Episode 1 Money for Nothing

Ooh, just before you throw those away...

How do you make money for nothing?

-Can I have it?

-You can have it, yeah.

The answer could be hiding in the 30 million tonnes of household waste

we throw out every year.

Now, this is one seriously unusual tip find.

That's why entrepreneur Sarah Moore wants to get her hands on things

before they hit the skip.

I'm a passionate user, maker and buyer of old stuff,

and I've turned my passion into a moneymaking business.

I make new stuff out of old stuff

and I sell it for profit.

And with some of the country's elite designers and makers...

These were going to be thrown away? Seriously?

I love it, love it, love it.

..she can transform her finds into desirable...

It looks brand-new.

..valuable...

You are joking.

..and hopefully saleable items.

That is a triumph!

If Sarah is successful,

then she can hand the profits back to the very people

who had no idea there was cash to be made from their trash.

That is amazing!

Welcome to the Walsall recycling centre

and the beginning of Sarah's search.

She's on the hunt for a hunk of junk that can be transformed

into a chunk of change.

I love turning a profit where others see trash,

making old stuff that's drab into desirable and fab

is just so satisfying.

Sarah's been given special permission by the recycling centre

to rummage about today.

Come on, Walsall - let's see what you've got.

She's on the lookout for four items that can be brought back to life

and sold on for profit.

Sarah is casting admiring glances at the junk in Keith's trunk.

Are you chucking the chair? You are, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-You can't.

You've got to let me have it.

Have it if you want.

Keith's clearing out the flat he rented to a loyal lodger

who has now moved on to a nursing home.

She was 90... 90 how old?

-She was 91...

-91. Lovely.

-..last October.

-And local?

-And she'd been my tenant for 22 years.

-Fantastic, so you don't think she'd mind us having her old chair?

No, not at all. No.

-Can I have a sit?

-Yeah.

Is it comfy?

I've no idea. I've never sat in it.

It's great.

It's lovely.

And do you think I'll be able to do anything with it

or make any money out of it?

-Yeah.

-How much do you reckon?

-Fiver.

-Fiver!

-HE LAUGHS

Fiver! I'm definitely going to make you a fiver.

-Righto.

-Thanks ever so much.

-OK, then.

If anyone can scrape a profit from this chair, it's Sarah,

but not if she scrapes Keith's car with it first.

Ooh, careful!

The design of the chair, it is good, isn't it?

You know, to make one of those now would cost a lot of money.

Definitely.

Check this out.

It's retro, it's ruined

but it looks like it's got so much potential

and I think it's going to look a million dollars

and hopefully make a pretty penny, too.

The best bit is the transformation is going to be...

# Dun, dun, dah! #

It's going to be amazing.

Sarah says retro - I say oh, no!

Let's find out who she's picked to help make this seat saleable.

Welcome to Anthony Devine's world.

Anthony's unique and quirky upholstery has earned him

the reputation as one of the most imaginative craftspeople around.

Anthony can upholster almost anything,

but he does love a good chair.

Some chairs you just know, you know that this is the one

and you just know you're on to a winner.

You can look beyond the kind of the dirt and the holes and the grime

and you think, "Yes, we've got a gem here."

And then it's a matter of teaming it up with the right fabric.

And then from ugly ducklings are beautiful swans.

Hmm...he may be hoping for a beautiful swan

but this one might be a lame duck.

When Sarah and Anthony have worked together in the past, they've...

Well, let's just say they haven't always seen eye to eye.

But this time, I want no fighting, OK, children?

Or there'll be no upholstery for anyone, all right?

So, anybody who knows me

knows that I like to be kind of in control of what I do.

What I'm not particularly comfortable with is

when people turn up

and they already have what they want to do cemented in their minds,

so when Sarah turns up, it's always a little bit tricky

that she has one idea and I have the other

and somehow we've got to kind of merge them together.

So, yeah, it's going to be an interesting one today.

Devine, are you in there?

I've got a bad feeling about this one already.

Right, Sarah, if you just keep your opinions to yourself,

don't be too pushy, you'll get on just fine.

I have had a few ideas about it.

Oh, here we go.

I actually love the wood and the fabric together,

so I think it would be good to enhance this.

We've got to get this kind of colour off and...

-Yeah.

-..put a rich colour and show that actual wood.

So, we'll do something with the wood

and then that'll really work nice with the fabric.

OK, so, I thought...

Oh, no, she's at it again.

Maybe kind of grass green coloured.

Spring green or summer green are we talking?

Oh, I think that kind of moss you find under a bush.

Summer pasture.

-Yeah. Do you think that would work?

-Yeah.

Hurrah! A miracle, they've agreed.

And maybe some flowers in the pasture. You know, something bright as the button.

Do you have to go to that point?

I don't look too far down the line

in trying to pinpoint everything out of what we're going to do

because I think things will take its kind of natural form

and then from there it'll almost be obvious what we do. I'm thinking of the nightmares that went before.

-Let's just keep it simple.

-SHE LAUGHS

-OK.

-Just keep it simple.

So, heaps of potential.

-I'm going to do the professional...

-HE INHALES SHARPLY

That's going to cost you.

So, how much, then? I'm just not hearing the money.

Well, probably round the 475 mark.

If you do it for 450...

Ooh, she's giving him the look.

Don't be afraid of her, Anthony, stay strong.

-I'm going to leave before you change your mind.

-Thank you very much.

Works every time.

Well, after a slightly tense negotiation,

I think we've got where we need to be with that chair.

It's going to look amazing. Grass green, brilliant.

With the chair coming in at £450,

the plan is simple, grassy and mossy.

But is Sarah going to like it

when Anthony inevitably does whatever he's going to do to it?

That's one item down, three more to find.

Sarah's travelled to the Woodhouse Lane recycling centre

in Greater Manchester, where the thought of all those hidden gems

is making her spin around in a circle for some reason.

Arriving just in time to bring her back down to earth

is Simon with some rusty gubbins.

-Oh, are they going in there, then?

-They are, indeed.

-They're quite cool, aren't they?

-Well, they are but I'm throwing them away,

-so I'm not thinking they're all that cool.

-No, obviously not. OK, for me, they look quite cool.

Are these out of the garden, then?

They are an old and decrepit fence that's needed replacing

at the back of the garden for far too long.

I love that colour on them cos you just can't...

You can't fake that when you're trying to make something look old.

They call it patina these days.

Patina or "pat-in-a" is really just a fancy word for rust.

I've got loads of stuff you might consider patina.

-Oh, really?

-SHE LAUGHS

-I can see you're talking on my wavelength already.

-Should I not be throwing this stuff away?

It literally is falling apart, isn't it?

Chuck it my way and that'd be fantastic.

Railings like these are relatively scarce

as many were donated for the war effort during the 1940s.

It looks like Sarah's going to give these ones

the chance of another life as well.

But what does Simon think is in store for them?

I like the idea of anything being recycled and reloved, I really do,

but, you know, what she'll do with them

is a little bit beyond me, really.

The mind boggles.

I think Sarah's mind might've completely boggled this time.

I'm sure she knows what she's doing, though.

They're rusty, covered in old paint, they've been cut up,

they've nearly got chucked into a skip,

but I think these railings have a charm about them

that has to be a useful in transforming them

into something else.

Mmm. Like what, exactly?

It's definitely going to be a challenge.

Sarah won't sit on the fence for long.

She's got someone in mind with the steely determination

to forge something new out of that scrap.

Daniel Heath is an award-winning wallpaper and textile designer.

But he's not afraid of getting down and dirty with reclaimed materials

to make unique furniture and contemporary design pieces.

I love what I do because of the challenges

that come from every project.

There's never really two projects that are the same.

Every brief is different and every client is different

and wants me to produce something unique for them,

so that obviously has an array of challenges

that I have to face every day.

Each one that comes along is different and that's the joy of it.

Daniel may love to work with reclaimed materials

but he might be struggling to feel the joy

when Sarah turns up with these rusty old railings.

Now, these aren't the type of materials

that I immediately think of when I think of Daniel's work.

But I've got a few ideas and I'm hoping this old cast-iron railing

can be incorporated into something amazing

that can be sold to make some money.

-Hiya.

-Hello, how you doing?

-Nice to see you.

-I'm doing really well. Really well.

So, did you have any thoughts? And I said it was mad.

Well... Well, I had things pop into my mind, but...

OK, yeah, really, really quite bonkers.

-Yeah, it's like, "Let me out."

-HE LAUGHS

OK, are they even sound?

Are they...?

I mean...are the...?

Oh, they're OK.

-Shall we take them in and have a...?

-They look a bit crumbly.

Crumbly?

I think you'll find that's a highly desirable patina, Daniel.

I think there's something about them...

-OK.

-..that is really beautiful because of the colour

and pretending they're not beaten-up iron railings.

That's all very well for you, Sarah,

but it's Dan who has to work with those beaten-up old railings.

From what I understand, because these are cast, they are brittle.

They're not the kind of material that is terribly nice to work with.

It just gets better and better, doesn't it, Daniel?

I've had a bit longer to think about them than you have,

but I'm sort of wondering whether they could be used

as the support for a table.

-Yeah.

-A sort of console table or something.

Sure, OK. OK.

-You can see that, can't you? You can feel it?

-Yeah, yeah.

You know, it's going to depend on what we pair up with it

material-wise cos we can't do anything with them on their own.

They're going to have to have something that bolts them together

or holds them together and a surface involved in it somehow.

Something like a contemporary material

like Jesmonite might work well.

Jesmonite is like compound?

Is that the pourable stuff?

It's pourable. It's like a synthetic stone.

OK, so, posh concrete.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, OK.

You like a challenge, don't you?

I do, I do.

Er...this is certainly one of those.

Great - one you're prepared to take on, though?

Well, they're here now, so I may as well.

That's the spirit.

That's why we love our Daniel. He never shies away from a challenge.

It'd be good to tie down a price

where we think we might make some profit.

If we say a broad ballpark 500 to 600.

OK, 500-600 quid.

Nearer to five's always good

but if you can make the £2,000 console table,

then just go all the way.

-Thank you, Sarah.

-Thanks ever so much.

-See you.

-Bye.

It's a dirty job -

and now it's Daniel's job.

He is going to create something just unbelievable out of those railings.

I know he's got this vision.

We'll have to wait and see what it is, though, because at the moment,

it's a long way from looking commercial.

These are a big challenge.

I mean, they are...

in a real state.

Hopefully, we'll make something nice with it as ever.

Daniel's wisely bid high for this work

as it will involve a lot of experimentation and other materials,

but with £500-600 of costs,

it's going to have to be pretty special to turn a profit.

It's time to head to Manchester,

where upholsterer Anthony is working some magic on the old, drab chair -

we hope.

Ta-da!

No, still old and drab.

Take the back off.

Anthony is used to working with old furniture

but it's getting harder and harder to come by.

I mean, the likes of your Parker Knolls,

your Ercols and stuff like that...

I mean, ten years ago, we were chucking them out for fun

-and now...

-HE LAUGHS

..and now we're taking them out the skips!

And just as well.

Anthony starts by removing the 1950s fabric.

He wants to completely strip the chair to its bare bones.

But it takes a lot of elbow grease to get out all those original tacks.

That's it, Anthony, hit it.

All I can hear in the back of my head is the guy doing the voice-over.

"That's it, Anthony, hit it."

Oi!

This is weird.

Better watch what I say.

With the material removed, Anthony is enlisting his helper, Marianne,

to help sand back the exposed wood.

Anthony is applying a clear protective wax first

and then a darker wax on top to bring out the natural grain.

This chair's probably 60 years old.

No replacements needed.

No arms, no hips, no knees.

There's probably not that many - better not say that -

60-year-olds as strong as this.

My mum and dad are over 60 and they're pretty strong.

-They could do with a bit of re-waxing, that's for sure.

-HE LAUGHS

Oi, watch it, sunshine.

To pad the back of the chair,

they're using a base of green layered felt

and then an extra layer of cotton padding

that Anthony is stapling in place with a pneumatic stapler.

So, we're ready now for the calico.

We've got our kind of comfort layer here

and we're ready to go with this.

So, this is the...

We call it the FR, which stands for fire retardant.

Ironically, the only thing that does catch fire on a chair

that has been treated with fire retardancy is the fire label itself.

Is there not something else that'll catch fire?

-Pardon?

-Wood?

Oh, yeah, and the wood'll burn, too.

Anthony has listened to Sarah's ideas

and has picked a grassy, mossy wool for the bulk of the chair.

It looks more like he's recovering a snooker table.

He's even got the chalk.

Right.

Sarah chose the green

because, I believe, this is the on-trend colour for 2016.

Really? So, snooker's the big thing this year, is it?

Could potentially be like that.

Something seems a bit fishy here.

Anthony's playing this awfully safe.

But just watch, he'll be waiting for us to go

and then the real transformation will begin.

In Walthamstow, award-winning textile designer Daniel

is getting his hands dirty with the rusty old railings.

This is not a material that I've worked with before.

I hope that we can maintain some of their decrepit beauty.

I don't think you'll have any trouble doing that.

Daniel's using the iron poles

to make the legs of a classic console table.

Very rough sketch.

But this gives me...

works out how many I need,

how many poles I need.

Daniel will have to ever-so-delicately free the poles

he'll need for his frame.

All right, just give them a good bash, then.

Hey, bit of movement.

Because the worn-out and brittle iron is so difficult to work...

-Yes!

-..Daniel doesn't think he'll be able to weld it.

So, once he's rescued all those rods,

he'll have to improvise a way to join them and the tabletop together.

To do this, Daniel is designing a joining bracket,

which he'll integrate into the top.

Now, I hope you're all listening carefully

as this is where it gets tricky.

The tabletop and integrated bracket will be made of Jesmonite.

No, I've never heard of it either.

But I know this - it's expensive.

So, he's making a prototype of this bracket from wood to see that works.

Very sensible.

These are fitting into there quite well.

But we don't need the pointy end.

So, we're just going to go and chop the ends off.

It's back to the machine room

Daniel shares with the other crafty types in the building...

..to get to work with the metal chop saw, yes!

And there's a surprise in store underneath all that rust.

It's come up quite nicely on the cut,

which might mean that we can do more with it than we thought.

Dan scraps his wood block prototype

and decides to try welding the railings after all.

First, he cuts all the iron poles to the right length...

..and cleans up the areas he needs to join.

This is a linishing machine.

It's like a big sanding belt.

And it's basically exposing the metal underneath

because we need to have a clean contact point for the weld,

so that we have a strong finish to it.

For a textile expert, Dan's got quite the skill set.

Is there anything he can't do?

I've done some welding before, but because we want to keep the paint,

it does have challenges beyond just working with standard steel.

I've got all my joins square,

so hopefully it will weld up quite straight.

QUITE straight? No-one will pay over £500

for a "quite straight" table, Daniel.

Daniel's welding iron will heat the metal to melting point.

That's a whopping 1,500 degrees centigrade.

The poles will melt together, and when they cool,

they'll form a solid bond.

At least, that's what should happen if Daniel's done it right.

It's quite hard to tell whether it's worked until I undo the clamps.

Here's hoping the welds are strong enough to hold up that

exotic-sounding and expensive Jesmonite tabletop.

Now it's time to head to Manchester to see what Anthony's

made of the old '50s chair.

In the past, Sarah's asked Anthony for nice,

simple upholstery jobs and he's chosen this kind of fabric.

And who could forget this one?

Oof... Mind you, Anthony's stuff always sells,

but sometimes it's not what Sarah asks for.

I'm here, hoping that Anthony has taken that brown, tired,

old chair and turned it into something fabulous.

It has great bone structure, so it could look good.

But knowing Anthony, he could have done anything to it.

When Sarah dropped it off, it was old, brown and a bit down.

But now, brace yourselves.

Wow, it's just lovely.

Anthony's produced a simple, elegant,

beautifully refitted piece of furniture.

The apparently on-trend green wool is complemented by lighter

green side panels that bring out the natural colour of the wood.

All in all, I think I want to buy it.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-How are you?

Behold!

Is that the same chair? I don't recognise it.

It's completely different. What have you done to it?

This is just a good, solid piece of furniture.

We could have been a little bit crazy with it.

I just think, it is what it is and I think it's just a very nice chair.

But, as it stands, there's something here that can be sold

-to everybody.

-I know!

I would love this in my house! I absolutely love the chair.

-Just a bit too safe for you?

-Well...

-Boring?

No, I don't think it's any of those things.

It's like having a friend... Like, "Do you want to go to the pub?"

And he's always the one who goes to the pub.

He's never going to throw anything out there and be crazy,

he's just like, "I'll get your pint." Know what I mean?

Do you know something, everybody needs a friend like that.

Are they still talking about the chair?

-I'm going to call him Brian.

-Brian. I love it!

Brian's dependable, he'll get me out of trouble,

sees you right at the end of the night. I'll take Brian.

Pack him up for me. I'll send the couriers.

He's all yours.

I've got no idea what they're going on about, but I think Sarah's happy.

I really didn't recognise that chair as the depressing brown thing

that I dropped off. It's now a dapper little chap

that's going to turn a profit.

Just you and me, Brian, it's just you and me.

Don't leave him hanging, Brian. Aw, BFFs.

But sadly, Brian has to be sold, and coming in on budget of £450,

Sarah will have to slap on a high price tag to make a good profit.

Well, before Brian was Brian, it was just Keith's old chair.

-You've got to let me have it.

-Have it if you want.

-Lovingly cared for by his lodger for decades.

-She's 91.

-91.

-She'd been my tenant for 22 years.

-Keith knew it was a quality piece.

To make one of those now would cost a lot of money.

-But was sceptical of any cash value.

-How much do you reckon?

-A fiver?

-Fiver? Fiver!

The challenge was on to make Keith more than a fiver.

Sarah invited round Nick from Smithers of Stamford

to see if he fancied it for his online shop.

-So, do you think it would ship out of your website?

-Yeah, I reckon.

-Ship it to the States.

-Really? Are they liking this kind of thing?

Yeah, definitely, in America, yeah.

Confident it would find a new home abroad, Nick bought it.

Yeah? That's great news.

Sarah's travelled to Aldridge in the West Midlands to show Keith

what was done with his chair,

and hopefully hand over more than a fiver.

-Keith?

-Hello, Sarah.

-How do you do?

-How are you?

-Nice to see you again.

I said at the tip that it'd be great to catch up with you again

to talk to you about your old chair.

Am I right in thinking it wasn't actually from your house, was it?

No, it wasn't, no. It was a house which I'd rented out,

and the old lady left and just left everything to go to the tip.

I think at the time I said probably a fiver, if I remember.

Really, a fiver? Well, let me show you what we managed to do to it.

-When it was restored, it actually ended up looking like that.

-Wow.

-It's amazing, really.

-It looks completely different, doesn't it?

Investing in updating a chair like that is not a small thing,

so it actually cost us £450.

-What?!

-To make it look like that.

HE LAUGHS

So that's probably why lots of people,

when they have chairs like that, they just end up taking them

to the tip, cos if you go to somebody

and you say you want it completely redone, that's what it costs.

But I managed to sell it and I've got some profit to share with you.

-You said a fiver, did you, before?

-That's right.

Well, I've actually got £100 there for you,

a little treat, for your old chair.

Wow, thank you! I'm amazed.

Any thoughts about what you might do with 100 quid?

A few meals out, I should imagine.

-Fantastic.

-Thank you very much, Sarah.

-Thank you very much, Keith. Take care.

-Take care! Bye.

Well, I think Keith was genuinely surprised that he got £100 profit

out of his old chair, and I love the idea that he's going to be

going out and having dinners on us.

Anthony's labour and materials came in on budget of £450.

And with a sale of £550, Keith's walking away £100 richer.

Told you we could make you more than a fiver.

That's our first item successfully selling for a profit.

Sarah's back at the tip to find more hidden treasures,

and, as always, she's full of good advice.

Just make sure you're not throwing out any diamonds with the rubbish.

No diamonds, must make a note of that.

Anyway, there might be a jewel of a find

in the back of Julie and Dewi's car.

Oh, you've got a lovely bootful there. There's all sorts.

Where's all this coming from?

-This is my son's house. He's moving house.

-OK, and you're helping out.

-He's moving to London? He's leaving you, is he?

-He is, yes. At last.

-At last!

-I've heard of the bank of Mum and Dad,

but the moving company of Mum and Dad?

-Who'd have children, hey?

-Well, we wouldn't mind, but he's 33!

-You never get rid of them, really.

-Don't say that!

Well, it does mean you've got the pick of his old stuff, Sarah.

What do you think of those chairs?

I think these are good, solid chairs, aren't they?

Handmade, nice shaped base to them. Nice and sturdy.

Normally they really wobble. Don't sit down. I might not get up.

-Yeah, comfortable. They have to be comfortable, don't they?

-Yes.

-If it would be OK to take away these chairs...

-That would be nice, yes.

I really appreciate those. I'm going to take these away.

Sarah's legged it with the chairs,

but what do Julie and Dewi think will become of them?

Yeah, if she can do something... If they were sanded down and just,

that natural wood brought back up again.

Here's hoping the chairs will still have legs in the sales market.

Sarah certainly thinks so.

Charming, solid, bit of '50s styling on here,

and potential to give them a really charming makeover.

And we know who likes doing that, don't we?

Jay Blades is a builder turned philosophy graduate

turned furniture restorer.

A couple of people have asked me, how do I describe my style.

Personally, I don't know. I call myself a modern restorer,

which basically means I restore furniture for a modern market.

Jay has his finger on the pulse of modern design interiors,

reworking the very best of British craftsmanship

and bringing it to the 21st century.

Someone did say to me once, "Your furniture makes me feel happy,"

so I used to call my furniture happy furniture,

because it makes you smile and it adds a bit of humour to your house.

My style is definitely not boring.

My style is definitely not run-of-the-mill.

At the moment, those chairs aren't exactly avant-garde,

so Jay might have his work cut out making them his own.

These chairs are solid and brown and quite nice, but so dull.

And what I need is Jay to absolutely go to the edge with them

and make them into something amazing.

-Hiya.

-You all right?

-Yeah.

Guess what I've got for you.

Chairs, man, more chairs.

-Lovely chairs.

-I'm glad you said lovely.

Yeah, they are real wood.

-They are.

-They're lovely chairs.

Solid.

Yeah, these are gorgeous.

These are really good little farmhouse or kitchen chairs.

What ideas have you got for these?

I think out of the farmhouse and into the 21st century.

I'm hoping that you won't mind putting some colour on them.

You want colour, I'll give you colour.

My juices are flowing in this one. I like the idea of whacking...

I can add a bit of colour. This is really cool. Really, really cool.

So the dull chairs are in for a colourful Jay Blades transformation.

I won't say too much about what I'm going to do to them,

but they are going to be wow.

How much money do you want to make them wow?

Hit me with it. Come on.

He's thinking about it.

Still thinking about it.

Still thinking.

-Still thinking.

-I'm going to say 75 apiece.

75 each to make these wow.

-I'll leave them in your very capable hands.

-Thank you.

-That's very kind of you.

-We'll hopefully come back

and find something a bit prettier next time I see you.

They're going to be pretty amazing. They're not just going to be pretty.

-Pretty and amazing together.

-Go for it.

-OK.

-Can't wait to see them.

-Take care.

-You too. You take care.

It's going to look really cutting-edge. Really trendy.

Not even trendy. These are going to be setting the trend.

These two are just going to get that "woo!" factor,

-is what they're going to get.

-Woo!

But is the "woo" factor really going to be enough to see Sarah

turn a profit on these?

On a budget of £150, they'll need every bit of bling Jay can bring.

In Walthamstow, Sarah's back to catch up with Daniel.

Have the rusty old railings she left with him had a magic makeover?

Well, I have been wondering,

can you actually make old railings into something designer and cool?

Let's go and find out.

So this one's quite different.

I'm using some materials that I haven't used before.

So we're using the wrought iron from the gates

and then I've made a Jesmonite top so, yeah, I just hope she likes it.

When Sarah dropped off the pile of old iron,

Dan faced a challenge of Herculean proportions.

Incredibly, he's risen to the challenge and created a cool,

sophisticated console table.

The railings have been welded to create a simple support

structure, keeping their rusty, I mean, patina-ed appearance.

Daniel has worked with a brand-new material, Jesmonite,

to create a classically simple, cool-looking top.

It's quite an achievement,

considering what he had to work with.

-Daniel.

-Hello.

Oh, wow!

-Quite different.

-How you doing?

Yeah, I'm good. Good to see you.

Oh, my word, I had no idea it was going to look like that.

-How cool.

-Something a bit more contemporary, a bit more modern.

Were you thinking bar? Are you thinking console?

I was thinking console, so it could go in someone's hallway

if they have a wide hallway.

It could be somewhere where there's a telephone

or they can put their keys when they come in.

But it's quite a modern statement piece.

It's elegant. It's great. The lines on it are fantastic.

I think it's actually turned out to be much more elegant

than I thought it would be because I had this idea

we were going to create blocks to clamp the pieces together,

which was, I think now in hindsight,

would never have been structurally sound enough.

I love what you've done. I like the quirkiness.

Obviously you've used them in the structure under here.

Yes, to support the top.

So a nice bit of recycling where you're not wasting,

you're not buying in material.

It saves money, even if it makes more work.

Talk me through the top. What's that?

So this is Jesmonite, which is a material that I've not used before.

So we had to build a mould and pour it and cast it

and then release it from there and hope that it was all in one piece.

-It's quite nice cos it's cold.

-And it's crisp. It's fantastic.

Yeah, and cos it's wrought iron and it's welded,

-and this is Jesmonite and it's quite thick...

-Yeah.

..it should hold at least lamps

if somebody wants to put anything heavier on there, to a degree,

that you'd be able to.

600 quid left on the table.

Yep, the only cost really was the Jesmonite and the labour.

-It's a fantastic piece, Daniel. Thank you so much.

-Thanks, Sarah.

-Let's get it packed up and let's sell it.

-Right.

I'm really happy that Sarah's happy with the piece,

but this piece is quite different for me.

It's exploring new materials and different aesthetics,

so really, really happy with how that went.

So, as it turns out, yes, you really can make

railings into a stunning, high-end designer piece of furniture.

Who knew?

When Sarah met Simon at the recycling centre, there was

a difference of opinion.

They're quite cool, aren't they?

They are but I'm throwing them away

-so I'm not thinking they're all that cool.

-No, obviously not, OK.

For me, they look quite cool.

But it wasn't long before he was embracing Sarah's love

of all things old.

I've got loads of stuff you might consider patina.

I can see you're talking on my wavelength already.

And, in no time at all, the old became new again.

Determined to find the console table a new home,

Sarah opened her laptop and uploaded pictures on to the internet.

Apparently that's how you sell things these days.

Look, it got 51 hearts.

I don't know what that means.

Sarah's travelled to Altrincham to catch up with Simon

and let him know how she got on online.

-Hi, Simon.

-Hi. Good morning.

-Hi there, how are you doing?

-Very good, thanks. How are you?

Very well, very well.

Distinct lack of railings at the front of your house.

Yes, and even fewer at the back now than there was a few months ago.

So those railings were original to the area?

I think they were original to the area.

If you look around, they're all around the perimeter there.

-Did you wonder what we might do with them?

-I certainly did.

I had no need for them. You wonder why anyone else does.

Your railings went up to Walthamstow to a guy named Daniel Heath,

who is a well-known maker and designer.

He thought really carefully about what to do with them

and I've got some pictures to show you how they ended up.

Here goes.

Wow!

It's very different from what I took out of my back garden.

-So this is a console table...

-OK.

-..he's created out of them.

What do you think?

Yeah, it looks a damn sight better than it did in the back garden.

They're currently still for sale. I haven't sold them yet.

When they have done, I will be back in touch

and hopefully handing over some money to you.

Fantastic. Even better news.

Lovely to catch up again

and I'm going to keep my eye open for some railings around here.

-There's plenty there.

-Thank you ever so much.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

-Cheers.

Daniel came in on budget of £600,

but, with the railings table still to be snapped up,

we could end up being £600 down.

Hopefully, though, it'll find a new home soon

and we can share the profits with Simon.

Well, it was lovely to catch up with Simon.

I don't think our console table was exactly his cup of tea,

but it will be somebody's, so I'm hoping to be back here

and handing over some profit very soon.

Sarah's travelled to the Witley recycling centre in Surrey to search

for the final item, which will be the one she works on herself.

And she'll not stop until she has it. She's like a dog with a bone.

Can I recycle you? Would you like to come home with me?

I can turn you into a lap-dog.

Come on, Sarah, no time for pats. The clock is ticking.

Or, in Richard's case, it's not ticking.

What are you chucking out today, then?

Well, it's a cuckoo clock. Very nice cuckoo clock, but it needs repair.

Right.

-Oh, wow.

-I've got another one. It's a shame to throw it away but...

-Not many people have two cuckoo clocks, do they?

-No.

I've got the other one cos this one needs repair.

So made in Germany. Did you get it from Germany?

Yes, in the 1950s I was in the army in Germany and I bought it then.

It's really sweet.

I hate throwing it out, but it's going to cost a lot to repair

and I don't need it.

I wouldn't know where else to put it.

I think if you've got one cuckoo clock that's probably enough, but

if it would be possible to take that from you, I'll see if I can mend it.

-Oh, please do.

-I'm so excited.

I'd be much happier doing that than it going down in the landfill.

Yeah, I'm so pleased that you let us have that, it's lovely,

-and I shall try my best to get it going.

-It's up to you now.

I know. Ooh, the pressure!

Sarah must be cuckoo to chose this broken clock,

but she does love a challenge.

I really don't know what I've got here.

I am not a clock expert.

There's potential that this little cuckoo clock could turn

a pretty penny, but, at the moment, it's not working.

I'm not sure if all the bits are here.

I'm not sure what kind of market there is for cuckoo clocks

but I'm going to stay positive and hope I've just picked up a winner.

Perhaps Sarah can make this cuckoo sing again.

From the hustle and bustle of the dump to the quiet countryside,

Sarah's back home and, having enjoyed a morning walk with Bramble,

she's going to get started on the cuckoo clock.

So the cuckoo clock really doesn't work.

I hoped I might be able to get it going or something

simple would be wrong with it, but I've had a really good

look at it and I've also spoken to a horologist.

A what?

Excuse me a sec.

TYPING ON KEYBOARD

One quick interweb search later,

I can tell you a horologist is a clock-maker.

You learn something new every day.

It's 150 quid at least to get it repaired and a very long

waiting list, so I'm afraid I don't think this is going to tick again.

Ah, this cuckoo will cuckoo no more,

but, don't fret, Sarah has a plan.

She intends to transform this clock into a smart phone-charging station.

CUCKOO CALLS

You know when a cuckoo clock is broken.

It starts to sound like a pigeon.

CLOCK COOS

It's a heavyweight item and Sarah needs to lighten

the load by clearing out its internal workings.

I'm sorry. This feels awful.

If this all goes wrong, it could make a lovely bird box.

You might think Sarah's cuckoo phone charging station is bird-brained,

but when you're finding a new purpose for an old item,

no idea is too off-the-wall or wacky.

Get inspired and go for it!

So that is pretty much stripped now

so if that's all one colour, I think that's going to look really cool,

but I need to find out a way of introducing a phone to it and

this bit, the old moulding from the front, definitely needs to be kept.

I'm hoping that a phone might fit in there.

Look, that is perfect.

I'm really lucky because that will mean it will look like it's

made to do this, which is always helpful.

So that's going to be on there in some beautiful colour

and then the phone will go in here.

I've just got to work out a way of getting the charger cord

in here for whichever phone people have.

Can't be that hard, can it?

I think just get a little bit of something to go over the top there

it'll be fine.

I said give it a go. I didn't say it would be easy.

I wonder if it's too late to call that horologist back?

Yep, I'd say so.

Well, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,

but what will this bird-brained idea be worth when completed?

So far, Sarah has only spent £12 on a charger for this project,

thankfully.

Over in Wolverhampton...

..it's time for Jay to give the pair of chairs the Blades treatment.

I'm hoping to make these look really gorgeous.

Jay has got a visitor to his studio today.

I don't mind as long as they don't start to decorate it

the way that they do.

Yeah, the pigeon's a pain in the bum!

So, while hoping Percy's NOT going to make a contribution,

on with work on the chairs.

This is chalk paint

and basically with chalk paint, you don't need to rub down.

You can just paint straight on to the furniture.

It will give you an instant kind of look of how the finished

article's going to be.

Having promised Sarah a vibrant, colourful Jay Blades original,

it's no surprise he's painting them a striking shade of...

er, grey?!

Sometimes, what happens is I apply a paint and then I can see

the design coming up in my mind, and this is really going to work.

It's going to be really, really cool.

The special furniture paint Jay's applying it gives a neat matt look.

I've gone for it now so I'll have to make a commitment.

So now what I'm thinking is...

to paint the leg.

I want to do loads of different effects

but I've got to take it nice and easy.

Jay's decided on a colourful accent

on only one of the legs of each chair.

Those, I think,

they work really well together.

Could even take that one out and add that in there.

So we're going to give it a go.

Go on, then.

Jay's planning to create a drip effect on the leg

so he is diluting the paint

and raising the leg up to stop paint pooling on the bottom.

This is going to be a really organic kind of drip

so the more you start to put on

in certain areas,

the drips will just form itself.

Is that really going to give the chair leg a stylish finish?

Now, I've made a choice to do this colour before this one.

Now, that, the yellow looks a bit too similar.

It looks... Oh! Look at that.

Careful, Jay. I hope you're making more than just a mess there.

Sometimes you have mistakes but I'm going to use that, actually.

I'm going to use that paint.

It just means I've just got to work even quicker.

Well, hurry up, then.

Do you know? I think I'm beginning

to see where you got this idea from, Jay.

In Sussex, there's been some big changes to Sarah's charging station.

It's just arrived back from a specialist technician

and if you didn't think she was cuckoo before,

wait till you see a load of this.

Well, I've had a really fun idea for the cuckoo clock

so I just thought I'm going to throw caution to the wind

and turn it into something really kitsch and cool.

So the cuckoo clock has been flocked.

Flocking is the process of adding thousands of tiny

particles of fluff to an object covered in a fine coat of glue.

It gives the item a velvety feel.

It was very popular in the 1970s on wallpapers.

But, truth be told, you can flock almost anything.

It's flocking marvellous.

Look at these two.

Aren't they amazing?

Look at that really vibrant, lovely pink.

I've mixed it up a bit and I've got a few different tones of pink here

so when I put it all together,

it should kind of layer up so it looks really pretty.

But this stuff - stunning, isn't it?

So all I got to do now is put it together

and hopefully we'll end up with something that is truly unique.

When Sarah saved this cuckoo clock from the scrapheap,

it was beyond repair but now...

..its time has come to be born again

as a retro-chic and completely unique smartphone charging station.

It's functional and eye-catching.

A classic cuckoo clock design given a bold and brash spin.

The vibrant shades of playful pink give it a pop-art feel.

It's one of a kind,

uber-cool and utterly brilliant.

Well, it's definitely kitsch, isn't it?

And I think it's beautiful, it's definitely useful,

and I'm just hoping it's saleable.

It was almost lost forever

but Sarah saved Richard's broken clock.

-What are you chucking out today, then?

-Well, it's a cuckoo clock.

Very nice cuckoo clock.

I hate throwing it out but it's going to cost a lot to repair.

She couldn't fix it but she did find a way to repurpose it.

Sarah paid £72 to have the clock flocked,

plus 12 for a charger,

making her total spend £84.

She sold the charging station to Velvet Moon,

a craft shop in Glasgow,

and is now on her way to Richard's home near Witley

to hand over the profit.

DOORBELL

-Hi there. Hello. Richard, hi. It's Sarah.

-Sarah.

-Hi there.

-Nice to see you again.

-Nice to see you.

-Hello there. Hi. I'm Sarah.

-Hello. I'm Anne.

-Anne. Hi there. How do you do?

Now, I actually took your cuckoo clock to...

I think it's a horologist, isn't it?

And it was at least £150 just to get

somebody to look at it so I know why you were taking it to the tip.

-That's why I went to the dump.

-That's right, yes.

Having not been able to get it going, I had to think of

something else to do with it so I've got some pictures

to show you how it ended up.

-Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. Here is...

-Oh, no!

THEY LAUGH

-Wow.

-That's lovely. Gosh.

-It's gone pink.

-Fantastic.

-Isn't that fantastic?

-So it is now a phone charger so...

-Wonderful. How clever.

-A phone charger.

-And it was flocked.

-Oh!

-Lovely.

So it has had a new lease of life. It is definitely in the pink

and it has been bought by a shop who specialises in that

kind of thing and I do have a little bit of money to hand over to you.

It didn't make a fortune but I have got £26 here

-for your old cuckoo clock and I hope you don't mind.

-That's fantastic.

As it was going in the tip,

you know, I don't want that, so it will go up to church, where she...

-You know, up at Witley.

-Oh, fantastic.

We're about to spend a lot of money on outside decoration

and so on and the sound system, so it'll go into that pot.

I'm so pleased that's going to somewhere so close to your heart.

-Thank you very much.

-Great. Well, thank you so much for the clock.

-Lovely. It's a wonderful surprise.

-That's very sweet of you.

-Thanks very much.

-Bye-bye. Thank you ever so much.

Well, that flocked cuckoo clock has raised £26 for Anne's church,

and some eyebrows along the way,

but I think we got away with it.

Sarah spent a total of £84 transforming the cuckoo clock.

She sold it for 110,

turning a profit of £26 for Richard and his wife, Anne.

Back in Wolverhampton,

Jay has put the finishing touches to the pair of chairs.

I'm happy as a bumblebee.

These, I believe, could go in an art gallery.

They are really that good.

I'll call the Tate Modern now, Jay.

But will Sarah be as excited?

I have been really looking forward to see what Jay has managed to do

to those two boring old farmhouse-style chairs that

I dropped off, so I'm hoping he's managed to sprinkle some magic

on them and turn them into something really fantastic.

Sarah challenged Jay to transport these solid but dull chairs

from their country cottage past into the 21st-century...

..and Jay has certainly not disappointed.

With a bit of elbow grease and the flick of a wrist,

he's given them a whole new future on the interiors cutting edge.

The cool, grey base coat makes the perfect canvas on which to

showcase the bright, bold, neon drip effect,

which brings the chairs alive with personality and colour.

Jay's justifiably proud of his handiwork

so let's hope Sarah takes to them as well.

What do you think?

Have they got...? They're really cool.

I think they're really, really cool.

I'm over the moon with them, to tell you the truth.

I think they're really sophisticated.

-It's just really quite clever.

-Sophisticated? That's quite cool.

That's a nice one. I like that.

If you had done it all over or you had not paired it up with

such a lovely finish, I think it would look childlike

-but what you've done looks cool. It's cool.

-OK.

I think it really does look cool. I really, really like it.

You've certainly managed to give them a new identity

because they were pretty boring before, weren't they?

They was a bit, yeah.

And what's more, Jay's labour and materials are on budget, too,

at £150 for the pair.

-Do you reckon I'm going to turn a profit on these or not?

-I think

-you're going to turn a profit.

-I think they're fantastic.

-No problem.

-Thanks.

-All right?

-We've started something big here.

Yeah, no, we've started a trend, that's what that is. Trendsetter.

-You take care now.

-Bye.

-Bye.

There is not a trace of country cottage left on those chairs.

He's blown away the cobwebs and brought out all their best features

and that design idea is really clever.

Dewi and Julie were clearing out their son Owen's stuff

in preparation for a big move.

-He's leaving you, is he?

-Yes. Yes. At last.

-At last!

Sarah took a shine to their pair of chairs.

Good, solid chairs, aren't they? They're handmade.

Dewi and Julie were happy to let her have them.

-She can do something with those.

-Yes, she can do something.

If they were sanded down and just

that natural wood brought back up again...

That's not what happened...

But the chairs have now been completely

reinvented for the modern age.

And what's more, they've been sold.

Sarah got back in touch with Nick, who bought Anthony's green chair,

and he agreed that these were cool customers.

I love the detail paintwork on the chairs. They look really cool.

Yeah, like all these paint splatters on the legs. They look really good.

Different. Very different.

Time to head to North Wales and, with Dewi busy at work,

Sarah will be showing Julie what became of the chairs.

-Hi there.

-Hello, Sarah. Nice to see you again.

-And you. And you.

Well, it was great seeing you at the tip and being really helpful, you

-were helping your son move, weren't you?

-Yes. Yes. It was a busy day.

I saw lots of things I was interested in

that he was disposing of, and one of them was the pair of chairs,

the stick-back chairs.

So I've got some pictures here to show you how they ended up.

I don't know how much they look like the chairs that you remember but...

Oh, gosh. Well, no, they were wood, weren't they? Like a pine effect.

-Yes.

-Those are beautiful, aren't they?

What he's done is he's given them a good coat of paint and he has put...

-Just a bit of colour on.

-A bit of colour just on the legs

-just to give them a little something different.

-That's lovely.

So I did actually manage to sell the chairs

and I've got a little bit of money here to hand over.

Not a fortune but I have got...

-There's £5 there...

-Oh, good heavens.

-..and 20 more to go with it...

-Thank you very much.

..for your son's old chairs.

So, you worked really hard that day.

What are you going to do with the money?

Well, I had thought it would be nice to go out for a meal

but I think it would be nice to give it Owen as well,

because he bought the chairs originally,

and it's lovely to see that they've been brought up

to such a high standard, so I think Owen would appreciate it.

It was a pleasure. Thank you so much for your time

-at the tip and here today.

-I enjoyed it very much.

-I did tell Owen. He was quite excited.

-Excellent.

-Well, lovely to catch up. Thank you ever so much.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.

Well, I think Julie's a very helpful and generous mother

because not only did she help her son move,

she let us have those chairs

and she's going to give the profit back to him.

Jay's labour and materials on the chairs came in at £150.

Sarah sold the pair for £175,

leaving her £25 to hand over to Julie.

Sarah scoured the country and saved four items from a life of grime.

The old brown chair was transformed into gorgeous green...

..the old green railing transformed into a gorgeous table,

Sarah's cuckoo clock now looks pretty in pink...

..and two old wooden chairs are now the hippest new seats on the block.

Who'd have thought it was possible to do all of that

with a load of old rubbish?

We made lovely things that have gone to new homes

and made some money along the way.