Episode 4 Money for Nothing

What are you chucking out today, then?

How do you make money for nothing?

Don't throw them, don't throw them.

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

we throw out every year.

Thanks so much for letting me have that.

I think that's absolutely made my day. I love it.

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

on things before they hit the skip.

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

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

I make new stuff out of old stuff and I sell it for a profit.

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

-What do you reckon to that?

-It's quite smart, isn't it?

-Tell me you love it.

-I love it.

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

Isn't it amazing?

..valuable...

It's quite a statement piece.

..and hopefully saleable items.

-I'll take you down to the till, that's fantastic.

-OK, fantastic.

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.

Wow, that's amazing!

Welcome to Walsall Recycling Centre.

A nonstop hive of activity.

Sarah's on a mission to turn trash...into hard cash.

I love rummaging through the bin bags and the boots and the boxes.

And making money for nothing - that's just a bonus.

But before you make a beeline for your local tip, take note -

Sarah's been given special permission to seek out two items

that she can rejuvenate and sell on for a profit.

Although he doesn't know it yet, first to offer up possibilities

is Alan, arriving with some comfortable seating.

-Ooh, hi.

-Hi.

You've got some interesting looking things in there.

What are you throwing out?

Just stuff from my late mother-in-law's house.

OK, that sounds like a big job. Are you clearing out lots of stuff?

Not too much, not too much but just some of the bulky heavy stuff.

It's a shame in a way but we don't really know where else to take it

-other than a tip so...

-No, you definitely get to that stage.

I'd love to have a look at it.

-Is there any chance I can see?

-Yes, yes.

-Wow, it's quite cool, isn't it?

-HE CHUCKLES

-There's a similar designed one that's all leather as well.

-Really?

With these two wingback chairs she could be onto something good here.

A pair of chairs. How exciting.

Well done. Wow.

I have to say, that both those chairs are really interesting

cos they're old, they're chunky...

In a way, I am glad they're going to be reused

cos they just seem too good to throw out but they're just so big

in a small bungalow, which is where she is.

If I could take those two chairs and then if I manage to do

-something with them, could I come and show you what I've done?

-Yeah.

That would be lovely.

Lovely indeed.

Sarah has her first find in the bag and has roped the guys

from the tip in to help.

Good work, lads.

But what does Alan think Sarah will get up to with his chairs?

I don't know. It's... It makes me think, really.

I presume it's not going to be just recycled as furniture

but as something else,

so it will be interesting to see what happens to them.

I'll just tell you if they're comfortable because that is the key.

Ah, yeah.

Actually, that's got IKEA written on the back

so it's not as old as you think it is.

Everyone's a comedian.

Very comfortable, but the look they have at the moment is just...

It's not going to go into everybody's house

and I want to make them commercial, saleable and expensive.

And given the style of them, this needs a specialist upholsterer.

This is going to have to go to somebody who really knows

what they're doing, who can cope

with the fact that there's wood and fabric.

I've got just the person in mind.

Meet Ray Clarke - upholsterer extraordinaire.

Ray made a name for himself in the world of fashion design

before discovering his love of vintage furniture.

His fresh, modern designs mix practicality, comfort and luxury.

I never intended to become, like, an upholsterer at the beginning.

It wasn't the thing I set out to do.

I suppose you could say upholstery found me.

With my creative background in fashion design and textile design,

I was able to use those skills and redirect them

and now this is all I do.

I just give birth to chairs, and I love them, yeah.

But will it be love at first sight when Ray claps eyes on these two?

That's one find ready to be transformed.

Now time for Sarah to find a little project for herself.

Just wondering if I'd like earrings is made out of these.

What do you think?

Hopefully John and his magic carpets will be just the ticket.

-Have you got somebody rolled up in the middle of there?

-No, no.

Isn't that lovely?

I really like your carpet. I like the back of it.

What kind of nick is it in? Is it...

It's got chunks out of it where it had to be fitted

-around radiators and things like that.

-OK.

But it's a lovely old carpet, isn't it? It's...

..beautiful.

I'm going to go have a look at the other one while you're at it.

-Wow.

-You are getting excited, Sarah.

Go on, then.

She does love a good find.

I think that I like that one more than that one.

I think it's cos I've got a few ideas about

what I might do with some carpet.

I think it's just beautiful. I really love this.

I think I'm going to pop this one back in the recycling.

I can do an end.

No, I think you need manpower.

With some more manpower from the chaps at the tip,

Sarah nabs one of John's rugs.

But does he have any idea what she might do with it?

Not really, no. Not at all.

I'm with you, John. Help us out, Sarah.

Well, I am super pleased to have discovered this because I think

this carpet would have been really valuable when it was made.

It is obviously really good quality and you can see from the back

that it's so well-made.

With the magic carpet safely snaffled away,

Sarah's two-item treasure hunt is complete.

Ray Clarke will take charge

of Alan's pair of chairs.

And Sarah will come up with

a strategy for John's old carpet.

I really love the eclectic mixture of items that I gathered today.

I've got huge potential to transform them into things that are fabulous,

and make some money for nothing.

These days, the streets of East London team with creative

businesses and design know-how.

It's here Ray practises the sport of extreme upholstery.

And he's one of our top players.

Oh, Sarah is coming today.

Um, yeah, I wonder what she's going to bring.

It's almost like you're in goal and you've got to be prepared

for a shot from any angle, do you know what I mean?

From someone taking the penalty. It's like...

Yeah, sorry about the football analogy.

No worries, Ray. Good to know you are poised and ready for kick-off.

Normally, weight is a benchmark for quality.

This is definitely heavy but if it's quality, I'm not sure.

I'm hoping that between the pair of chairs,

we're going to be able to create something really lovely.

And Ray is going to take up the challenge.

-Ray, how are you? How are you doing?

-Good to see you.

-I've got a couple of little...

-Oh.

-I'm not going to say beauties.

I've got a couple of little chairs for you.

Any chance you can give me a hand? This one is really heavy. Hold on.

Is that all right up there?

-There she goes.

-Lovely.

Come and bring the little orange fellow in.

-He looks a bit like an elephant to me.

-Yeah.

There's something odd about his ears.

His ears? What's she on about?

So, these two came into the tip as a pair but

they don't have to stay together.

I'd much rather work on this one, to be honest, than this one, I think.

-OK, well...

-Simply because this one has got a lot more character.

The orange chair will be put aside

so Ray can concentrate on the black one.

I did wonder about just really making it pack a punch.

Something fabulous on it, beautiful fabric, something bold.

Well, actually, Sarah,

truth to tell, I've been kind of developing my own fabric.

-Really?

-Or trying to design my own fabric.

-That's a new thing for you, isn't it?

-Yes. Completely.

What kind of fabric is it?

-Well, we're in the Year of the Monkey now, apparently.

-OK.

O...K.

The fabric is based on different

types of New World and Old World monkeys.

Are you going to be able to nail it in time to get it on here?

I think so.

It sounds like, to me, you're going to pour your heart and soul

into this little chair.

Lots of upholsterers design or are inspired

by using other people's fabrics, as am I.

But very few of them are able to actually

bring their own designs to a piece.

It will be a work of art.

Ray is dreaming big, but what will his time and materials cost?

So we're looking at around 800-850 mark. Somewhere between there.

OK. If I can leave you chiselling away at the cost?

If I leave you around £800, I love the idea of the monkeys.

It's going to rock, it's going to rock.

-Go for it, OK?

-Yeah, thank you.

-Take care!

Thank you very much. Yes! Yes.

I think he's pretty happy with this project.

Well, that chair sounds like it's going to look amazing

and I don't want to hamper Ray's creativity so I think saying yes

to a load of monkey business all over it is definitely the way to go.

And I think I'm going to have

a little chance of making a bit of profit, fingers crossed.

This is awesome.

It will be a complete unique piece of art

that nobody on Earth, except the buyer, will have.

I'm just...

Yeah. I'll be totally made up.

Oh, sorry, it's very difficult to...

to contain my emotions, I'm sorry.

No apology needed.

Ray has a big budget of around £800 to remake that chair

but he's never created a new fabric for upholstery before,

so Sarah is taking a risk on this one.

In the leafy Sussex countryside, Sarah is at home in her farmhouse.

And you better feel like dancing cos she's thinking of cutting a rug.

It fits perfectly, doesn't it?

It's actually quite a nice carpet but I've got plans.

I thought I might make a set of luggage out of it.

Sarah could make a carpet bag from it,

but now she is having a closer look at the rug,

maybe she has already bagged something unexpected.

It's got a really fine weave to it.

I think that it might be some kind of wool or silk mix to it.

I think it's handmade. I don't think I can cut it up.

Certainly not without taking it to

somebody who really knows what they're talking about.

So that's not me!

Completely change your plans, why don't you? Sheesh!

So, Sarah's headed for auction house Bellmans

in Wisborough Green, West Sussex,

where auctioneer Jonathan Pratt should be able to advise on the rug.

-Jonathan, lovely to see you.

-Hello, Sarah.

I've got a little something you might be able to help me with.

Gosh, let's take that off you. Get the other end.

-Uh!

-Right...

-Thank you.

Auction houses can offer valuation services to anyone looking to put

antique items up for sale.

With 20 years in the trade, Jonathan is just the man to tell Sarah

if she's onto something with her bit of old carpet.

Um... Quite nice.

It's quite a nice carpet, actually. It's very obviously Persian.

Looking at the style of it and the colours, it's...

Well, you want it to be antique at the very best,

early part of the 20th century. It's getting close to that.

Stylewise, it looks like it's like West Persia.

What I need to look for on here is signs of wear and discolouration.

Jonathan thinks it's a genuine Persian rug.

What you're saying, this is really bringing it to life for me.

But what sort of sale estimate would Jonathan put on it at auction?

I'd reckon potentially between £200-£400.

-Really?

-Potentially, yeah. Certainly...

Would you like to get off my rug, sir?

Yeah, that's valuable, Jonathan.

Can my tip-find rug come here and stand a chance of selling?

Yeah, absolutely. I really believe it can.

I'm joining you down the tip, I can tell you!

It's amazing down there. It's really good, isn't it?

It is good, Sarah, yes.

Jonathan will put the Persian beauty in his next appropriate auction.

-Brilliant, I can't wait.

-Thank you. OK, bye.

I take my hat off to her. What a find.

She's obviously got a very good eye.

On the whole, it has great potential.

With no outlay on materials for this little project,

Sarah's in with a chance of profit but will that rug that was headed

for the skip really live up to its potential at auction?

Back in busy East London,

Ray is hard at work on the wingbacked armchair.

In fact, he seems to have ripped it to bits.

I've basically gone a bit nuts on the chair!

I've basically stripped it back as far as I can do,

taking out all the, erm, external panels,

inside panels, inside backing, inside arms as well,

so I can get it prepared for a new colour, a wood stain.

Ray needs to remove all of the chair's dated upholstery

and strip the wooden frame before he can begin to modernise it.

He's got a big budget of around £800 to do that, but time is money

and this is a seriously time-consuming job.

Especially when you're sanding it all by hand.

Ah, that's more like it.

Ray's brought out the electric sander

which will speed things up a bit.

With all the sanding done,

Ray moves on to removing the original tacks.

This chair has to get done,

and it won't do itself, so, you know...

There's nothing electric that can do this faster,

so he'll just have to pull them out by hand one by one.

I hate it when they snap off!

It takes great patience and some determination as well.

Oh! It's snapping off!

Great patience, yeah(!)

Ray's also been hard at work on the real stars of this piece -

his menagerie of monkeys.

I've just looked up certain types of monkeys and just illustrated them.

His signature fabric will be printed up from his monkey sketches.

Because of the types of monkeys I've chosen as well,

give me an opportunity to maybe explore colour

in quite a vast range.

So you've got the gold of the tamarin here,

and then you go on to the red howler.

And then there's a black howler as well.

So, hopefully, this will be more of a surprise for Sarah

when she gets to see this

cos I really didn't have a chance to show her.

Ray's final monkey designs will be sent to a fabric printing company

to be transferred onto a velvety fabric.

Obviously, I want the print process to go quite well

to capture all the definition,

but I'm also asking a tall order

because asking for the illustrations to go into a pile fabric,

as opposed to just a plain, flat fabric,

so there may be some compromise I might have to make at some point,

but we'll see.

It's getting me all lumpy in the throat as well at the moment,

I'm that excited.

Ray is passionate about his monkey designs,

but he still has a lot of work to do on that chair.

Once his labour costs are factored in,

can he really manage to deliver it on Sarah's budget?

In Wisborough Green, West Sussex, it's sale day at the auction house.

And Sarah's Persian rug is about to go under the hammer.

Now its fate is in the hands of today's auctioneer, Simon Garner.

We have, I think, between 30, 40 rugs for sale every month.

It will sell. I'm confident.

Sarah thought she might have spotted a quality weave

but will any of the buyers at the sale want to snap it up?

Lot 970A is this Kashan carpet. Early 20th century one...

When Sarah met John, he was about to unload a roll of unwanted rug.

It's got chunks out of it where it had to be

-fitted around radiators and things like that.

-OK.

Sarah loved it but did John

have ideas on what fate might await his rug?

Not really, no. Not at all.

Well, he will soon find out

because the rug has now been successfully sold at auction.

Sarah is on her way to see John and fill him in on what became of it.

-Hello, Sarah!

-John, lovely to see you again.

Yes, nice to see you again.

-Are you well?

-Yeah, very well, thank you. You?

-Yes, very well.

I said when I met you at the tip that I'd really like

to keep in touch with any progress on your rug.

So I had scissors poised ready

to cut it up to make it into carpet bags

and there was this little voice inside me saying,

"I'm not sure that I should do that,"

because I'm not a rug expert but I do have a friend who is.

And so I bundled up your rug

and I took it to the local auction house and let Jonathan,

who runs the auction house, have a look at it for me.

-So he put it into auction for us.

-Oh, right.

I would never have expected that.

So it did sell and I've got the profit here.

I have got £381.60 for you.

I would've never imagined that! That's amazing.

Is that a bit of a surprise then?

A massive surprise. I'm amazed it's this much money.

That's amazing. Thank you very much.

I don't think I'm going to throw anything away again!

What are you going to do with that sort of money?

A friend of mine's wife has been very poorly.

She's only in her 30s and she got quite a nasty illness.

She's now in a wheelchair and they've just put a stairlift

into her house so I'm going to give it to them.

That will be absolutely fantastic. You know, I couldn't be happier.

I'm so pleased we stopped that

little rug going into the skip that day.

This will make, I hope, a difference.

-Sarah, that's absolutely brilliant.

-I'm really pleased.

-That's a lovely outcome. Thank you ever so much.

-Thank you.

-Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. Bye.

What a result. The Persian rug sold at auction for £480.

After auction costs totalling £98.40 were deducted,

Sarah was able to hand over an amazing £381.60 to John.

Well, I think John was genuinely surprised by that outcome,

and the value of his old rug,

and that money is going to a cause that is really close to his heart.

Back in East London, Ray has finished

his makeover of the hotly anticipated armchair.

He is waiting for Sarah...anxiously.

I'm proper nervous!

I just hope that she really likes it, yeah.

Oh, no, what have I done?!

You've done up an armchair, Ray, don't worry.

Although Sarah is also on tenterhooks.

I've come to see Ray and to find out how the armchair has turned out

that I left him.

And this is one of the projects that has really been on my mind

because Ray is inventing a whole new fabric to go on the chair

and doing all of the upholstery

so this just one of those things that could go either way.

Either way, the transformation is now complete.

When Sarah dropped off the chair, it was solid

but badly needed bringing up-to-date.

But now Ray has worked his magic. It's utterly transformed.

Ray's hand-illustrated menagerie of monkeys are rendered

on a luxurious moleskin velvet,

which he's positioned to show off the stylish simians

to their best effect.

The chair has been entirely reupholstered with quality

finishings and the original wood

has been stained in a cool contrasting grey.

Ray took a big creative risk

on designing his own unique monkey fabric and it's paid off splendidly.

Well done, Ray.

But what will Sarah make of it?

-Hiya!

-Hi. Ooh!

-You're not nervous, are you?

-Just a little bit, yeah.

-Let me see.

-I'll pull it off. One, two, three.

Ta-da!

I absolutely adore it. You've done so well there. It's so cool!

She likes it! The woman from Del Monte says yes.

She does indeed.

-Which is your favourite monkey?

-I do like the black howler.

-Yeah.

And I love the golden tamarin. Ooh! Come round here.

-I want to take you round the back.

-I'm going on tour.

-So, who's he? A howler?

-Yeah, it's a black howler.

And that's a red howler.

That chair is a triumph.

What's so odd is I can't even relate to the chair that I brought to you.

-No.

-Because of what you've done to it.

It's like you're showing me something

that I've never seen before.

With the very highest praise,

Sarah is delighted with Ray's monkey chair.

It meant so much to me to try to do this, so thank you

for giving me the opportunity to do this.

Honestly, thank you.

I'm properly made up, I really am.

It's smiles all round for the painstakingly finished chair.

On that note, Sarah has got a question

but she doesn't want to pry-mate. You see?

Has it gone over budget?

I'm feeling now that my original costs

were probably a little bit low.

It took longer than I thought, so therefore labourwise

it would have been a bit more expensive.

The amount of work that's gone into the chair has pushed

Ray's labour costs up,

meaning he's gone around £150 over budget at a total cost of £950.

However, Sarah is still confident.

I will try so hard to sell this at very high-end

so that we turn a really good profit over on this.

-If you would, that would mean a lot.

-Great job.

Lovely finish and I think you should be very proud of that.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

She likes it.

Ah! These monkeys, you're so tricky, I'm telling you.

Those tricky monkeys are a triumph.

Ray took a chance on a creative idea that really paid off

but it came with a high cost to Sarah's budget.

Back in Walsall Recycling Centre, Sarah found Alan about to off-load

two armchairs.

A pair of chairs, how exciting.

Alan was happy for Sarah to nab them.

In a way, I'm glad they're going to be reused cos they just

seem too good to throw out.

So, Sarah spirited them straight to Ray in East London...

Lovely.

..who immediately took a shine to one chair in particular.

Now Sarah is on her way back to Walsall to update Alan

on what became of his armchair.

-Hello.

-Hi there, Alan. How are you doing?

-I'm very well, thanks. You?

Very nice to see you again.

-I said I would be in touch with news about your chairs.

-Yes.

Now, remind me, were they your in-law's chairs?

That's right, yes, they were. From an old farmhouse, I believe.

And as a pair, I thought we'd like to keep them as pair,

but as it turned out, I took them to somebody who had a look at them

and thought that there was one that was particularly good.

I took it to an upholsterer called Ray Clarke

so I've got some pictures of what he did to it.

Gosh.

-Wow.

-Is that recognisable?

-It's tremendous, isn't it?

It has been transformed.

He has redesigned it, he has given it a whole new lease of life.

These are the pictures of it in his studio.

I've never seen anything like that before. That's unbelievable.

It's unbelievable.

You just think, what are we all throwing away, really?

-Yes, well...

-It's got that potential.

It has got huge potential and it is out there now waiting to be sold

and I've got high hopes that it's going to generate some profit

-for you, and I'll keep in touch...

-Wonderful.

..and be knocking on your door with the money in the future.

-Thank you ever so much.

-Pleasure, pleasure.

Well, I think that Alan was really impressed with all Ray's hard work

because that chair really is a unique piece

and I'm sure it's going to sell well

and I'm going to be sending cash back to Alan very soon.

Ray's materials and painstaking labour on the chair

came in at just under £1,000.

This niche item has yet to sell

so it's currently a potential loss of that £950.

Sarah successfully saved two items from oblivion.

The Persian rug was a fabulous tip find

that sold for a fortune at auction.

And the wingbacked armchair had a marvellous monkey makeover.

Well, that's two fantastic results.

Ray created a really fabulous chair,

which I'm sure is going to end up as pride of place

in somebody's home soon.

And that rug - well, it just goes to show

you never know what's going to turn up at the tip.