Day 2: Flea Market Flipping

Psssst… this post *might* contain affiliate links: see my disclosureĀ here.

In the Workshop of Flea Market Flip

For the 12 of you still interested in hearing more about Flea Market Flip, welcome back for a behind the scenes recap of Day 2: our Workshop day. (Check out our SHOPPING DAY HERE and the FINALE HERE!) Each season, Flea Market Flip sets up a fully stocked fully functional workshop in which we can makeover all of our purchased items. We’re allowed ONE day in which to transform our three items. We were allowed to spend $100 on supplies for our flips (think fabric, specific paint colors, hardware, etc.)

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

The workshop is cool, people. Really really cool. Half the space is a legitimate work area with tools like saws and drills and welding gear. There’s a spray booth for the painting… all ventilated and stuff. The other half of the space is television magic…. gear storage, an area where they take the before/ after shots, production office.

Shop my favorites!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

After our first day of filming, Jill and I were decidedly more comfortable in front of the camera. But as much as we loved the TV component and the banter, we were mostly excited to get our refurb. on!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

Making Over our Flea Market Flips

We had two amazing helpers, Cija and Mark, who definitely did a lion’s share of the work… All in, I’d say we did 95% of the work for the locker-bench. (Except for cutting the wood for the base… they wouldn’t let us near the table saw. Me with my pregnant belly and Jill with her flip-flops.)

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

Expert Mark took the reins on our settee, but Jill and I kept laughing because he did a million percent more prep work to that thing than I would have done… he patched the wood, secured some joints, etc. It wasn’t until after lunch that we could even get a coat of spray paint on it. (I would have had that puppy painted before my coffee cooled down, but I suspect that’s why my job isn’t to refurbish old furniture..1)

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

Fabric for Flea Market Bench

Thankfully, we were able to bring fabric from my stock pile. We used the same chevron fabric that I used on my red armchairs… we struggled with our fabric choices as there was no telling what the taste of our flea market audience would be. The chevron is a little on the clichĆ© side, but we wanted something that would stand out! We also went around in circles trying to stay true to our challenge: Funk-tional…we weren’t being judged on how well we interpreted that, but we still wanted to play nice and follow the rules.

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

The pendant light was definitely our vision, but without Cija we could never, ever have executed it. Going in we were optimistic that our helpers would be, um, really helpful. If they could help the team from Season 1 who needed to use special welding equipment to turn their SAW BLADE into a coffee table, then they could figure out how to drill glass and wire up some lamps. Most of our $100 was spent on lamp parts, believe it or not (and casters… casters are mad expensive)! I should give a shout out here to the ever awesome Mandi Gubler as I’m not sure we would have had the idea for the pendant if I hadn’t see her post on drilling glass!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!Throughout the day, we got to see Ryan and Dave’s projects come together. It was clear that we weren’t going to be selling to the same customer… The fun of the show is seeing the stack of eclectic beat up flea market purchases at the beginning and then watching those items morph into something chic and sell-able. The Rocker’s bookshelf was amazing… their table was right off the pages of Restoration Hardware and their spider bench? Well… that was the one thing that gave us hope for a win.

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

We left the shop after a full day’s work with everything finished except for the settee which still had a panel or two of fabric to go… so the timing of the show is pretty accurate! And actually… had it not been for being pulled away for interviews, etc… we totally would have finished the settee as well!

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip? I'm dishing!

Tune in tomorrow for all the twists and turns of our day selling at Antiques Garage. And then I promise… no more Flea Market Flip.

See what it's like to be on the show flea market flip?

Read more about the show here and here.

And check out my whole PAGE of Flea Market transformations right HERE!

pin this image to pinterest

Don’t Miss Out

Become An Insider!

Signup for exclusive tips, and tricks from Charlotteā€™s House!

Let’s chat!

I love comments from you, so feel free to leave your thoughts and ideas below! And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for even more!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

13 Comments

  1. I actually watched! Not live, I DVR’d it. And when I saw “Flea Market Flip” on my DVR I was like…”What is this?” But then I remembered!

    I absolutely loved your Mason Jar light!! I did find myself wishing you’d gone a bit more funky with the settee, but the other guys went a little too far in the other direction – I definitely would’ve chosen yours over theirs if I were shopping. šŸ™‚ Congratulations on the win, ladies!

    1. Ha! I had some WAY funky ideas… but then we kept reminding ourselves that it was, in fact, about being able to SELL this thing. šŸ™‚ Jill was a good voice of reason… she was like for YOUR house that could be awesome… but we have to sell it. šŸ™‚

  2. Thank you Charlotte !!! Jill is my cousin and I missed taping the show šŸ™ so this is wonderful for me to see what went on !! How fun and Congratulations !!

    1. Thanks, Lisa!!! Glad you could get the full scoop. (YOu can see the show on YouTube or iTunes… google “Rocker Dudes vs. Designing Moms” and both links should come up.)

  3. I am glad this show is not a fake as some claim. You really did have only this amount of time to shop for these types of ideas. The ideas are all original. It’s just that not to many people have glass cutters in their shops,lol. However, it does give me a lot of good ideas in my new found love of thrift store shopping for profit. I would have had a Hard time not grabbing up my own loot at that huge flea market, and hope you did just that when cameras stopped rolling, haha. LOVE that seatee’ and lights. Found a metal vintage child seat at a goodwill for $6 you cant find anywhere online. Wish I knew anything about it. Only that I am keeping it! (after I learn how to refurbish,lol) <3

    1. Hi! That seat sounds amazing! And yes… it’s totally legit. I’m never sure who is claiming it’s “fake”… there is communication with the workshop prior to determine that proper materials will be on hand and I MEANT to do some shopping when cameras stopped rolling, but the whole experience is overwhelming! For the first time in my life, I couldn’t settle in to find my own things… I was SO preoccupied with what we were doing for the show!

  4. hi

    I was just wondering where the workshop is located? Looks like an old factory that I used to live near on Staten island. Thanks !