A couple who decided to sell their family home years after saying they would keep it on Channel 4’s Love it or List it have been criticised after showing their new £100,000 renovation on the show.
Doctors Kathleen and Tom, from Gosforth, and their two young daughters Erin and Emily initially appeared on the series in 2016 with their three-bedroom Victorian house which they found to be too small and cramped.
Kathleen wanted to love their house and keep it, whereas outdoor sports enthusiast Tom said he would prefer to move to the countryside where the family have more room for his five bicycles and four boats.
They decided to spend £20,000 to create a large kitchen-diner and change their current kitchen into a playroom for their daughters, with help from property guru Kirstie Allsopp.
Although they looked around neighbouring areas with Phil Spencer and a budget of £375,000, the pair made a decision to love it.
However, when Phil visited them three years later in 2019, he was shocked to hear Kathleen and Tom had moved into a detached property in Kenton Bank-Foot because Tom still longed for a large garden to roam around in.
His wife had also told Tom that they would relocate at some point, promising her husband his dream home, eventually selling their Victorian property for £335,000.
They put the cosy home they originally appeared on the show with on the market as soon as they fell in love with their current house, which Kathleen and Tom ended up purchasing for £480,000.
Doctors Kathleen and Tom, from Gosforth, (pictured) and their two young daughters Erin and Emily initially appeared on the series in 2016 with their three-bedroom Victorian house which they found to be too small and cramped
But while the medics said they felt it was the right move, they still weren’t entirely happy with their home and ended up spending another £100,000 to make alterations to the kitchen and conservatory – along with modernising it.
Tom and Kathleen knocked through their kitchen and dining to create massive dual aspect open space with a large island.
They also transformed the conservatory into a sun room which overlooked the large rear garden, along with changing their daughters’ bedroom as they are now teenagers.
Kirstie – who hadn’t seen the house – then went to see for the first time five after they bought it and pulled up to find a large blue boat that had been parked on their drive.
Although the property presenter was positive about their new home, calling it ‘an upgrade,’ Kathleen and Tom were labelled as ‘hoarders’ with ‘no taste’ by viewers after they unveiled the changes they had made.
One wrote: ‘These two seemed like big time hoarders to be honest.’
They decided to spend £20,000 to create a large kitchen-diner and change their current kitchen into a playroom for their daughters, with help from property guru Kirstie Allsopp (pictured)
Although the property presenter was positive about their new home, calling it ‘an upgrade,’ Kathleen and Tom were labelled as ‘hoarders’ with ‘no taste’ by viewers after they unveiled the changes they had made
While the medics said they felt it was the right move, they still weren’t entirely happy with their home and ended up spending another £100,000 to make alterations to the kitchen and conservatory – along with modernising it. The kitchen pictured before
The house pictured after, featuring more modern decor as well as a larger amount of space to work with
Tom and Kathleen knocked through their kitchen and dining to create massive dual aspect open space with a large island. The kitchen pictured before
The kitchen – featuring the very modern island – after the renovation on Love It Or List It this evening
The kitchen pictured after – featuring much more spacious and modern furnishings than before
Pictured before – the conservatory which became a sun room for the couple’s home in this episode
They also transformed the conservatory into a sun room which overlooked the large rear garden, along with changing their daughters’ bedroom as they are now teenagers
When Phil visited them three years later in 2019, he was shocked to hear Kathleen and Tom had moved into a detached property in Kenton Bank-Foot because Tom still longed for a large garden to roam around in
However, the couple don’t want to stop there and still plan to alter the garden, the family bathroom, change the study into a fourth bedroom by removing the stairs up to the attic and clearing up the clutter in their loft
Another penned: ‘They have no taste, penny pinching with plastic windows.’
A third said: ‘Just gone mega with everything to show off. Much preferred the timber conservatory that just needed some white paint, compared to the plastic showroom design windows they put in And the garden is lovely, why change it?’
A fourth commented: ‘A much easier fix would be to simply have a clear out, how many bikes does one guy need.’
Kirstie revealed that their pre-renovation value was £480,000 and their post-renovation value had shot up to £566,000, making them a profit of £86,000.
However, the couple don’t want to stop there and still plan to alter the garden, the family bathroom, change the study into a fourth bedroom by removing the stairs up to the attic and clearing up the clutter in their loft.
Kathleen and Tom said they aren’t planning on moving house anytime soon and were thrilled at the news that they had invested in the right projects.
When asked what they had learnt from the whole experience, Tom said: ‘We kept putting it off and putting it off and I think we got to a stage where we just needed to do it and get on with it because our budget wasn’t changing but the stuff we could achieve was going down.’
Kathleen said that the Covid-19 pandemic taught her to take more risks, adding: ‘You’ve got to live your life, you’ve just got to go with it so we did and now we’re happy.’