a black and white check pattern.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Terrazzo is an often expensive material made from chips of materials such as “marble, granite, quartz, glass, shell,” according to Terrazzco.com. It’s also exceptionally durable.

In a series of photos shared on TikTok, Alcott recounted how she discovered the stunning floors in her home in Haarlem, the Netherlands.

“POV: You buy your dream home and three days later the sewer pipe bursts and your hallway is flooded but it’s all good because you ripped out the old smelly carpet and hit the JACKPOT,” she wrote on TikTok.

After ripping out the damaged carpet, she decided to take a risk and continue ripping it out at the front of the house. To her delight, she found even more terrazzo.

“It was in bad shape,” she noted on TikTok, adding that “with some elbow grease” (and some epoxy to repair a crack), it looks much better now.

“A little polish and tadaaaa,” she added.

Speaking to PEOPLE, Alcott says she “planned to get rid of the carpet at some point,” but not immediately because the moving costs would be high. Of course, when the pipe burst, she had no choice – and was ultimately grateful for the minor inconvenience.

As commenters on TikTok noted, Alcott was one of the lucky few whose home damage revealed something beautiful.

“My flood exposed asbestos tiles,” wrote one commenter.

Another wrote: “My house is turning 145 and I just found lead pipes.”

And while the renovated floors offered a dramatic before-and-after picture, Alcott is now turning his attention to other projects.

“We also plan to plaster the walls and remove the plastic covering that covers the beautiful green floor tiles in the entryway. We also know of double sliding stained glass doors hidden in the arches of the house,” she says. “The previous owners covered them up.”

She continues: “We want to restore the old charm of the house and are therefore excited to dig deeper and see what lies hidden.”