How to spend just £750 on your new bathroom and add thousands to your home’s value
Experts rated Caitlin McReynolds' bathroom makeover as one of the best ever... as we offer advice and deals for readers
Every Saturday, The Consumer Crew are here to solve your problems.
Mel Hunter will take on readers’ consumer issues, Coupon Queen Maddy Tooke helps out, Judge Rinder will tackle your legal woes, and property expert Amanda Cable will weigh in with her tips
Amanda Cable, Property expert
Soak in style for just £750
PROUD Caitlin McReynolds spent just £750 on her new bathroom – and added thousands to the value of her home.
In one of the most dramatic TV makeovers ever, the single mum from Leicester created a designer bathroom and turned a rundown £135,000 three-bed semi into a desirable £158,500 family home.
Caitlin, 39, who lives with four-year-old daughter Poppy, said: “I worked so hard, it was like childbirth! But this is my greatest achievement.
“I renovated an old Victorian roll-top bath which cost me £50 and removed rust with tomato ketchup to save money on cleaning products.
“I bought scaffold planks for a fiver and sanded them to create my own designer floorboards.
"My toilet and sink came free from a colleague who was having a new bathroom installed – and the cistern used to be outside with plants growing in it.
"My tiles were just £20 in a Homebase sale.”
Mindfulness practitioner Caitlin added: “I did most of the work myself and paid for an electrician, plumber and plasterer to do the things I couldn’t.
“Instead of painting the bath, I paid a graffiti artist friend to spray-paint it in a metallic effect.
"It looks like a designer bath costing thousands.”
Caitlin’s progress was filmed for new C4 TV series Big House, Little House, presented by top commercial designer Aidan Keane, who transforms interiors worldwide.
Aidan said: “In terms of value and clever ideas, this is probably the best makeover ever seen on TV.”
- Big House, Little House begins next Saturday on C4 at 4.35pm.
THE East of England has seen a 10.3 per cent annual rise in property prices, Land Registry figures show.
Next highest is the East Midlands, with 7.5 per cent.
- Do you have a top makeover tip? E-mail property@the-sun.co.uk
Mel Hunter, Consumer Champion
Post Office's reality cheque
Q) LAST November I paid two bills at the Post Office with the same cheque.
My E.ON electricity bill was £115.95 and I paid £53.48 to Post Office HomePhone, writing a cheque for £169.43.
It left my bank account and was credited by the energy company but HomePhone says its payment wasn’t received. I’ve tried to sort this out many times but I keep getting fobbed off.
I’ve had another bill since and can’t work out what I owe and what I don’t.
What I do know is that I did pay that bill back in November.
Josephine Moore, Boston, Lincs
A) You were passed from pillar to post for four months, left confused about your phone bill and made to doubt the payment you insisted you’d made. Once I got in touch, the Post Office took your case a lot more seriously.
It quickly confirmed that your cheque had only been used to pay your electricity bill and that your HomePhone payment had not been processed.
“This was completely our error and we are really sorry for causing this confusion,” it admitted.
The payment has been applied to your account and an extra £20 credit added as a goodwill gesture.
Q) I FIRST became an agent for Kays catalogue 50 years ago and was considered a platinum agent.
I continued as an agent when Kays was taken over by Littlewoods and accumulated commission which I left in my account to grow.
I am 76, do not have a computer and am not on the internet, so when Littlewoods switched to internet-only, it was a huge inconvenience.
I was told I would lose my commission and could make no further orders. Littlewoods insisted it could not give me the cash value.
In one of the last phone calls, Littlewoods then said I had used my commission, which I have not.
It now seems I have lost the £360.53 to spend with Littlewoods or £288.41 cash value.
Margaret Jones, Port Talbot, West Glamorgan
A) Kays was once a household name before merging with Littlewoods more than a decade ago.
Under Littlewoods’ loyalty scheme, the rewards you earn by making regular purchases go back to zero if you don’t buy anything in a six-month season.
As Littlewoods stopped printing its catalogue in July 2015 and you had no access to the internet, six months quickly passed without a purchase.
I’m pleased to say Littlewoods recognised your loyal custom over five decades and “taking into account the specific circumstances of this case”, has offered you the cash value of your rewards.
Q) I TOOK a holiday to Cape Verde last summer.
Thomson, who we booked with, agreed there were problems with the trip and proposed a partial refund of £173.39 but this never arrived.
After much correspondence, I received a letter at the end of December saying a cheque would be sent to my home address within 28 days.
However, nothing has arrived and I am at a loss to know how to proceed.
Bob Hallsworth, Sandhurst, Berks
A) I have had a clutch of letters from readers promised compensation from Thomson but left waiting.
Nine months after your holiday, you asked for my help.
Finally I got that cheque sent out to you, plus £100 to make up for the delay. Very kindly you donated some of this to the National Autistic Society.
- Do you have a consumer issue? E-mail mel.hunter@the-sun.co.uk
Maddy Tooke, Coupon Queen
5 Top freebies
- FREE issue of Homes & Gardens magazine. Fill in the online form at .
- One free Cow & Gate stage 1, 2 or 3 jar from Superdrug. Buy the jar in store and upload a photo of the receipt to the CheckoutSmart app to claim the money back. Ends Tuesday.
- Free Expert Facial Mask sample from The Body Shop. Find your coupon under the Expert Facial Mask tab at and redeem in store. Only 22,000 samples will be given away.
- New TopCashback customers get up to £15 cash back after booking train tickets with Expedia Trains. See . Offer ends Thursday.
- Free 7Up Mojito flavour 2-litre bottles from Asda with the ClickSnap app. Buy in store and claim the money back by uploading a photo of the receipt to the app. Offer ends Tuesday.
Have you any money saving tips? E-mail maddy.tooke@the-sun.co.uk
Judge Rinder, Sun legal expert
I AM often asked as to the “true story” behind Will Young’s exit from Strictly last year.
The answer I give is always the same: “Read what he said at the time — that he has a mental illness and so could no longer continue.”
At the time, I found it bitterly disappointing that, rather than receiving widespread sympathy and support — as he would have done if he had been physically injured — Will’s announcement was met in general with cynicism.
“Yes we get that you’re a bit precious but what is the ‘true story’?”
The lack of public understanding and the level of education about mental illness in this country is frankly embarrassing.
That is why I was incredibly impressed that Prince Harry came out (so to speak) about his struggle with childhood trauma this week.
To have someone as high-profile as the Prince talking about his own mental health problems will do wonders in tackling the absurd stigma that still surrounds these illnesses.
The failure of pretty much every government in history to take mental health seriously is — dare I say it — completely bonkers.
Look into pretty much every significant social problem, from long-term homelessness to school exclusion, and you will find a mental health issue which has been left undiagnosed or mistreated.
It is probably unsurprising that this wholesale failure is most pronounced in our criminal justice system.
According to the Prison Reform Trust 62 per cent of male and 57 per cent of female sentenced prisoners have a personality disorder.
Forty six per cent of woman prisoners have reported having attempted suicide at some point in their lives and a significant portion of male prisoners have had a previous psychiatric admission before they ended up in prison.
I am not trying to excuse what any of these criminals have done. Far from it. Most people who are in prison deserve to be there.
My point is simple. If these people had received decent psychiatric treatment sooner, the fact is that they may not have committed the crime in the first place.
Prince Harry’s admission reminds us all that unless we take mental health seriously the result isn’t just damaging to ourselves but to society as a whole.
Summing up
Q) MY son paid a driving company £600 for a semi-intensive course. He used his 18th birthday money to do this.
The driving school promised to be on the road with my son within seven working days. It could not meet this as there were no instructors in the area so they offered us a refund.
We are still waiting for the refund. It has promised us over and over and keep pushing a date later and later.
We have no idea if he will ever receive his money back. I’m worried they are doing this to other young teenagers and it’s so unfair.
Jayne, Mansfield
A) I do not encourage intensive driving lessons or “crash courses,” as they are more correctly called.
You need to act quickly as it seems this company are giving you the run around. Tell them in writing that, as far as you are concerned, they have breached the contract your son has with them by failing to provide him with an instructor within an reasonable period of time.
Make clear that you require a full refund or a qualified instructor to provide the promised lessons within seven days or you will be issuing proceedings in the small claims court. I suspect that this will get things moving.
If they continue to ignore you however then jolly well take them to court.
Got a question for Judge Rinder? E-mail judgerinder@the-sun.co.uk