If you haven’t read our post about being on HGTV Flea Market Flip – Day 1, check it out here. 
Today we head to day two of filming – Build Day!!
On the build day, we went to Stamford, Connecticut and the show staff brought all of the flea market items that we bought on day 1 to a large garage/warehouse type building. We were assigned a team of 2-3 people (depending on what we were working on sometimes people on our team helped the other team). Here’s what we started with:
This was my favorite day by FAR! The designer in me absolutely loved having the freedom to think up any design and then have a team of experts there to help us make it happen. We had a master carpenter and a welder/builder that helped us most of the day. You’re given a $100 budget to buy things to help complete your project. We used that $100 to buy 2 legs for our coffee table, old legs for our “Stylish Storage” project and an old burlap sack for our “Mixed Texture” project. You have about 12 hours to finish the projects. We arrived at the workshop at 9am and worked straight until 9pm with only a quick break to scarf down lunch and no dinner.
I started working on the ironing board that would become a coffee table which was our “Modern Americana” challenge. I sanded the ironing board and stained it a new color so the mid century legs we purchased could be stained to match. I’ve never welded before and was able to give it a try as we needed to weld a base plate on the old tractor gear for one side of the coffee table. It was so much fun!! I only did a little bit of it, our welder did the rest.
While I was working on the “Modern Americana” project, John started prepping the cable spool that we would be turning into a bar which was our “Mixed Texture” project. We welded a metal plate on the top of the industrial light post to attached the cable spool. John had to figure out how to drill the holes for the neck of the wine bottles to make them all sit at the same angle. He practiced quite a few times on a separate board. Then he brought the cable spool wood back to life by using shellac and sanded down the metal base a bit to make it smoother. I came in to do the finishing touches using the burlap sack and metal detailing.
Our master carpenter did most of the work on the “Stylish Storage” project! We wouldn’t have had time to finish them all if he hadn’t done the majority of the work for that project. He built the base out of the old dining room table legs we had bought. He and John worked on the dividers that would go inside of the desk. I shellacked the wood on the trunk to make it shine again. We cut it close on this project. At the end of the day the latch to hold it closed wasn’t working right and our master carpenter really pushed to make it happen for us. He was so amazing!!
The behind the scenes of filming was interesting on this day. I had a hard time initially speaking my mind! I came with all my design plans but then I had amazing people suggesting changes. I didn’t have the heart to say no. The whole time we were filming each team had their own producer and then there is a producer in the back that is watching everything on TV’s. I called her that “phantom producer”. Lol! At one point, we were filming and the staff suggested a change to our Modern Americana project that I thought would look horrible but I said OK. The “phantom producer” stopped everything and came out to me. She said, “Sarah, you’re thinking things you’re not saying, right?” I told her she was right. Then she goes on to say, “You are much more fun and interesting in real life, you need to speak up and say what you want. These are your designs and if you don’t stand up for them, no one will.” That was the moment that the show became really fun for me. She gave me the freedom to be me and be open about my thoughts. So we rerecorded and I kept to my original plan for the piece! Yay!
It felt a little weird having the team we were competing against working right next to you. The longer I watched them the less I was concerned about whether we would win. I was confident in our designs and the functionality of each piece in a NYC apartment. The producers definitely encouraged us to be playful and pick on our opponents work which John was game for but I just couldn’t do it. I didn’t sound genuine at all. Lol! It was a good balance between us I think though. :)
One thing that is interesting about day 2 is that you only have that day, if your makeovers aren’t done, you have to stop. So it is very fast pace, but the staff was so amazing and helped make it happen. Next week, I’ll share about the final day of being on Flea Market Flip and show you how the transformations turned out!
The next day of filming was the workshop day and my favorite of all the days!
Check Out Day 3 on Flea Market Flip Here!
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Here’s a quick snap shot of some of our furniture makeovers. You can see more by clicking the See on Pinterest button at the bottom of the page.
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Happy funcycling friends!
Sarah ;)
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At first glance, I loved the legs and I hated the doors. I knew I could make both so much better. People often ask me what I love to do with furniture, I love to take something fancy or modern and add a little bit rustic texture. That’s just what we did with this piece.
This vanity is for sale right now and you can check out other new furniture for sale 
This desk is for sale right now and you can check out other new furniture for sale 
You wouldn’t want to keep it either, would you?
See! She made a good choice, right?? I love the end result and if I were in her shoes I would have done the same thing. That being said, if you decide one day to make it your job to strip off paint and stain it, I won’t pick on your for it. Because after all, we all just need to get along. :)
I looked at it for a while… then looked at it a little more. It was like the thing was slapping me in the face with it’s ugliness. Just not nice of it to do that to me! Then it came to me… barn board makes everything better so I would put that on the bottom. I didn’t like the trim work on the top either so we pulled that off. We painted the inside the color Silver Fox by Benjamin Moore (a light gray). The painted the outside with the color Tropical Teal by Benjamin Moore. I love distressed teal so of course that came next and then glazed it using Rustoleum’s Antiquing Glaze.
A little secret about this piece? I wanted to keep it for my dining room, but agreed to put it up for sale for 1 month. If it sold, it wasn’t meant for me. If it didn’t this beauty was mine! Sadly for me, it sold! Good news for you, I have another teal hutch for sale now and it’s coming up next!
This hutch is for sale right now and you can check out other new furniture for sale 
We painted it with Glidden’s color fuchsia berry (but we didn’t use Glidden paint)! If you want to see how we paint furniture, check out our 
If you like an industrial chic look, this table is for you! How about some detail shots…
Stunning, right??
The drawer fronts and door fronts were painted with Benjamin Moore’s color Soft chinchilla 2135-50. If you’d like to see how we paint furniture, check out our 
You’ll also need super glue, a drill and pliers. I drilled about 2/3 of the way through the chess piece with a drill bit that was just a tiny bit smaller than the screws so it held tightly. Then dripped super glue into the holes and screwed the hanger bolts into the holes using pliers.
Pretty cool, right??
This piece is sold but you can check out all the new furniture for sale 
