Flea Market Flip Me!

A not-guilty-at-all indulgence on Sundays is to watch-listen to a Flea Market Flip marathon while doing chores/cooking/laundry/and general putzing around.

If you've not seen this show, here's the premise: two teams of two compete to find stuff at a flea market and create three items that they will re-sell for profit. They are each team given a set amount of cash to use and get help from a group of pros to guide them through carpentry and tools and paint and all. Celeb reporter and personality Lara Spencer moderates the competition.

All of the created stuff is then taken to a flea market/bin sale and teams get a set time to sell it for as much as they can. The clock runs out and the duo that has the greatest profit wins.

They pack a lot into this show:

• buy dirty dusty stuff for a few dollars

• trash talk each other and abuse the competition's artistic talents

• lots of ladders made into lots of unladdered furniture! (seriously: I've seen ladder shelves, ladders coffee table, ladder chairs, ladder mirrors, ladder picture frames, ladder sofas)

• strange and wonderful lamps made from musical instruments, empty jars, frames, pipes, uncertain (to me) wiring, and hats

• dressers torn apart and made into non-dresser items such as benches, side tables, and shelves.

• thrift store polyester fabric upholstered onto broken chairs that sell for hundreds of dollars

• people uncomfortable with selling and trying to close a sale is painful and entertaining to watch

From a crafty point of view it's interesting, but not practical to duplicate. Unless you have a totally stocked shop, trained minions that can use the tools, a savvy associate to tell you that a pop of color goes best IN the drawers not ON the sideboard, an angel investor to get you started, a skilled makeup artist for the close-ups, and an industrial-sized pop-up tent for the flea market.

Then you could pull it off.

Of course it couldn't hurt to throw in a good supply of ladders, milk crates, irregularly-shaped safety glass that coincidentally fits your furniture in need of a see-through surface, chalk paint, vintage maps, tea towels, aprons, and Mad Men draperies for that special touch.

Still, a girl can dream.

The thing that really draws me, though is watching rusty, weary, discards get burnished and brightened. Given new purpose. A breath of life. The belief that THIS new form is the perfect use of the materials. That it will be staged and cleaned, celebrated and polished, lovingly described, stage-lighted, praised, and subsequently increased in value.

On my sluggish days,

(You know those days? Your roots are staking a claim on the middle of your head, the lines in your face look ironed on, no matter how hard you try one eye looks a bit better when you put on mascara, so you compensate, and now you have clumpage? C'mon, it can't just be me.)

it can be easy to yearn for a make-over.

The thing is: I've had makeovers in my life, and the truly transformational kind rarely stop at skin deep.

Just like on the show, sometimes a makeover means losing parts you once though essential. I've seen dressers lose their drawers, tables ditch their legs, and countless other furniture mauling.

It’s worth it because, in the end, a new product emerges.

I've had that result from losses. Destinations I've thought were certain-sure have been re-routed. Things held dear to me have been removed. Relationships I've cherished have rusted (some from tears and others from lack of use) and contacts don't quite connect anymore. These losses change a person.

Loss, though, doesn't mean it's the end. It's just that a person has a new set of resources with which to work. New ways to put things together. New opportunities to try.

Like the lamp that needs to be re-wired ten times before it works, the side table that just WON'T sit straight and level, the sofa that needed all of the stuffing removed AGAIN to eliminate the lumps; sometimes the changes a person makes takes time and effort in order to truly be completed.

I don't think the makeovers I’ve been through could make syndication but for me it's the show of my lifetime. I can't wait for the season finale to see how everything works out!

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