'Love It or List It': Anu and Sameer fall in love with their house after Hilary Farr's functional renovation
'Love It or List It' featured Anu and Sameer who bought their 3400 sqft home built in 1977, seven years ago. As is the case with most homebuying couples that appear on the show, the space in their existing house was not working for them and was too cramped to be shared by their five and two-year-old children and Sameer's parents.
Anu was ready to move to a new home but Sameer felt that their current house was indeed a forever home for them. Since they were an Indian origin couple, the kitchen was a very important space for them but it wasn't functional enough. While Anu loved how the cabinets looked, she didn't like how shallow they were. Also, some of the drawers did not shut, the fridge was very small and they couldn't upsize it because there was no space for it and there was no pantry space at all.
Coming to their living room, it was now transformed completely as their children's playroom. The house was big but there were not a lot of usable spaces that they could boast about. The lack of a dedicated bathroom for their guests also bothered Anu and all these issues resulted in her being mentally ready to move out of the house. However, Sameer felt that every problem in their house was fixable. The couple sought David Visentin and Hilary Farr's help to figure a way out. The couple had a dedicated budget set out for David who was tasked with finding them a new house and Hilary was tasked with making the necessary renovations to their existing house. At the end of it all, it was a decision for the couple to make: whether they'd choose to "love" their existing house or "list" it on the market and move into the new one that David found for them.
Throughout this episode, it felt like this would be a win for David as there were just way too many problems cropping up with the renovations. The $135,000 budget that Hilary was allocated for making all the renovations was slashed by 35% as the couple wanted the trees surrounding their property to be cut because nature had taken its course and this was a necessary step to ensure there were no damages. To top that, Anu came in with a surprise request that she needed a walk-in pantry in the kitchen.
All this new information and the last-minute request was stressful for Hilary, but in the end she pulled off a renovation so beautiful that Anu finally saw why Sameer called it their forever home. She couldn't invalidate the fact that one of the houses that David showed them was better than their existing one, even after renovations. However, she finally came to terms with the fact that their newly renovated space would work for them for a long time to come and any changes that were needed could be made to their existing space, should the need arise in the future.
Catch a rerun of this episode at 12 am on September 8. 'Love It or List It' airs on Mondays at 9 pm on HGTV.