Episode 8 Money for Nothing

What are you throwing away?

How do you make money for nothing?

I like the look of that.

The answer could be hiding in over 20 million tonnes

of household waste, thrown out by us every year.

Mm, what else are you throwing away? Anything exciting?

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

on things before they hit the skip.

Finding, transforming and selling stuff we throw away

is an obsession, and it's that obsession that I turned

into a money-making business.

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

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

You've got a bucket of fun for me.

-It's a big one.

-Is it?

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

They are amazing.

..valuable...

I've never seen anything like them.

..and hopefully, saleable items.

That's a lovely job, thank you.

Thank you.

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.

-£165 here.

-No!

Today, Sarah's travelled to the busy Witley recycling centre in Surrey,

where she's seeking to salvage, um...

Oh, I'll let her tell you.

I'm seeking to salvage something special and turn today's tip finds

into top designer treasure.

Yeah, that.

Sarah's on the lookout for three items that can be transformed,

turned around and sold on for a profit.

Barbecue recycling.

And just in case you at home were thinking of doing the same

at your local recycling centre, don't try it.

Sarah had to get special permission,

and, anyway, the tip is like a second home to her.

I'm here all day - thought I might make it a little bit more homely.

That's nice, isn't it? I just need a sofa now.

Or, you could get back to work.

And if you're quick, your first item

could be falling out the back of that car.

Perhaps David and his partner Vanessa

will let you have a look at their battered old table.

-Hello.

-Hi.

Make my day.

Tell me that I can have what you are about to throw in the tip.

Well, it's extremely heavy,

so if somebody was going to let us not throw it in the tip,

that would be good.

In my experience weight often shouts quality,

so I'm thinking this must have been a beautiful table.

Yeah, it is. The legs are absolutely stunning.

Shall we try and get it on its feet?

In its heyday, this Victorian dining table

would've been able to extend in the middle

to fit a dozen people round it at dinner parties,

but as it's missing the connecting table leaves,

it's only good now for very small dinner parties.

Isn't that right, David?

Oh, he doesn't say much.

You hung on to it because you thought you might restore it one day

or is it just...?

It's just in the way, we don't want it, we don't need it.

It would make a sort of oversized card table, as it is.

I think this has got such great bone structure,

it's going to be beautiful when it's...

Well, as you say, heavy is good.

-Excellent, on that note...

-Except when you are carrying it.

What a find!

Sarah's got herself an extending table that doesn't extend.

What do you think Sarah will do with it, David?

Oh, yeah. Vanessa?

I'm sure she'll make the best of it.

If you start off with a ritzy product,

sometimes you land up with an even ritzier one.

You don't often find one of these rocking up at the tip.

I'm so pleased it turned up today.

It's a big, substantial, heavy mahogany dining table.

It would stretch right out and have probably three or four leaves

in the middle so you could seat 12 of your friends round it.

I'm really going to need somebody very creative

to make some money out of this.

It's got huge potential,

but it's got some massive problems at the moment.

If it's creativity you're after, there's only one man to call.

Rupert Blanchard is a furniture maker and self-confessed hoarder

of anything old he can turn into gold.

I work mostly with salvaged and found reclaimed materials.

So I basically work with other people's waste.

I reassemble it as modern furniture.

Rupert has carved out a name for himself

as one of the most imaginative designers

working with undervalued materials.

His furniture is modern, fun and always tells a story.

I love making something from nothing,

something that everyone's given up on.

Something with a good history.

Something with a story and something that I want to preserve

and share that story with others.

It's an incredibly satisfying job.

Well, Rupert, you might be in luck.

If it's a story you are after,

then this table...

well, could be a long story.

That's one item down, two to go.

And Sarah's back on the prowl.

But people round here have got wise to Sarah

poking her head in their boot,

so they've started bringing guard dogs.

Oh, no, you jumped out.

Quick, Sarah, run.

Oh, tickles! Are you being a good puppy? Oh, yes.

What a brute.

In you go, back in.

In you go, in.

Master of dogs.

He just ripped my sleeve. See that?

Good dog.

If you're quite all right to continue, Sarah,

you might be familiar with what Janice has in her boot.

Hello, hello.

I'm thinking that's an Ercol, is it?

It is Ercol. Yes.

I do know a bit about it, and that is that the blonde stuff like this

is the more commercial stuff that people like.

So I'd love to see it out.

-Can I help you get it out?

-Yes.

This old sofa frame was made by famous British manufacturers Ercol,

and pieces like this from the '60s and '70s

are considered classics of modern British design.

Nothing classic about those cushions, though.

How long have you had it?

I've had it since my kids were small. The youngest is now 16.

As you see, it's fallen through.

I meant to repair it. It hasn't happened. It went in the shed.

So now I'm thinking I'll just get rid of it.

I'm really pleased that you brought it in,

because any furniture that you can instantly recognise,

even upside down in the tip,

is a really good thing,

because it means other people are following it,

they like it and it's got that real,

what, 1970s slouchy look to it, hasn't it?

It certainly has.

If it's all right I'm going to pile the cushions on it

and take it away and see if one of my fantastic restorers

can get it back into its former glory.

It would be lovely, actually,

if somebody could do something with it, which was what I intended.

You don't have to feel guilty at all about dropping it off,

it's come into safe hands. I'm so pleased I was here.

Sarah's got herself a retro stunner to renovate.

But how would Janice do it up?

I would like to see it in a classic restoration,

but Sarah's the boss.

She's doing it, so I guess it might be something quite wacky.

Oh, I love this sofa, it's got three things -

it's vintage, it's Ercol and it's blonde,

and that makes it commercial.

I'm definitely going to re-use it,

and I think I'm going to be sitting on a profit.

Janice would like a sympathetic restoration,

but that might not be the plan with the person Sarah's lined up

to take it to.

Anthony Devine, the upholsterer with the mosterer.

Anthony takes his two decades of design experience

and passes it on to the younger generation

at his school of upholstery.

Anthony's work is loud, exciting and experimental.

I've been an upholsterer now for 21 years.

I started straight from school.

That's me ever since, really.

Now I teach people who want to become upholsterers,

and through that I get my self-satisfaction.

I still enjoy the passion of it,

but now I pass that knowledge and passion on to all our students.

When it comes to sofas, Anthony has seen them all.

So what new ideas is he going to bring to this one?

We're nearly there.

Sarah now needs to find something to work on herself

and she'll be done.

But, with the day drawing to a close, she's getting a bit bored.

Just don't fall off and break your leg.

I know, that's what I'm thinking, it's a bit of a liability, isn't it?

This is a good look, isn't it?

How would you make these at home? A couple of baked bean tins?

Great, find some tins of beans and you're finished.

Oh, my word, I'm loving everything that's in here.

You can't throw this lot out.

Or will she see potential in what Diane has in her boot?

You know we've got to get rid of it, this is the problem.

You're very welcome to take what you want.

Diane's been clearing out her childhood home

with the help of her cousin, David.

Oh, no, and whose is that?

Oh, that was mine, yeah.

And there's something in there I think Sarah has her eye on.

Hands off.

-When was the last time you played with that?

-Oh, crumbs.

I'm not giving my age away. That was Noddy's car.

It is Noddy's car, isn't it?

I don't know whether Noddy is in there, still.

That's fantastic. Would it be OK...?

I know you are in a desperate hurry,

but if it's all right to take it away,

I think it would be a crying shame if that ended up in the wood skip.

It does seem a shame.

You know, you're not allowed to keep that for yourself, Sarah.

All your dollies are too big for it anyway.

Lovely, well, thank you very much.

I'm going to take that away first, keep it out of the rain.

Have a good day, thank you.

Do you think the doll's house will scrub up well, Sarah?

Sarah?

Sarah?!

I may be some time.

Diane?

Well, I don't know.

I hope she can make it look a lot better than it looks at the moment

and that somebody will be able to make use of it,

because it is a shame to put all that in the tip, I must admit.

I think this might be a Triang doll's house,

and that company manufactured loads of different styles of doll's house.

It's got that classic red roof and some great detail.

Everybody would've had one of these

and it is like a snapshot of 1950s history.

I mean, these things, they're just lovely -

the detail and the quality is fantastic.

I'm so pleased to have found it.

And with that, Sarah's three items have all been found.

Rupert will extend his talents to the mahogany table.

Anthony will have a bash at the classic Ercol sofa,

and, if she can stop playing with it for two minutes,

Sarah will spruce up the doll's house.

Well, what a cracking day!

I've had my pick of the rubbish here.

Now all I've got to do is get my thinking cap on

and make some money out of it.

Sarah has ditched the dump

and headed to the seaside down of Margate,

a place where thousands of Britons flock to every year

to top up their sunburn.

Unfortunately, there's no time for fun in the sun

for our wood-working whizz-kid Rupert.

Sarah's about to surprise him with the extending mahogany masterpiece

and see what ideas he brings to the table.

I've brought my lovely tip-find table all the way to Margate

and I'm hoping Rupert is going to transform it

into something really amazing.

Rupert.

Wow. That's heavy.

It is a beast, isn't it?

It is. It was obviously a real thing of quality in its day.

I always say that, heavy equals good, equals expensive.

It's got a whole heap of stuff underneath it, though,

from where it must originally have stretched out.

-Yeah.

-So have you got the extra flaps?

We were lucky to get this.

This turned up literally falling out the back of a car.

Yeah. The legs are sort of coming off of the framework.

They're really heavy-duty, almost like a massive old snooker table.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

What do you want done with this?

Do you know something? Whenever I see something like this,

I want to know what it looked like when it was that enormous thing.

So I was wondering if you could make some new leaves

or something to go in the middle of it?

I want to cut this one up and almost like...

..how people used to have crazy paving.

Some people love it, some people hate it,

but kind of crazy paving or the pattern on a giraffe's neck.

So I'm going to reassemble the table as really a patchwork

of lots of broken bits of table.

It sounds a bit like the giraffe,

you're going to stick your neck out on this one, aren't you?

Very much like a giraffe, people are going to love this or hate this.

What, who hates giraffes?

So how big do you think it would've been?

Shall we not just try and pull it apart and see how big it is?

Yeah, go for it.

From what I got there,

it sounds like Rupert's going to make a giant patchwork table top.

-If you can just try and pull that side.

-Yeah.

Crazy paving was how people did their gardens in the '70s and '80s.

It was horrible.

Doesn't matter, keep going. Keep going.

-I think it's stuck.

-That's about it.

So, crazy paving.

Does that come at a crazy price?

I think if you give me about £300 to play with on this,

I can do something really fun with this

and make you a very expensive table.

I think that just sounds wonderful. Thank you so much.

Sarah's bagged herself a bargain,

with a crazy paving giraffe-neck table.

I can't really picture it.

Well, I think that table has really captured Rupert's imagination,

and with a £300 budget,

I think I've going to make a really good profit on it too.

It's going to cost £300 to transform the table,

and if it's half as good as Rupert thinks it's going to be,

we could have a real money-maker on our hands.

For Sarah's next stop, she's travelled north to Manchester,

and awaiting her arrival is Anthony Devine.

Devine by name, divine by nature...

most of the time.

Sarah's brought along the beautiful blonde bombshell of a sofa.

Let's see what Anthony can make of it.

So it's Ercol and you're either a lover or a hater.

I'm hoping Anthony's a lover.

Oh, steady on, Sarah, we've got work to do.

I can't really tell if you like this kind of thing or not.

I've never seen any here.

Ah, students bring them in now and again.

The thing with Ercol is it's been around for ages

because it lasts for ages.

I mean, there's a whole almost like an appreciation society,

and the purists will probably say,

"Don't do any more with it, keep it like this,

"put new fabric on it, replace the webs,

"touch up all the wood",

but that's not entirely what I think we should do with it.

What's your take on it?

My instant thing would be get rid of these, right?

I just knew you were going to do that.

All of a sudden it looks completely different.

Obviously we need comfort,

so I would say replace with a few scatter cushions,

potentially, as well, have one cushion, rather than two.

Plus point for that is if anybody is sitting in the middle,

it's more comfortable and you don't lose your remote control down there.

Comfortable and functional,

but what's your plan for tidying up the rather battered-looking wood.

The one thing that is worrying is the damage to the frame,

it's quite a lot. And one thing -

we could carefully sand it all down,

but that's going to cost in terms of labour.

Because we're going to try to do this for a price

and I know you are always keen on price,

then we have to look at alternatives,

and one of those great ways of doing it would be just kind of spray it.

Oh, spray painting? That lovely blonde wood?

That lovely, natural, blonde wood that's so commercial?

OK, a nice natural light colour, perhaps.

Yeah, we're not going to go too crazy.

Instantly, I'm thinking like a really dark, heavy blue.

Right, what do I know?

But, if it keeps costs down, I know Sarah will be happy.

Sounds really simple.

Simple paint job, simple cushion across the base, how much is it?

I mean, you are looking about the £450 mark.

£450.

Go for your life.

And it's a deal.

Although painting that lovely natural wood,

is it really worth it just to save a bit of money?

It'll probably divide opinions,

because we all know there's purists

and then people will want to see something exciting.

I'm certainly on the side of exciting.

Well, Anthony is going to have to nail the look of that sofa

if we're going to make a profit. £450 is a big investment.

But he's talking a good game.

It'll be £450 to transform the sofa.

There's a good chance of making a bit of profit.

Well, if someone wants to buy it, obviously.

With our two makers put to work,

it's time for Sarah to get back home to the Sussex countryside

and get started on her own project.

Sarah's been playing with the doll's house all morning.

Now she's ready to get to work.

Well, this is a very sweet little doll's house

and the contents of it are fantastic.

And I know that it's a Triang doll's house,

and I can say that with complete certainty

because it says it here on the back.

This house is in lovely condition

and I really don't want to change that.

I'm not going to paint it because if somebody takes this on as a project,

I want them to be able to choose

whether they want the original interior

or if they want to make it more of their own.

The Triang Company started making doll's houses in the 1920s.

By the 1930s, the company was so successful,

they bought the famous London toy store Hamleys.

TV. You've got to love a TV.

They were big in those days, weren't they?

However, they stopped production during World War II

when they joined the war effort.

They stopped making doll's houses, and made weapons instead.

This is just the most wonderful little world in here.

There's a whole history of somebody's childhood

and what they played with.

I think it's just a case of cleaning it all up and making the best of it.

It is in really dirty condition.

In fact, the last people who played with it, I think, were probably mice

cos there's lots of mouse poo inside it.

That really isn't going to make any difference.

I'm going to give it a really good clean up,

polish up all the pieces, things like this -

they're collectible and they're definitely saleable.

As mice have been using the house as a loo,

Sarah's using some simple antibacterial spray,

which will get rid of all the nasties

and remove the surface grime.

I need to be careful not to damage any of the lovely delicate wood

and paint that's on the surface, but it should clean up really nicely.

Triang doll's houses were of the highest quality and built to last.

Look at that tiny spoon.

They even had specially-printed wallpapers

that were miniatures of contemporary designs of the day.

That's just about it, I reckon.

These little bits have cleaned up really nicely.

What I want to do is pop them all into the house,

style them up so it looks stunning, and then get it sold.

I've got my interior design helper to help me.

Come on, this is your size.

Sarah's enlisted the help of daughter Libby to help decorate.

So, which one's the master bedroom, this one?

That one.

Sarah plans to sell the house online,

so a nice arrangement will help greatly

when it comes to bagging a buyer.

I see what you've done there, I like it.

Looks good. Cosy.

So far Sarah hasn't spent a penny renovating the doll's house,

so if she can get it sold, it'll be all profit.

We're leaving leafy Sussex and heading back to Margate...

..where Rupert's getting started on the crazy paving giraffe table.

How's that going to work again?

I'm going to splice into the middle of this table -

a lot of colourful sections of wood.

Almost like crazy paving of colourful bits of Formica.

It's going to have a real contemporary twist to it.

And it's going to be big and heavy.

So, I'm going to start pulling this apart and see how big it used to be.

Rupert begins to fully extend the table

to get a better idea of how large he could possibly make his own.

What is a popular size for a table?

Are you asking me?

I don't know. Six?

Six people.

Well, what's wrong with that?

Six people isn't going to be enough for this table.

Well, you did ask.

Once it's apart,

Rupert can also tell if the original framework

is strong enough to re-use in the new design.

And it's not looking good.

All of this centre section is now redundant.

It's all broken.

It's going to collapse in that corner.

Rupert begins to dismantle the table.

There are a lot of complex joints

and I'm not quite sure where all the hidden fixings are.

What, so you'll just smash it with a mallet and hope for the best?

Oh, well, that did the trick.

That's got it.

These are the bits that I've pulled out of the table

that I can actually turn into a new table.

The oak framework underneath turned out to be really badly damaged,

so I'm going to have to make a new sub-frame for the table

to carry the new heavy table top.

Building an entirely new frame from scratch

is going to eat into a lot of Rupert's time and be costly.

But for now, he's concentrating on this crazy patchwork table top,

which will be made from old, horrible, '60s Formica tabletops.

One of the things I've kept hold of are old, broken, Formica tables,

so I'm going to bring together a lot of these scraps and useless bits

that I've collected

and make something colourful and join them all together.

So it's kind of a big jigsaw puzzle piece now.

Formica laminate is a heat-resistant white, clean, plastic coating,

commonly used for tabletops and work surfaces.

In the '60s, many homes in Britain had some form of Formica

in their kitchen,

and the bright, jazzy colours... Well, it was the '60s.

I'm going to start cutting these pieces down now,

get them all down to size.

Rupert starts cutting the Formica into sections.

Care has to be taken when cutting any laminate.

The dust particles can be very dangerous,

as they contain formaldehyde, amongst other things.

So why, oh, why is Rupert not wearing a mask then?

Well, it's because his trusty handsaw has a built-in vacuum

that sucks up all the dust before it gets into the air.

Isn't that clever?!

Rupert only manages to cut a couple of bits

before he notices another problem.

Every single piece of material I've got is a different thickness.

Somehow I've got to get it level and smooth,

so, this is going to be a real labour of love.

Oh, what happened?

Can it just fade to black?

Oh, this isn't going well.

As Rupert has a little lie-down to rethink the budget,

we're back in Manchester where upholsterer Anthony

is about to bring on the wrath of the Ercol Appreciation Society.

So, with the Ercol, we are very carefully trying

to not to offend people,

but the purists out there might be slightly offended

with the plan we have for it.

So what we're going to do is modernise it.

We're going to remove these cushions instantly.

Because this is in quite a bad state,

what we're going to do is give it a little sanding,

and then we're going to prime it,

and then we're going to spray it,

and that's another way of kind of bringing it right up to, um...

To?

Bring it up to...

Scratch?

..date!

Ah, nearly.

That's the one.

Anthony starts by removing all the snapped and brittle webbing

from the face,

which will later be replaced by brand-new bouncy webbing.

They start off in a really nice rubber state,

and just over a period of time they just dry

and decompose and disintegrate.

So if you pop a little bit of moisturiser or oil over them,

that'll keep them all nice and dry and supple.

Top tip - moisturise your chairs.

I've found that a deep cleansing, exfoliating scrub

will really open the pores and make it look ten years younger.

Anthony's giving the frame a very light sanding

to remove the bumps before he applies the undercoat primer.

A primer is a layer of paint applied before your main coat of paint.

It ensures better adhesion of paint to the surface,

increases paint durability

and provides additional protection for the wood.

Anthony puts the base outside to dry

and turns his attention to the fabric for the cushions...

and it isn't going to be just any old fabric.

This is hopefully - which is in brackets very experimental -

going to be the fabric for the Ercol seat cushions.

So there's quite a few different processes to this.

Number one, we're going to paint our base colour on,

all the way around like so.

Then we're going to put some paint down one half,

fold it in half, open it up,

allow it to dry and keep on repeating it,

so this is just...

..act one, scene one of, potentially, our own fabric.

Once Anthony's happy with his design,

he'll send it off to be digitally printed,

and if you're wondering what he wants it to look like,

here's the blueprint.

Mm.

Designs that look like ink blots are very on trend, I'm told.

Uh, can you just very carefully hold it here and hold it here?

Anthony's got one of his frame makers

to help him neatly do the folding,

so, in theory, it should come out as a pristine mirror-image design.

Oh, it's a mess.

When in doubt, start from scratch.

We'll just have... We'll put this one down here.

Repeating this process is taking up an awful lot of Anthony's time.

Especially when he's using the world's smallest roller.

So here's hoping this one is a little better.

What do you think, Anthony?

Oh, that doesn't look good.

Any improvement?

Yeah, I think we'll start again.

Oh, dear.

With Anthony's handmade fabric not turning out the way he wanted,

he decides to put it to one side and get started painting the sofa base.

This was supposed to be the most cost-effective way

of renovating the sofa.

With all the time it's taken designing the fabric,

the budget's in danger of sky rocketing.

With our makers both struggling with our tip finds,

it's time to swing by Sarah's and see how Libby's got on,

doing up the doll's house.

Well done.

And it's ready to be put on the market.

When Sarah rescued the doll's house,

it was moments away from being crushed.

But now, it's shiny, bright and ready to be loved again.

Sarah cleaned the house from top to bottom

with all the lovely miniatures looking brand-new,

and with Libby's skilful arrangement,

it's ready to be put online and hopefully find a buyer.

Oh, my word, I'm loving everything that's in here.

When Sarah met Diane at the tip,

she had a rifle through her childhood possessions.

Oh, no, and whose is that?

That was mine, yeah.

But it was the doll's house that caught her eye.

When was the last time you played with that?

I'm not giving my age away.

Sarah whisked it away to be spruced up.

Well, I hope she can make it look a lot better

than it looks at the moment.

Sarah didn't have to wait long after posting the doll's house online.

She had a buyer lined up

and so set off to Wingrave in Buckinghamshire

to see if she could seal the deal.

Do you want to bring it through to the shed?

The shed? Oh, yes, please.

Collector, Kim, loves doll's houses so much,

even her shed looks like one.

Oh, that's lovely.

But does she love Sarah's enough to buy it.

What do you think?

I love it, I really love it, thank you.

Really? I'm so pleased.

Yes, of course she bought it.

But for how much?

Sarah's now travelled to Tismans Common in Sussex

to tell Diane what happened to her doll's house

and hand over the profits.

-Hi there.

-Hello.

-How are you?

-I'm fine, thank you, how are you?

Very well. Now I last saw you and you were clearing out

-your mother's house, is that right?

-That's right, yes.

And so you got as far as the loft when I saw you

and found your old doll's house.

It had been there, sitting there for probably about 40 years.

It was a bit mucky.

To be honest, I just thought, "It has to go. What do you do with it?"

I literally gave it a quick clean-up

and I've taken some pictures of how it looked after I had had...

-Oh, fantastic.

-..a little look at it.

So, I just literally...

-My goodness.

-..got the marigolds out...

-Oh, my goodness...

-And just gave it a tidy up.

Actually, you played with it beautifully.

-It was in great condition. Do you have siblings?

-No. No.

That's probably why it's in great condition.

-Because mine would've all been crushed by my brother.

-Aw!

I shared it on social media, and it's gone to a new home.

Oh, fantastic. I think that that's brilliant.

In fact, I have £160 for your doll's house

and all those lovely things that are in it.

My goodness, that's amazing, thank you very much.

Is there something you might do with that?

Well, I would like to give a little bit to Macmillan,

because they looked after my dad when he was very ill,

and I might save a little bit for myself as well.

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

Sarah didn't spend anything on materials,

meaning with a sale of £160,

Diane gets the full £160 to split between a cancer charity,

in memory of her dad, and a treat for herself.

Lovely.

That's one item producing a profit.

Let's see if we can make it two.

Sarah's back in Margate to drop in on Rupert and the old table...

Oh, would someone please buy her some laces?

She's likely to trip and break her neck.

Rupert's finished the colourful mahogany table,

but I have a feeling it was probably a late night.

It actually took a lot longer than I thought

for something quite simple, it was quite a labour of love.

I hope she does like it, otherwise I'll be eating my own dinner off it.

Well, it's scorching down here in Margate

and I'm hoping Rupert is also on fire.

And if his past reputation is anything to go by,

that table is going to go from the tip to the top.

Well, let's find out.

When Sarah salvaged the old thing, it was on its last legs, but now...

..it's a big, bright beauty.

The new shiny laminate mid-section mixes swinging '60s Britain

with classy Victorian style.

Rupert has lovingly restored the original mahogany

whilst still keeping its character and charm.

It's been stretched out to fit eight to ten people round it.

Perfect for dinner parties, or just big dinners.

-Rupert. Hi.

-Hi, Sarah.

-Hey. How are you?

-I'm OK.

-Come on, then, let's see it.

-Ready?

-Yeah.

Wow!

Isn't that fantastic?

I went through all of the scrap salvage bits of 1960s tables

that I could find,

and they're such a contrast to the original Victorian mahogany.

I think it's absolutely amazing.

In the end, it was quite a labour of love to carefully restore

what you'd given me, but build a whole new subframe,

so I might have to charge you a little bit more,

as it did take a lot longer.

I think the region was around £300.

Have you doubled it, or is it less than that?

-I could work with about £400. Would that be OK?

-£400.

I will happily pay that.

I think you've done a very good job on it.

Great. Good luck with it.

I won't need much, I don't think.

Even with the extra £100,

I think Sarah's got herself a bargain.

Well, Margate has just got a new masterpiece.

Rupert has created his own style of modern art,

and that table, well, it's an absolute winner.

I hope you're right.

Let's see if we can get it sold.

-Hello.

-Hi.

When Sarah met David and Vanessa at the tip,

they were happy for Sarah to lug their mammoth table away.

Well, it's extremely heavy,

so if somebody was going to not let us throw it in the tip,

that would be good.

Vanessa didn't think much of the old table.

It's just in the way.

We don't want it, we don't need it.

But had confidence in its potential.

If you start off with a ritzy product,

sometimes you land up with an even ritzier one.

Ritzy is one word for it.

With Rupert's rampant imagination, it's ready to be dined at again.

Sarah took snaps of the table and shared them online,

and do you know what?

It was snapped up by retro furniture store Elemental in London.

Sarah's travelled to Hambledon in Surrey

to tell Vanessa the good news and hand over the profit.

-Hi, Vanessa.

-Hi, Sarah, how are you? Nice to see you again.

Yes, lovely to see you too.

Now, I saw you at the recycling centre.

You had that lovely table roped into the back of your car.

Did you wonder what might happen after you took it away?

Well, I mean, as it had been left in the rain

I wasn't really quite sure,

and I just couldn't face the restoration process.

Lovely Rupert, who is down in Margate,

took one look at it and said

it's just something he would love to work on.

So I've got some pictures to show you what he did with it.

Oh, wow. Wonderful Rupert. How exciting.

It's not possibly the most traditional of makeovers.

You've painted it or...

Brace yourself. This is how your table ended up.

Oh, my word. How amazing.

He kept all of the original mahogany,

that lovely finish on the table,

and he added this very bright section...

Contemporary look.

-What do you think of it?

-I think it's amazing.

I mean, it's better than it being in the rain down at the farm.

A shop in London absolutely loved it.

And so I have a little bit of profit to hand over to you.

In fact, I've got £100 here from your table. That's for you.

Well, wonderful. Well, Sarah, well done.

How lovely to see something as old as that used and appreciated.

What might you do with that £100?

Of course, well it'll probably just go to the roof fund, I'd imagine,

which is something that is very much needed in this house.

-Great. Lovely to see you again.

-And you, Sarah, thank you.

Even with Rupert going a bit over budget with £400,

Sarah managed a cracking sale of £500,

meaning Vanessa has 100 to put towards getting her roof fixed.

That's two items now that have raked in the cash.

So, Sarah's headed back to Manchester

and she's got herself some laces, thank goodness.

Will Anthony's black and white ink blot sofa be another money maker?

So, Sarah's on her way.

Really excited to kind of show this one off.

It's a lot different to what we were originally going to show off,

but, yeah, I'm really pleased with it.

Oh, there's been a change. I can hardly wait.

I'm here to pick up that broken Ercol sofa.

It had a great frame and quite a bit of potential.

So I don't know if Anthony has gone traditional and played it safe,

or if he's gone for bonkers, brilliant and bang up-to-date?

Well, you might have got the bonkers bit right.

When Sarah dropped it off,

it was beautiful and blonde but banged and battered.

Now...

..it looks like this.

Not an ink blot in sight.

Anthony's foray into the world of fabric design ended...

um, badly.

So, instead he's chosen a fabric bursting with colour

by French fashion designer Christian Lacroix.

And it certainly catches the eye,

covering the one big base cushion at the bottom

and scatter cushions at the back.

I tell you, if I wanted to get on the wrong side of the Ercol purists,

that's the material I would choose.

But what will Sarah think?

-Hello, hello.

-Hello.

-Give us a hug.

-How are we?

Oh, I'm much better now.

-Do you like it?

-Oh, I love it.

-Oh, good. Phew.

-Isn't it cool?!

It looks brand-new and that's not often a look I'm championing,

but you've really brought it up-to-date.

Nice fabric.

And so there the story begins.

This wasn't the original choice.

Originally we went for kind of craft corner,

and I got some paint out and started throwing it around,

and then we just threw it in the bin...after three times.

So then we went with this.

It's definitely worth pursuing a look like this.

I'll stick to upholstery rather than painting.

Now you're not going to tell me it looks this good

and you did it for the £450 budget, are you?

Um...

I wish I could...n't,

-but we did.

-Did you?

-Yes.

-I love it.

So, there's a lesson for us all.

If at first you don't succeed...

just give up and buy something nicer.

Well, I'm so pleased I was right.

Anthony has really gone for it with that old Ercol sofa,

and as tip find transformations go,

that's right up there with the best of them.

I recognise those cushions.

When Sarah met Janice at the tip,

Sarah knew exactly what she was throwing away.

I'm thinking that's an Ercol, isn't it?

It is Ercol, yeah.

It was too far gone for Janice to take on as a project.

I meant to repair it. It hasn't happened.

It went in the shed. So now I'm thinking I'll just get rid of it.

And she could only guess what Sarah had in store for it.

I guess it might be something quite wacky.

Well, Janice, you couldn't be more right.

To find a fancier of the floral,

Sarah took to social media and posted the sofa

on Instagram, Etsy, and eBay.

But were there any takers?

Sarah is in Godalming to meet up with Janice

and show her what was made of her Ercol.

Hi, Janice, how are you?

Hi. Nice to see you.

I said I would be back in touch with you

if there was something to be done with your Ercol sofa.

So tell me a bit more about it.

Because it had been in your garage for a while, hadn't it?

It had been in the shed.

The kids used to have it in their room.

I didn't really want to throw it away,

because I thought with Ercol it's a bit too nice, really.

When we first looked at it, we really went over it thoroughly,

looking at the condition of the frame and the webbing,

and we actually decided that it was better, probably,

to update it rather than try to restore it.

So I've got some pictures here to show you.

-Are you ready?

-Yes, I'm ready.

-It now looks like that.

-Wow.

Actually, that's really nice.

He has used this lovely bold fabric and gave it a fresh, new look.

Yeah, I think that's really lovely. Very nice indeed.

It is currently still for sale.

I'm hoping to be back here and be in touch

saying that I've made some profit on it,

but I wanted to come and catch up with you

and show you how it had turned out.

Thank you so much for letting us have it.

-Lovely to catch up with you. Bye-bye.

-Thank you. Bye-bye.

Ah, well, you can't win them all.

With Anthony's costs coming in at £450 and no sale,

we're looking at a potential £450 loss.

But, with a bit more time,

Sarah will find it a new home

and be back to see Janice to hand over the profit.

Sarah salvaged three items that were destined for the dump.

Instead of lying in landfill,

they've all been given a new lease of life.

A new look...

..and a chance to be loved again.

Well, how about that Ercol sofa?

I reckon that fabric was just the thing

to bring it right up to date,

and Rupert's dining table, well, that was a triumph.

The doll's house, a lucky find.

Altogether, I'm so pleased we've managed to make

a little bit of money for nothing.