Find It Fix It Flog It (2016-2022): Season 2, Episode 20 - Episode #2.20 - full transcript
Max restores a pair of iconic designer chairs, while Henry turns a decrepit garden table into a colourful and valuable new one.
You're like a man on a mission now.
The homes of Britain are stacked
with old possessions.
Oh, mate.
HE GASPS
What looks like junk can actually
be worth a pretty penny.
Exposed rivets and polished copper.
Now we're talking.
Get that outside, have a look.
GONG CLANGS
Henry Cole and Max McMurdo are here
to help turn that clutter
into hard cash.
That's 250 quid of anyone's money.
Got to be.
For Henry and his mechanic...
Wahey! There we go, boys!
Those have come up posh.
...it's all about restoring retro
relics and vintage classics.
Goes in there like that.
Look at that!
Check that out!
Whilst upcycling genius Max and his
restorer love turning everyday
objects into fantastic furniture.
What? No way!
My goodness.
What a transformation, Henry!
Absolutely, mate.
Despite their different approaches,
they make the old turn into gold.
That's a grand total profit of...
Thanks, Henry. Brilliant.
On today's show...
HE GASPS
All aboard as Henry gets
in touch with his spiritual side.
Oh, breathe it in, mate.
Max teaches Henry how to suck eggs.
They go for loads of money.
Do they? Yeah. Really?
And there's a shock in store
at the valuation.
Absolutely incredible.
Pick me up off the floor!
Fantastic, man. That's brilliant.
Today, Henry's back on the road
with his other rummage buddy,
Max McMurdo.
Hey, now, look, right? I must let
you into a treat.
Simon normally just tries
to steal my jelly babies. Yeah.
Here, man. Enjoy.
What have you done to these?
Nothing. It's just really nice to
offer someone a jelly baby, rather
than them to be just, youknow...
...ripped open, and, "Where's the
jelly babies?" and all that kind of
stuff which Si normally does.
Ah, Henry, you're all heart.
And today, the lads are in the Cotswolds.
I know a rather random fact about
Chipping Norton.
Do you?
It's where the first dinosaur
bone was found.
In 1676. Do you remember that?
Yeah. I think I might just
remember it, yeah.
Well, hoping to unearth some great
finds today,
they head off to meet railway
enthusiast Robin Woodcock who,
when he's not playing with his train
sets, is tinkering with somewhat
larger mechanical toys.
I don't like to throw anything away,
so there's plenty for Henry and Max
to have a rummage and look at.
Robin.
Welcome, Henry. How are you?
So lovely to see you, mate.
This is my dear mate, Max. Nice to
meet you, Robin. Hello, Max.
How long have you been here?
Because you've got a lot of stuff.
1948 we moved down here,
when I was eight.
Wow, really, '48? Yeah.
Now, if we do make you some cash,
what would you spend the money on?
I might spend a little bit
more on me model trains.
Robin. OK, Henry. We'll see you in a
little bit.
Be my guests. Thanks so much, mate.
Yeah, great stuff.
Shall we go? Come on, then, Max.
As usual, the boys have to find
two items each that have
profit potential.
There's a lot of barns.
Yeah. That's not fair, he's boarded
it up. We can't even have a peek through.
That's where the Faberge eggs are.
MAX CHUCKLES
But before they hit the barns,
there's time for a quick look
at Robin's train sets.
Oh, you're going to like it in here.
I'm not looking. I'm not looking.
MAX GASPS
I told you you'd love it, didn't I?
Mate, this is meat and drink.
This brings me right back
to my childhood, and smell...
You're smelling it, aren't you?
What does it smell of? Childhood.
HENRY BREATHES DEEPLY
I'm feeling a bit freaked out.
Do you mind if we go from here?
Don't do that, mate.
I'm just...
HE BREATHES DEEPLY
Oh, breathe it in, mate.
Vintage. Love it.
Oi, come here!
Max? Max?
When he finally tracks down Max,
Henry's first to spot something.
I quite like this. Do you?
I know you might think that weird.
I wouldn't have you down
as liking that at all.
He picked up something that, to me,
looked like a bit of an old gate,
but he got very excited.
You know that I do stuff funky
colours and crazy nut bar,
and that could be... a very good
patient to wheel into our A&E.
You've got a mischievous look in
your eye like you're going to take
something that's quite subtle and
delicate and you're going to go
crazy on it, aren't you?
Let's just give some love back
to that table, man. That's seen
some coffee mornings, hasn't it?
Not sure what kind of coffee
morning Henry goes to,
but it's a gorgeous lattice-top
iron table under that moss.
Come on. I've got an item.
You've got a chair. Right.
And Max isn't far behind.
This is interesting. What's that?
What's what?
It needs a paint, whatever it is.
Hang on.
So, what d'you reckon it was used
for, then? Well, I think it's some
sort of coal bunker.
Max, you're very close.
This is a coal store for
a steam train that ran on
a miniature railway.
However, the original
home of this item is not known.
A bunker? A coal bunker?
Hey, a Henry Cole bunker!
But, no, Max is having it.
Do you know what? I'm really
tempted. I've never kind of played
with anything like this before,
but I think a quick clean up,
and if you think about it,
it's never been so fashionable to
have a solid fuel stove
in your house.
I think it'll clean up, and possibly
paint, beautifully,
and hopefully there will be
a market for it.
Are you going for your
first item, then?
I think so. I'm gonna go for it.
Liking your style, Max, hey.
I might need a hand lifting it,
though - it's quite heavy.
Dunno about that, mate. We might
have to have tea before that.
Come on, we've got to get another
item each. Come on.
So, one item each, as Max decides to
take the coal bunker as
his first find.
Tractors.
Oh, yes.
Oh, God, they're lovely.
Straightaway, tractors, mate.
I mean, I'm in heaven.
No, don't do that. That's weird.
It stirs my soul!
I love old stuff, including
Henry, I might add.
But why does he have to keep hugging
tractors?
Henry, step away from the tractors.
You've got work to do.
This is urban chic, if ever
I've seen it in a barn.
It doesn't look it when it's
upside down.
Oh! That is actually rather
splendid. I like that.
A white plastic '70s chair -
Max was suddenly in heaven.
Does that make you as excited
as the Field-Marshall does to me?
Yes, that is my tractor.
Get that outside, have a look.
What would you do with that, man?
Well, I might turn it into a chair.
THEY LAUGH
So, Henry has found a second item.
Unfortunately, it's for Max.
I think a really good clean up...
Ali base... That'd polish up a
treat, wouldn't it?
We love a bit of ali. And how about
a really nice, zingy colour on top?
"Zingy colour," did you say?
Something quite poppy and zingy.
Do you know what? That's a cracking
find, Henry. Well done.
If you really want some thanks...
Yeah. ..you find me another one of
those, because a pair ofchairs...
That's what I'm after.
MOCKINGLY: "Be nice if you could
find another one."
I want that tractor so badly.
Dump it with your tractors. I might
have found a nice little lamp.
I'll tell you what I've found.
Go on. A tractor?
"I've found a tractor, Max!"
Loving me large?
MAX GASPS
That is the second chair? Well,
mate, it ain't a Field-Marshall!
When he found the second one,
I was really chuffed.
If you've found a second one,
that is an absolute gem.
Mate, that is... What's that?
Well, I thought that's a nice
little lamp.
Because Henry had done such a good
job of finding me the chair, I
really wanted to repay thefavour.
So when I found that lamp, I was
really quite excited,
and fortunately, he saw my vision.
Do you know what's nice about that,
is that's just a
simple little thing,
you know, that's just nice
and decorative...
that wouldn't actually take too
much to get going, would it?
For your reward for finding these
two beautiful chairs,
you can have that.
So, hopefully Henry's second item,
a vintage lamp, will shine out
and make a tidy profit.
Time to find out what Robin will
make of the lads' choices.
Robin, I think I can safely say
we've had a wonderful time.
Good. And we've got a few items
that, hopefully, you'll let us take
'em away.
Er, you want to go first?
Well, I'm slightly confused.
I'm taking a guess that that's a
coal bunker of sorts, but do you
have any more
information about its history?
Yes, from the
seven-and-a-quarter-inch railway.
Oh, really? So, it's not for a house
at all? No.
So, Robin, please tell me more
about these two white chairs,
because I think they're gorgeous.
Well, we had them years ago.
They were sort of garden furniture.
I mean, I love them as they are,
but I'm going to try and bring
them back up to date,
polish them up a bit and maybe
inject a few new bold colours.
That's being a hipster, mate.
MAX LAUGHS
Something that you and I don't know
about. That's right.
But that is cutting-edge, right
there, with a beard.
Can you two stop ganging up on me
just cos I don't have a flat cap on?
I thought you were getting a bit
chilly there, mate. You need a hat.
Hey, Robin. Now, look, right?
That table looks good from far,
but far from good.
Hopefully, I'm going to bling
that up a little.
I think it might shock you,
the colour, but at the same time
I think it could be cool.
Well, it deserves being done.
Now, look, tell me about the lamp.
I honestly can't remember
where it came from,
but it's been thrown in the shed
there for... Oh, it must be 10 or
15 years, or more.
So, there you are. If you can do
something with it, that would be
rather nice.
Robin, thank you so much, mate.
You're more than welcome.
We've had such a great day. Really.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you, Robin.
And look, we'll see you once we've
done 'em.
Lovely. Cheers, mate. See you later.
Thank you very much. Thanks, Robin.
Coming up...
Max discovers an Aladdin's cave.
Packed full of treasure.
Henry lays down the law to Guy.
If I bring you back an item... Yeah.
...I expect you to have some kind of
an idea
what to do with it.
And is Max off his trolley?
Imagine that with some gold
pineapples, pink flamingos...
Mate, can I just stop you?
Who are you talking to?
Experts upcyclers Henry Cole
and Max McMurdo
are turning the old into gold.
Ooh, that is actually
rather splendid. I like that.
They've picked up two items each
from Robin Woodcock's barns
and now they're back
at their workshops.
Henry's in Oxfordshire,
showing off his haul
to his expert restorer, Guy Wilson.
I have to tell you, mate,
these two items, I think,
are a challenge.
Definitely.
First, the rusty old table lamp.
What are we going to do to that?
Clean it up?
Now listen, right...
...if I bring you back an item...
Yeah?
...I expect you to have some kind
of an idea what to do with it.
So we polish the plastic base... Yeah.
...we find out what metal that is... Yeah.
...we probably paint that, cos isn't
very nice metal, by the look of it.
Or rather Guy can.
It might be brass, you know. Well,
if it is brass, then happy days.
Yes. Yeah.
And, once again, Henry has a vision
for his second item -
the latticework iron table.
We are going to do it light blue, metallic.
Lovely. Yeah? Yes.
Then we're going to get a nice,
light oak wood surround. Mm-hm.
So it'll be a centrepiece.
Yes. As ever with our stuff, you're
either going to love it or hate it.
The light wood idea is lovely.
I think it'll look great.
Strangely, we agree again.
Good. Cheers. Cheers. Nice one.
So it's straight to work
on the iron lattice table.
First thing we've got to do is
basically discombobulate the table.
Whatever you're doing to the table,
be careful -
that's cast iron and very heavy.
Right, get everything off the top.
get everything off the top, quick.
Oh, God, what's happening?
Is it an emergency?
It's going to snap. Oh, my God,
it's all gone wrong.
Disaster averted,
time for some drastic action.
Are you ready? You've got your
health and safety glasses on. Yes.
Yeah? Yes. You've got
your little angle grinder.
The rotten wooden top
is then removed
and then all the ironwork
can be sent off
to be sandblasted and painted.
We're free! All right, happy days.
Tea? Yes. Come on, then.
That just leaves Guy to have a look
at the rusty old table lamp.
Oh, it's quite pretty.
MOCKING: "Oh, it's quite pretty.
Oh, it's quite pretty."
Ooh, hang on. Brass?
It's...
I think it's brass underneath.
If it's brass, then the lamp
could be worth significantly more.
We're going to put it on
the Whizzy Wheel, get all...
Just take all the stuff off it,
yeah? Have a look.
Have a look.
And I think perhaps we could chuck
it in a load with Darren's stuff.
Yeah, get Darren to blast it.
And, like the iron table,
the lamp shade will also have to be
sent away for sandblasting.
80 miles away in Bedfordshire,
and it's Max's turn
to reveal his finds to his
upcycling expert, Chris Hanlon.
First, the small-scale coal bunker.
Just a really nice renovation,
sand it back, repaint it. Yeah.
But knowing it's rotten
at the bottom there... Mm-hm?
...I think we have to
modify it slightly.
Maybe what we could do is take the
plasma cutter to it
and cut the front out, take all this
rust out and fill it full of logs -
turn it into... into a log store.
That's a nice idea.
So a plan for the first item.
But, next, the far-from-perfect
plastic chairs.
They have seen better days.
Great. From a different decade.
Yeah, must be '70s, maybe late '60s.
The chairs are actually Burke Tulip
chairs, designed in the late '50s,
but popular through the decades,
especially after they were featured
on the flight deck
of the SS Enterprise
on Star Trek in the '60s.
No cracks or splits
or real damage. Yeah.
So I think that'll clean up.
A good sand.
Yeah, very good sand and clean up.
Can you imagine -
when they bought these,
they've only ever lived outside. Wow.
So these were clearly expensive
design pieces of the day,
but they've just chucked them
in the garden,
hence why they're in that condition.
So the plan is to sand them back
and then really take them
back through time to the 1950s.
The best thing is, we've got a pair.
OK. Oh, that's great.
So to have a pair, I think,
is just a great opportunity. Yeah.
With the coal bunker
off for stripping,
it's on to the iconic Tulip chairs.
I absolutely love these chairs -
I'd like to own these myself.
To really fall in love
with the chairs,
Max needs to get years of grime
off them with sugar soap.
The sugar just creates
a bit of a grit.
So it's a bit of a mild abrasive,
but nothing too strong.
But being left outside for decades
has taken its toll.
Well, it's coming off.
I don't know what it is...
Oh, it's disgusting, whatever it is.
It's going to take more than
a bit of sugar soap, though -
I'm going to have to give it
a light sand, see what that does.
The base of the chair
has also seen better days.
This is getting ridiculous.
I think all the loose paint
or plastic, whatever it is, is off.
The rest of it
is going to have to be sanded,
which means it'll get
hot and sticky,
but it's the only way to do it.
Sometimes, you've got to get
the tools out.
Max uses an angle grinder
to remove the stubborn paint.
Wow.
This is going to take forever.
But that is working
an absolute treat.
A polished ali base. Awesome.
Back in Oxfordshire,
and Henry's two items -
the latticework table
and table lamp -
have arrived for sandblasting
at his mate Darren's.
Once totally free from rust
and old paint, the lattice table top
is given a coat of silver paint
before an electric blue
powder coating.
And the lamp receives...
well, what looks like
a rusty old orange colour.
Back in Bedfordshire, and Chris
has received the coal bunker back
from its clean-up
at the sandblaster's.
Now... it's decision time.
The years of paint and rust
have been removed,
taking it back to the bare metal.
So I'm going to cut
all this front section out.
But what I think would look nice
is some legs on the front here.
So, yeah, it's time to get
the compressor going
and fire up the plasma cutter.
The plasma cutter works
by using electricity
to ionise a blast of air
to 20,000 degrees Celsius.
So the superheated ionised air just
cuts through the metal like butter.
Oh, yeah.
Nice.
He uses an angle grinder
to cut out new legs,
and there it is -
a slightly smaller coal bunker.
Wow.
That looks great.
All that's left
is to give it a coat of paint.
With work on their first
set of items well under way,
Max has brought Henry to his choice
of location, deep in the Cotswolds.
It's for a charity. Oh, OK.
It's a charity that have been
saving these items to raise money
at auction for a really good cause.
There are no engines, no tyres,
no tractors, no fumes.
It's actually a lot
of really nice furniture.
There's some really old,
beautiful pieces in there.
Everything we've got here today
has been donated by local people.
Hopefully, Henry and Max
can help us raise some more funds
and hopefully we can get a good
price for at least one or two items.
Mike, good to see you.
How's it going?
Good to see you. How are you doing?
This is Henry. Hello, Henry.
How are you?
So I hear you had some bad news
with your village hall this year.
Yeah, it was actually last year -
there was an arson attack
on the 8th of May,
and it got razed to the ground.
So all the funds we're raising
at our auction this year
is going to help do the rebuild and
restructure the whole of the hall.
There's an incentive
for us to get in there
and pick out some lovely items.
Too right.
I'm sure you can really help us.
We will. Great.
We will, I promise you that, mate.
Thank you very much. Great.
Thanks so much, Mike.
This way, I reckon. Onwards.
As ever, Henry and Max
must find two items each
that they can fix
and flog for a profit
to help rebuild
the local community hall.
Glorious building.
Now this place
is right up my street -
it's full of wonderful,
beautiful furniture.
It's all been donated and it's all
for a really good charitable cause.
Mate...
It's packed full of treasure.
Hey, I'm looking out over this sea
of repro furniture, thinking,
"Blimey, I've really got to get
my stuff together here."
Hang on, mate. This is more like it.
And, of course,
it hasn't taken Henry long
to find some items
with profit potential.
That...
Well... That is quite pretty,
isn't it?
What is that, a tool box?
And then suddenly,
"Hey, look - tool box."
I tell you what, though, mate -
I mean, if you... kind of
change the handles on it... Yeah.
...leave these drawers... Yeah?
...but paint the outside...
I like that, mate. Can I have that
as my first item, please?
You can have that as your first item
if you bear with me
and let me explain why
I've got my eye on some ladders.
Who gets distracted by ladders?
Pfft. Max, obviously.
Maybe clean them up a little bit,
dust off the cobwebs,
bit of lacquer or a bit of clear wax
or something like that.
When he was describing how he should
leave it with paint on it and stuff,
I actually thought
he was just being lazy.
I think it's fair to say,
sometimes Henry and I are absolutely
on the same wavelength,
and other times, it's like
we're different species altogether.
You clean them a little bit,
give them a good wax or polish,
maybe fit a few shelves,
and as a freestanding shelving
unit or bookcase -
they go for loads of money.
Do they? Yeah.
Really?! It's bizarre, isn't it?
But they do.
Is that in your urban areas?
It's for the urban folk.
So one item each,
although Max's choice of some
ladders to turn into book shelves
may need a little bit
of imagination.
But it's onwards into the shed
for their final item.
A bit more around here, look. Yeah.
I know it's a bit kitsch,
but imagine that
with some gold pineapples,
pink flamingos,
cocktail glasses, umbrellas...
Mate, mate, can I just stop you?
Who are you talking to?
I thought I was talking to
a man with taste, but then...
I'm a hairy old biker - what
are you talking about with that?!
If I've got respect for one geezer,
it's Max, right?
The man is a genius.
But sometimes,
geniuses go off the rails.
The drinks trolley
may have lifted Max's spirits,
but something else
has caught his eye.
What have you got there?
Well, it looks like just a...
A horrible filing cabinet,
and I see so many of these.
Still really works, doesn't it?
Yeah.
You don't need to just store files
in these things -
you could use it
as just a really cool cupboard.
Imagine if you sanded that back,
exposed all the metal
and changed the fronts
of the drawers -
either paint them bright colours
or chalkboard paint
or magnetic paint or something.
You could put your pants and socks
in there.
That's much better
than a grotty old chest of drawers.
I'll take that, if you don't mind.
I was going to say,
"Tell me you're going to take it
and prove to me that there's life
"after a shed
for those filing cabinets."
Right, I'm going to give it a go.
Good lad.
So, with the drinks trolley jilted
for the old filing cabinet,
that's Max's second item sorted.
So, hang on -
you've got two items now,
and I'm floundering slightly.
I've got both of mine.
Come on, get a move on.
Which is to be expected, obviously,
cos there ain't
any combustion engines here.
Without anything resembling
an engine, finding a second item
is going to be tricky
for petrolhead Henry.
Oh, hang on.
A coal scuttle?
Could be that or it could be...
LOUDLY: ..for a tannoy, like that.
Eh?
Max! Get off the flamingo!
There's one thing you don't need in
life, and that's to be any louder.
Just first thought, hear me out.
Yeah?
Handles on or off,
spray it a really funky colour -
umbrella stand.
Ooh! That could fetch a bit
more money, couldn't it? Yeah.
You going for it?
Yeah, I'm having it.
You've surprised me yet again,
Mr Cole.
HENRY CLEARS HIS THROAT
Two each. Let's do it.
Happy days, man.
Search done, it's back to find Mike
to see if he's happy to let
the lads loose on his items.
Mike, thank you so much.
I tell you what -
people are very generous round here.
They are indeed, yeah. We've got
some great stuff here, yeah.
Right, well, I know
it's slightly weird, but ladders...
Wooden ladders covered in paint are
a real big thing right now. Really?
In interior design circles,
people are going to lap them up.
Excellent, yeah.
And the filing cabinet
is a bit of a punt.
But I think if we polish it
right back to bare metal,
kind of storage for a student
or something.
Somebody who's a bit quirky with
a bit of an eye for design. Yeah.
We have before us a small
coal scuttle with a broken handle.
Umbrella stand.
If it's a really crazy colour,
that would really work, yeah.
Now, the tool chest, do you know
anything about it, Mike?
No. We just picked it up. Oh, OK.
All I can tell you -
it looks like an antique.
So, Mike, be honest.
Pull no punches.
What do you think of the items
we've selected here?
We'd probably get £10 to £12
for them. No! Really?
So, if you can do better than that,
it's really going to help us.
Thank you so much, Mike.
Thank you so much.
Coming up, Max steps it up...
Proper flat-pack furniture.
Absolutely, it's going to last.
...Henry has his work cut out...
Lovely orange glow.
Hm?
...and there's good news
at the valuation.
From what they were,
absolutely incredible!
Reclaimers and restorers
Henry Cole and Max McMurdo
are on a mission to turn
the nation's clutter into cash.
Is it an emergency?
It's going to snap, yeah.
Oh, my God, it's all gone wrong.
In Oxfordshire, it's time for Henry
to reveal to upcycling expert Guy
the latest two items he's collected.
I think that this could be... Mm?
...an umbrella stand.
OK.
So Henry and Guy
are on the same page.
But what about Henry's second item?
Now, then... Yes.
This, I think,
is more up your street, mate.
Yes, it is.
And in here is the engineer's tools.
There's all sorts in there, mate.
Apart from the tools, there's
a bit of green baize in there.
Yeah. I think if that cleans up
we should leave it.
Glue it back, original.
Oh, OK. Cos it's lovely.
So all it really needs is
a new front panel
and it will be as good as new.
And then work out whether we're
going to paint it
because the wood doesn't match...
Yeah. ..or try and match the wood,
cos it'd be lovely
to polish this up.
I think this'll look quite nice
when we've done it. So do I.
OK, mate, all right. So, look,
we're vaguely happy, yeah?
Yes! Yeah, right,
let's get on with it. Yeah.
First, Guy cracks on with removing
the broken handles from the scuttle.
Cor, blimey.
You wouldn't think they'd
be so difficult, would you?
The new handles will be fabricated
from brass strips,
which will be bent
and polished before being attached.
Right. That's the handles fitted.
I think they look
quite smart, actually.
Next it's onto
the engineer's tool chest.
I think it's going to be good enough
to not have to paint it.
That's what I'm hoping, because
I'd really like to keep it...
...sort of bare wood, because I
think, one, that will look nicest,
and two, you know,
it is a lovely old tool box.
It would just keep it
as it's meant to be.
Nothing fancy here,
just domestic furniture polish
and elbow grease in equal measures.
The metal corners and hinges
are polished with
a fine rotary polisher.
Back in Bedfordshire,
Max is revealing his latest haul.
Right, filing cabinets.
I think just really
give it a refresh.
So bring it up to date
maybe shotblasting it,
get rid of all this old paint
that is a little bit...
Seen better days.
Yes, it's not nice.
Then maybe just polish it up.
So the challenge is to modernize
this old filing cabinet
by getting rid
of the drab grey paint,
and giving it a bit of urban chic.
That's going to be awesome,
cos there's so many filing cabinets
all over the country,
and people just don't know what to
do with them. They don't, no.
So, from one item of redundant
office furniture to
another no-longer-useful item,
the wooden ladders.
What I'd like, I think,
is some sort of storage,
but I'm wondering
if it should be free-standing,
not just by bracketing them
onto a wall.
Maybe we can cut them up,
because it's good strong wood,
and we could repurpose it,
cut them into a funky shape,
angles or something.
Proper flat pack furniture.
Absolutely, it's going to last.
Excellent, let's get cracking.
Good job. Right.
So, a funky ladder storage unit.
Max waste no time in cutting the
ladders in half to make the A frame.
Well... It's quite small now.
Yeah, about half the size!
Funny, that. But a nice size for a
shelving unit.
Yeah, very good.
But a storage unit needs shelves,
so the other ladder
gets the same treatment.
Let's just mock this one up. Yeah.
See how big
that's going to be... OK.
Yeah, that's big, isn't it?
That's nice, because you've got
equal spaces, three equal spaces.
Looks like an A, it's solid,
but it's also flat-pack. Yeah.
Outside, and the boys send the
second item, the filing cabinet, off
to have
the dull grey paint removed.
Right. You got
all the drawers, yeah?
Yes. All... What, one, two...
Four, yeah, got them all.
Perfect. Off we go.
Right.
I'll see you in a bit.
See you soon.
In Oxfordshire, and returning
to the first items,
the old lamp that was ready for the
bin has come back from the painters.
Guy has polished and reassembled it,
but will light up Henry?
Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it? Cor!
Very pleased with it.
It does look good, mate.
It looks great, but does it work?
There we go, it's lit.
Beautiful.
Man, that's a great job.
Look at that, eh?
Well, hopefully it will shine
brightly at the valuation.
However, Henry has already
lined up a buyer for the lamp.
Don't you like the colour?
Erm...
I'm not mad about it.
Hey? Lovely orange glow.
Hmm?
Come on, Henry, you're going to
have to work harder than this.
Every hotel room,
you should know this,
needs to have something quirky,
a little talking point. Yeah.
85 quid. For a conversation piece.
Look, right, the Mona Lisa
is quite a lot more.
Right. This is a little table lamp.
Can we put you... 75?
OK.
I was going to say... That's the
easiest deal we've ever done.
I was going to say 75.
Then we're both happy.
All right, happy days!
So Henry's struck a brilliant deal,
selling the lamp for £75.
At Max's, it's also time
to get back to work
on the old white chairs
from today's first location.
I'm actually going to use
this spray-on vinyl,
because that's much
better than painting it,
cos it's a classic
piece of furniture.
If I had to key it all then paint
it, it'd kind of ruin it,
and that means you got to keep it
like that for life,
whereas spraying on
a vinyl coating means
if in a couple of years you don't
like it, you simply peel it off
and create another colour.
So a coat of vinyl rather than paint
will form a skin over the chairs,
giving a smooth and durable
replaceable covering
for little more than
the price of ordinary spray paint.
I'll let that dry now.
That is perfect.
The legs have simply been stripped
of all the old paint
and the tarnished aluminium
polished to a shine.
Nothing screams of the 1970s more
than polished aluminium bases
with mustard and turquoise tops.
They are stunning.
And to think these were left outside
to go mouldy and horrible -
the powder coat was flaking off
and falling apart.
These have been
completely reinvented
and these would look awesome
in anyone's dining room.
On the other side of the workshop,
Chris can finish the coal bunker.
A wooden floor is added,
and a final touch -
a vintage steam gauge,
again in keeping with
the railway theme.
That's fantastic.
I'd love that in my house.
I wonder how much
they'll value it for. Great.
With the refurbished lamp sold,
Henry and Guy just have to finish
the lattice-top garden table
ahead of the valuation.
Do you like the blue?
I do like it,
but it's not what I imagined
when we sent it in.
Neither me. I thought it was
going to be a lighter blue.
Oh, well, too late now, Henry.
Cor, I love these dome nuts,
they're beautiful.
No expense spared, me.
And the legs fit back on a treat.
Inside, and the new wooden
surround just needs
a quick coat or two of varnish.
I do think this is pukka.
Just making it a little darker,
this wood. Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
Because by making it darker,
it'll have a lovely sheen to it.
But it sets off the blue.
A final buffing to bring out
the shine, and that's that.
That's really nice.
That has surprised me.
That's really good.
I'll tell you what...
Our work here is done.
But has their hard work increased
the items' value?
It's time to find out
with the first
all-important valuation.
Henry chose to help Robin Woodcock,
who's here to see
if the boys have made him any money.
Hello, Robin, how you doing?
Lovely to see you, man.
Very well, thank you.
Good, good! Great to see you.
Yeah, nice to see you, too!
Well, here you go. Come forward,
have a look, mate,
have a looky round.
My goodness.
What...
What a transformation, Henry!
Absolutely, mate. Fantastic.
Robbie, come on over here, man,
and we'll tell you a little bit more
about the restorations.
Well, I'll start. Robin, the table.
Absolutely marvellous.
I'd never have got it's the same
table as when you took it!
Well, it is a kind of piece that
you can't walk past, really,
without commenting.
Absolutely.
Right, Robin, the chairs,
they're clearly '60s, '70s
kind of style.
Absolutely incredible,
from what they were!
Now Robin, so, hopefully,
you like what we've done.
I do, yes. But the key is, obviously,
have we made you any money?
So to that end let me introduce
you to Adam.
Independent valuer Adam Partridge
runs several auction houses
in the northwest.
With years of experience, he can
accurately value almost anything.
Let's start with... the table.
Actually, the table's
a lurid... colour.
Some people will like that,
won't they?
It cost £50 to clean
and paint the iron lattice table,
giving a funky
electric-blue finish.
I think that's either side of £100,
and because I'm such a nice,
happy chap, I'm going to say £110.
So a tidy profit
of £60 for the table.
Let's talk about the lamp, shall we?
I like the lamp a lot.
Very sensitive.
Nice restoration.
And I love the colour of the shade,
and the way that's echoed
in the flex.
The rusty old lamp couldn't
have been in worse condition.
But in the hands of the experts,
it's become a shining example
of a perfect restoration.
How much?
A comfortable 60, 65...
£65.
Well, I have to tell you, Adam,
I've sold it for 75.
Good gracious!
So Henry has topped
the expert valuation,
and sold the lamp on for a
tidy £55.
Now, Adam. Yeah. Those chairs.
What do you reckon?
Well, they're kind of classic
arcana, sort of '70s chair.
You see them quite a lot in white.
Were they all white and maybe
covered it in a bit of bird muck,
and that kind of thing, werethey?
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
Anybody sitting on them would've
finished up with a white bottom.
It cost £40 to re-cover
the chairs in funky '70s colours,
and to take the aluminium legs
back to their former glory.
£95 per chair.
Cor!
So that's a far-out profit of £150
for the '50s tulip chairs.
Right. Now, speaking
of the modern home,
what do you think to
the log storage?
Actually, I've been positive
about all of these, haven't I?
But this is my favourite.
I think this is wonderful.
The logs give it an extra aesthetic,
it's functional and it's decorative.
That would fly out, I think.
The scaled-down coal bunker has been
brought right up to date
by spending £110 on a jazzy paint
job and opening up the front panel.
I think it could be more than this,
but I'm going to be realistic
and say £220.
So a solid £110 profit
for the solid-fuel bunker.
Robin, so, hopefully, you love
what we've done. I do! Yes.
And, just a little extra,
we've made you £375 in the process.
Absolutely incredible.
Pick me up off the floor!
Fantastic, man, that's brilliant.
So, Robin, that 375, what are you
going to spend that on?
I'm going to split it between
my restoration
perhaps on the model railway,
and the air ambulance.
Oh, mate, happy days.
Robin, thank you so much, mate.
Thank you very much, Henry.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
Appreciate it. Thank you, too.
So Henry's choice of location
has raised £375,
and put an unexpected smile
on Robin's face.
Well, words can't
explain it, hardly,
I never thought that it would've
come up like it has.
Absolutely magic.
Coming up, Henry can't
believe his eyes...
This is going to be the craziest
coal scuttle you've ever seen. Yeah!
...Max cannot see anything...
Oh, look at that!
You can't even see they exist!
...and there's a shock
at the valuation.
Well, there's a phrase about
polishing something, isn't there,
but what you've done, you've...
Adam!
Kings of clutter Henry Cole and Max
McMurdo are on a mission to turn
junk into cash.
Hey, Max!
There's one thing you don't need in
life, that's to be any louder.
Henry's choice of barn made train
enthusiast Robin £375.
Absolutely incredible! Pick me up
off the floor!
Fantastic, man, that's brilliant!
Back in Oxfordshire, and Guy is hard
at work with the tool chest
that Henry found at his location.
I'm just cutting a piece of brass
to go along the bottom of the door
on the little tool box, and that
will slot into the groove
inside the box,
so I'm just making that.
To cut out the brass,
Guy uses a jigsaw
before drilling out three holes in
the new door of the tool box.
Next, he fits a new lock and slots
the newly-fabricated door
onto the tool box,
and the job is done.
Henry's second item, the coal
scuttle, has arrived back,
painted, from the sandblasters.
But after their surprise at the
electric blue table legs,
how will they react to
seeing the scuttle?
This is going to be the craziest
coal scuttle you've ever seen. Yeah.
Oh, wow!
That is beautiful.
That is, isn't it?
I mean, truly, truly beautiful.
So, that's an overwhelming thumbs up
for the coal scuttle.
All that's left is to add the brass
handles and it will be ready to go.
Twist it in there for you.
There you go.
I absolutely love it.
From a grey, decrepit old coal
scuttle to that.
And I've enjoyed doing it.
Over at Max's workshop, the filing
cabinet has returned
with the dull, old, grey paint
a distant memory.
It's come back from the blasting,
and then I've done the polishing
with a rotary wire brush and then
put two coats of clear lacquer,
just simple car lacquer you can get,
and then the next thing is to paint
the front with the chalkboard paint.
The chalkboard paint will turn the
front of the cabinet
into a blackboard handy for making
it clear what's inside.
Max has created some fun handles
out of spanners,
and all that's left is for Chris
to fit them.
A little washer on the front.
Here we go.
Fantastic.
I'm really pleased with that.
With the filing cabinet completed,
Chris can turn his attention
to finishing the ladder
shelving unit.
So, next job is to find the centre
of the...
Where the bolthole's going to go.
Chris simply needs to drill and fix
bolts through the frame
to hopefully hold everything
in place.
So, as you can see, it's all bolted
up, but it's still a bit wobbly.
To stabilise the shelves, Chris is
going to add some hinges
to the top of his A-frame.
After a quick wax to bring out the
beauty of the wood,
it's time to fit the
all-important shelves.
Now, the finishing touch...
are these bits of acrylic sheet,
which hopefully should just slide
in there.
Aw, look at that!
You can't even see they exist, so
once you've got stuff stacked on it,
it'll look like it's levitating!
Now THAT is how you turn
an old ladder
into a beautiful set of shelves.
So good do the shelves look,
Max has already got
a potential buyer lined up -
Debbie Berriman, who's popped over
to the workshop.
What do you think of your
ladder shelving?
I really love it. I think it's going
to be perfect in my conservatory,
with some books and... I don't know,
some candles and things.
It would look fantastic. Maybe
a couple of plants as well.
It's going to be a great feature,
I think.
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're pleased.
Thank you. I am.
The ladder storage unit has been
sold for a very pleasing £120,
but has Max struck a good deal?
Another one of the charity leaders,
John, has come along
to inspect the lads' handiwork.
Come on in. Hi, John! How you
doing? Good to see you.
How are you? Nice to see you.
Good to see you! I think we're OK.
Be a lot better once you've seen everything.
Is this the rubbish that you took
from our barn?
Er... Yes. Former rubbish.
Go and have a look and let us know
what you think.
The filing cabinet's brilliant.
So, is this the ladder that you took
from the wall on the barn?
That was a very useful ladder and
it's now possibly more useful.
What do you think of it? You've made
it into this sort of display unit.
Guys, you've done a
fantastic job there.
Thank you. When you think of the
rubbish that we saw
back in those... Back in the barn...
Yeah, I know. It's great.
Absolutely fantastic.
Now, the engineer's box.
Really, that was a piece of junk
when it left our barn,
and I doubt if our auction would've
got more than 50p for it.
No, really?! Funny you say that,
John, because we've got Adam,
our rather independent valuation
expert, and he is going to come
and tell us what it's worth now.
Independent valuer and auctioneer
Adam Partridge is back
to put a price on the latest
collection of restorations.
Good job. Lovely. I like the look of
everything, actually -
I'm in a very generous mood.
He IS in a good mood.
All of these things were kind of
redundant before, I presume.
Absolutely redundant. Yeah?
Well, yeah, it's always a wonder
what to do with these old
filing cabinets, because
I think they mainly end up
on the scrap now,
and they're kind of
redundant these days.
It cost £60 sandblasting the filing
cabinet back to the bare metal,
giving it a cool, industrial look.
So, from a value of a few pounds
at best or scrap metal value,
I suppose I'm going to suggest
a figure of £180 on that.
Nice! Wow!
So, a profit of £120
for the cabinet.
Adam, what do you think of the
ladder storage shelving unit?
Well, another imaginative conversion.
The unusable wooden ladders have
been turned
into a rustic-feeling shelving unit
costing £80
for the Perspex sheets.
Again, I could see that in a trendy
shop at...
...£125 or so?
Well, if I can intervene at this
stage, gentlemen, I've already sold
that for £120, so £5 short of
your valuation,
but I was pretty chuffed with that.
So, a profit of £40 for the
ladder shelving unit,
and Max's sale was pretty much on
the money.
Can we get on with the coal scuttle?
Coal chute, coal whatever it is,
but it's purple, it's gorgeous,
Adam, and just value it high.
Well, there's a phrase about
polishing something, isn't there?
What you've done, you've...
Adam!
That is a work of art, son -
you can't use those euphemisms!
Well, I congratulate Guy for the
fabrication of the handles
and for the finish, cos it's a
lovely finish and lovely handles.
You wouldn't use it as a coal or
coke chute any more, would you?
You'd use it as a flower display or
stick stand or something like that.
Know it, mate.
Henry had a real challenge on his
hands to turn the rusty old
coal scuttle into something
modern and useful,
but with £60 spent on sandblasting
and powder coating,
he looks to have pulled it off.
Well, I suppose if you had
your trendy London shop,
you could stick a ticket price of
maybe 95 quid on it
or something like that,
but... I wouldn't buy it.
OK, well, someone has, OK,
and strangely, for 95 quid.
Bingo! That means a profit of £35
for the purple coal scuttle.
Now, let's talk about something I
love, which is the engineer's box.
Good, solid thing. Nice brand,
nice to see the little label
still on there as well, gives it a
bit more
of a kind of vintage-y feel to it.
With no restoration costs,
it will be profit all the way
for the charity.
But what will expert Adam
make of the chest?
You see these come up at auction
and fairs and things like that,
varying prices from 50 up to maybe
150, for a really good example.
I'm going to go kind of in the
middle, but slightly less
and say £90.
So, with no costs, it's profit,
profit, profit,
as the chest sells for £90.
Now, if my maths are not mistaken,
which they sometimes can be,
I think that's a grand profit
of £285.
Man, that's great.
That's incredible.
Max, thank you very much.
Henry, thank you very much indeed.
Fantastic, mate. And thank you.
Yeah, thank Adam for a change.
Well done.
Restoring the collection
of charity donations
netted a total of £285
to help with the community hall rebuild.
I think they've done
a fantastic job.
It was rubbish when it left us,
maybe worth five quid,
and what they've done to it
is restored it,
made a value of about 285 quid. Fantastic.
The four items from Max's location
pulled in...
But Henry has pipped him to the post
with his selection, which made...
♪ I love the taste of victory
♪ I love the taste of victory. ♪
I did win, didn't I? Yes, but that
does not suit you, that dance.
No, but I still won!
THEY CHUCKLE
Henry, it's not about winning, it's
about creating beautiful products
for a very good cause.
You're right. Even though I won,
I have to admit,
we're a great team, mate, eh?
Come on.
Subtitles by Ericsson
The homes of Britain are stacked
with old possessions.
Oh, mate.
HE GASPS
What looks like junk can actually
be worth a pretty penny.
Exposed rivets and polished copper.
Now we're talking.
Get that outside, have a look.
GONG CLANGS
Henry Cole and Max McMurdo are here
to help turn that clutter
into hard cash.
That's 250 quid of anyone's money.
Got to be.
For Henry and his mechanic...
Wahey! There we go, boys!
Those have come up posh.
...it's all about restoring retro
relics and vintage classics.
Goes in there like that.
Look at that!
Check that out!
Whilst upcycling genius Max and his
restorer love turning everyday
objects into fantastic furniture.
What? No way!
My goodness.
What a transformation, Henry!
Absolutely, mate.
Despite their different approaches,
they make the old turn into gold.
That's a grand total profit of...
Thanks, Henry. Brilliant.
On today's show...
HE GASPS
All aboard as Henry gets
in touch with his spiritual side.
Oh, breathe it in, mate.
Max teaches Henry how to suck eggs.
They go for loads of money.
Do they? Yeah. Really?
And there's a shock in store
at the valuation.
Absolutely incredible.
Pick me up off the floor!
Fantastic, man. That's brilliant.
Today, Henry's back on the road
with his other rummage buddy,
Max McMurdo.
Hey, now, look, right? I must let
you into a treat.
Simon normally just tries
to steal my jelly babies. Yeah.
Here, man. Enjoy.
What have you done to these?
Nothing. It's just really nice to
offer someone a jelly baby, rather
than them to be just, youknow...
...ripped open, and, "Where's the
jelly babies?" and all that kind of
stuff which Si normally does.
Ah, Henry, you're all heart.
And today, the lads are in the Cotswolds.
I know a rather random fact about
Chipping Norton.
Do you?
It's where the first dinosaur
bone was found.
In 1676. Do you remember that?
Yeah. I think I might just
remember it, yeah.
Well, hoping to unearth some great
finds today,
they head off to meet railway
enthusiast Robin Woodcock who,
when he's not playing with his train
sets, is tinkering with somewhat
larger mechanical toys.
I don't like to throw anything away,
so there's plenty for Henry and Max
to have a rummage and look at.
Robin.
Welcome, Henry. How are you?
So lovely to see you, mate.
This is my dear mate, Max. Nice to
meet you, Robin. Hello, Max.
How long have you been here?
Because you've got a lot of stuff.
1948 we moved down here,
when I was eight.
Wow, really, '48? Yeah.
Now, if we do make you some cash,
what would you spend the money on?
I might spend a little bit
more on me model trains.
Robin. OK, Henry. We'll see you in a
little bit.
Be my guests. Thanks so much, mate.
Yeah, great stuff.
Shall we go? Come on, then, Max.
As usual, the boys have to find
two items each that have
profit potential.
There's a lot of barns.
Yeah. That's not fair, he's boarded
it up. We can't even have a peek through.
That's where the Faberge eggs are.
MAX CHUCKLES
But before they hit the barns,
there's time for a quick look
at Robin's train sets.
Oh, you're going to like it in here.
I'm not looking. I'm not looking.
MAX GASPS
I told you you'd love it, didn't I?
Mate, this is meat and drink.
This brings me right back
to my childhood, and smell...
You're smelling it, aren't you?
What does it smell of? Childhood.
HENRY BREATHES DEEPLY
I'm feeling a bit freaked out.
Do you mind if we go from here?
Don't do that, mate.
I'm just...
HE BREATHES DEEPLY
Oh, breathe it in, mate.
Vintage. Love it.
Oi, come here!
Max? Max?
When he finally tracks down Max,
Henry's first to spot something.
I quite like this. Do you?
I know you might think that weird.
I wouldn't have you down
as liking that at all.
He picked up something that, to me,
looked like a bit of an old gate,
but he got very excited.
You know that I do stuff funky
colours and crazy nut bar,
and that could be... a very good
patient to wheel into our A&E.
You've got a mischievous look in
your eye like you're going to take
something that's quite subtle and
delicate and you're going to go
crazy on it, aren't you?
Let's just give some love back
to that table, man. That's seen
some coffee mornings, hasn't it?
Not sure what kind of coffee
morning Henry goes to,
but it's a gorgeous lattice-top
iron table under that moss.
Come on. I've got an item.
You've got a chair. Right.
And Max isn't far behind.
This is interesting. What's that?
What's what?
It needs a paint, whatever it is.
Hang on.
So, what d'you reckon it was used
for, then? Well, I think it's some
sort of coal bunker.
Max, you're very close.
This is a coal store for
a steam train that ran on
a miniature railway.
However, the original
home of this item is not known.
A bunker? A coal bunker?
Hey, a Henry Cole bunker!
But, no, Max is having it.
Do you know what? I'm really
tempted. I've never kind of played
with anything like this before,
but I think a quick clean up,
and if you think about it,
it's never been so fashionable to
have a solid fuel stove
in your house.
I think it'll clean up, and possibly
paint, beautifully,
and hopefully there will be
a market for it.
Are you going for your
first item, then?
I think so. I'm gonna go for it.
Liking your style, Max, hey.
I might need a hand lifting it,
though - it's quite heavy.
Dunno about that, mate. We might
have to have tea before that.
Come on, we've got to get another
item each. Come on.
So, one item each, as Max decides to
take the coal bunker as
his first find.
Tractors.
Oh, yes.
Oh, God, they're lovely.
Straightaway, tractors, mate.
I mean, I'm in heaven.
No, don't do that. That's weird.
It stirs my soul!
I love old stuff, including
Henry, I might add.
But why does he have to keep hugging
tractors?
Henry, step away from the tractors.
You've got work to do.
This is urban chic, if ever
I've seen it in a barn.
It doesn't look it when it's
upside down.
Oh! That is actually rather
splendid. I like that.
A white plastic '70s chair -
Max was suddenly in heaven.
Does that make you as excited
as the Field-Marshall does to me?
Yes, that is my tractor.
Get that outside, have a look.
What would you do with that, man?
Well, I might turn it into a chair.
THEY LAUGH
So, Henry has found a second item.
Unfortunately, it's for Max.
I think a really good clean up...
Ali base... That'd polish up a
treat, wouldn't it?
We love a bit of ali. And how about
a really nice, zingy colour on top?
"Zingy colour," did you say?
Something quite poppy and zingy.
Do you know what? That's a cracking
find, Henry. Well done.
If you really want some thanks...
Yeah. ..you find me another one of
those, because a pair ofchairs...
That's what I'm after.
MOCKINGLY: "Be nice if you could
find another one."
I want that tractor so badly.
Dump it with your tractors. I might
have found a nice little lamp.
I'll tell you what I've found.
Go on. A tractor?
"I've found a tractor, Max!"
Loving me large?
MAX GASPS
That is the second chair? Well,
mate, it ain't a Field-Marshall!
When he found the second one,
I was really chuffed.
If you've found a second one,
that is an absolute gem.
Mate, that is... What's that?
Well, I thought that's a nice
little lamp.
Because Henry had done such a good
job of finding me the chair, I
really wanted to repay thefavour.
So when I found that lamp, I was
really quite excited,
and fortunately, he saw my vision.
Do you know what's nice about that,
is that's just a
simple little thing,
you know, that's just nice
and decorative...
that wouldn't actually take too
much to get going, would it?
For your reward for finding these
two beautiful chairs,
you can have that.
So, hopefully Henry's second item,
a vintage lamp, will shine out
and make a tidy profit.
Time to find out what Robin will
make of the lads' choices.
Robin, I think I can safely say
we've had a wonderful time.
Good. And we've got a few items
that, hopefully, you'll let us take
'em away.
Er, you want to go first?
Well, I'm slightly confused.
I'm taking a guess that that's a
coal bunker of sorts, but do you
have any more
information about its history?
Yes, from the
seven-and-a-quarter-inch railway.
Oh, really? So, it's not for a house
at all? No.
So, Robin, please tell me more
about these two white chairs,
because I think they're gorgeous.
Well, we had them years ago.
They were sort of garden furniture.
I mean, I love them as they are,
but I'm going to try and bring
them back up to date,
polish them up a bit and maybe
inject a few new bold colours.
That's being a hipster, mate.
MAX LAUGHS
Something that you and I don't know
about. That's right.
But that is cutting-edge, right
there, with a beard.
Can you two stop ganging up on me
just cos I don't have a flat cap on?
I thought you were getting a bit
chilly there, mate. You need a hat.
Hey, Robin. Now, look, right?
That table looks good from far,
but far from good.
Hopefully, I'm going to bling
that up a little.
I think it might shock you,
the colour, but at the same time
I think it could be cool.
Well, it deserves being done.
Now, look, tell me about the lamp.
I honestly can't remember
where it came from,
but it's been thrown in the shed
there for... Oh, it must be 10 or
15 years, or more.
So, there you are. If you can do
something with it, that would be
rather nice.
Robin, thank you so much, mate.
You're more than welcome.
We've had such a great day. Really.
Thank you, thank you.
Thank you, Robin.
And look, we'll see you once we've
done 'em.
Lovely. Cheers, mate. See you later.
Thank you very much. Thanks, Robin.
Coming up...
Max discovers an Aladdin's cave.
Packed full of treasure.
Henry lays down the law to Guy.
If I bring you back an item... Yeah.
...I expect you to have some kind of
an idea
what to do with it.
And is Max off his trolley?
Imagine that with some gold
pineapples, pink flamingos...
Mate, can I just stop you?
Who are you talking to?
Experts upcyclers Henry Cole
and Max McMurdo
are turning the old into gold.
Ooh, that is actually
rather splendid. I like that.
They've picked up two items each
from Robin Woodcock's barns
and now they're back
at their workshops.
Henry's in Oxfordshire,
showing off his haul
to his expert restorer, Guy Wilson.
I have to tell you, mate,
these two items, I think,
are a challenge.
Definitely.
First, the rusty old table lamp.
What are we going to do to that?
Clean it up?
Now listen, right...
...if I bring you back an item...
Yeah?
...I expect you to have some kind
of an idea what to do with it.
So we polish the plastic base... Yeah.
...we find out what metal that is... Yeah.
...we probably paint that, cos isn't
very nice metal, by the look of it.
Or rather Guy can.
It might be brass, you know. Well,
if it is brass, then happy days.
Yes. Yeah.
And, once again, Henry has a vision
for his second item -
the latticework iron table.
We are going to do it light blue, metallic.
Lovely. Yeah? Yes.
Then we're going to get a nice,
light oak wood surround. Mm-hm.
So it'll be a centrepiece.
Yes. As ever with our stuff, you're
either going to love it or hate it.
The light wood idea is lovely.
I think it'll look great.
Strangely, we agree again.
Good. Cheers. Cheers. Nice one.
So it's straight to work
on the iron lattice table.
First thing we've got to do is
basically discombobulate the table.
Whatever you're doing to the table,
be careful -
that's cast iron and very heavy.
Right, get everything off the top.
get everything off the top, quick.
Oh, God, what's happening?
Is it an emergency?
It's going to snap. Oh, my God,
it's all gone wrong.
Disaster averted,
time for some drastic action.
Are you ready? You've got your
health and safety glasses on. Yes.
Yeah? Yes. You've got
your little angle grinder.
The rotten wooden top
is then removed
and then all the ironwork
can be sent off
to be sandblasted and painted.
We're free! All right, happy days.
Tea? Yes. Come on, then.
That just leaves Guy to have a look
at the rusty old table lamp.
Oh, it's quite pretty.
MOCKING: "Oh, it's quite pretty.
Oh, it's quite pretty."
Ooh, hang on. Brass?
It's...
I think it's brass underneath.
If it's brass, then the lamp
could be worth significantly more.
We're going to put it on
the Whizzy Wheel, get all...
Just take all the stuff off it,
yeah? Have a look.
Have a look.
And I think perhaps we could chuck
it in a load with Darren's stuff.
Yeah, get Darren to blast it.
And, like the iron table,
the lamp shade will also have to be
sent away for sandblasting.
80 miles away in Bedfordshire,
and it's Max's turn
to reveal his finds to his
upcycling expert, Chris Hanlon.
First, the small-scale coal bunker.
Just a really nice renovation,
sand it back, repaint it. Yeah.
But knowing it's rotten
at the bottom there... Mm-hm?
...I think we have to
modify it slightly.
Maybe what we could do is take the
plasma cutter to it
and cut the front out, take all this
rust out and fill it full of logs -
turn it into... into a log store.
That's a nice idea.
So a plan for the first item.
But, next, the far-from-perfect
plastic chairs.
They have seen better days.
Great. From a different decade.
Yeah, must be '70s, maybe late '60s.
The chairs are actually Burke Tulip
chairs, designed in the late '50s,
but popular through the decades,
especially after they were featured
on the flight deck
of the SS Enterprise
on Star Trek in the '60s.
No cracks or splits
or real damage. Yeah.
So I think that'll clean up.
A good sand.
Yeah, very good sand and clean up.
Can you imagine -
when they bought these,
they've only ever lived outside. Wow.
So these were clearly expensive
design pieces of the day,
but they've just chucked them
in the garden,
hence why they're in that condition.
So the plan is to sand them back
and then really take them
back through time to the 1950s.
The best thing is, we've got a pair.
OK. Oh, that's great.
So to have a pair, I think,
is just a great opportunity. Yeah.
With the coal bunker
off for stripping,
it's on to the iconic Tulip chairs.
I absolutely love these chairs -
I'd like to own these myself.
To really fall in love
with the chairs,
Max needs to get years of grime
off them with sugar soap.
The sugar just creates
a bit of a grit.
So it's a bit of a mild abrasive,
but nothing too strong.
But being left outside for decades
has taken its toll.
Well, it's coming off.
I don't know what it is...
Oh, it's disgusting, whatever it is.
It's going to take more than
a bit of sugar soap, though -
I'm going to have to give it
a light sand, see what that does.
The base of the chair
has also seen better days.
This is getting ridiculous.
I think all the loose paint
or plastic, whatever it is, is off.
The rest of it
is going to have to be sanded,
which means it'll get
hot and sticky,
but it's the only way to do it.
Sometimes, you've got to get
the tools out.
Max uses an angle grinder
to remove the stubborn paint.
Wow.
This is going to take forever.
But that is working
an absolute treat.
A polished ali base. Awesome.
Back in Oxfordshire,
and Henry's two items -
the latticework table
and table lamp -
have arrived for sandblasting
at his mate Darren's.
Once totally free from rust
and old paint, the lattice table top
is given a coat of silver paint
before an electric blue
powder coating.
And the lamp receives...
well, what looks like
a rusty old orange colour.
Back in Bedfordshire, and Chris
has received the coal bunker back
from its clean-up
at the sandblaster's.
Now... it's decision time.
The years of paint and rust
have been removed,
taking it back to the bare metal.
So I'm going to cut
all this front section out.
But what I think would look nice
is some legs on the front here.
So, yeah, it's time to get
the compressor going
and fire up the plasma cutter.
The plasma cutter works
by using electricity
to ionise a blast of air
to 20,000 degrees Celsius.
So the superheated ionised air just
cuts through the metal like butter.
Oh, yeah.
Nice.
He uses an angle grinder
to cut out new legs,
and there it is -
a slightly smaller coal bunker.
Wow.
That looks great.
All that's left
is to give it a coat of paint.
With work on their first
set of items well under way,
Max has brought Henry to his choice
of location, deep in the Cotswolds.
It's for a charity. Oh, OK.
It's a charity that have been
saving these items to raise money
at auction for a really good cause.
There are no engines, no tyres,
no tractors, no fumes.
It's actually a lot
of really nice furniture.
There's some really old,
beautiful pieces in there.
Everything we've got here today
has been donated by local people.
Hopefully, Henry and Max
can help us raise some more funds
and hopefully we can get a good
price for at least one or two items.
Mike, good to see you.
How's it going?
Good to see you. How are you doing?
This is Henry. Hello, Henry.
How are you?
So I hear you had some bad news
with your village hall this year.
Yeah, it was actually last year -
there was an arson attack
on the 8th of May,
and it got razed to the ground.
So all the funds we're raising
at our auction this year
is going to help do the rebuild and
restructure the whole of the hall.
There's an incentive
for us to get in there
and pick out some lovely items.
Too right.
I'm sure you can really help us.
We will. Great.
We will, I promise you that, mate.
Thank you very much. Great.
Thanks so much, Mike.
This way, I reckon. Onwards.
As ever, Henry and Max
must find two items each
that they can fix
and flog for a profit
to help rebuild
the local community hall.
Glorious building.
Now this place
is right up my street -
it's full of wonderful,
beautiful furniture.
It's all been donated and it's all
for a really good charitable cause.
Mate...
It's packed full of treasure.
Hey, I'm looking out over this sea
of repro furniture, thinking,
"Blimey, I've really got to get
my stuff together here."
Hang on, mate. This is more like it.
And, of course,
it hasn't taken Henry long
to find some items
with profit potential.
That...
Well... That is quite pretty,
isn't it?
What is that, a tool box?
And then suddenly,
"Hey, look - tool box."
I tell you what, though, mate -
I mean, if you... kind of
change the handles on it... Yeah.
...leave these drawers... Yeah?
...but paint the outside...
I like that, mate. Can I have that
as my first item, please?
You can have that as your first item
if you bear with me
and let me explain why
I've got my eye on some ladders.
Who gets distracted by ladders?
Pfft. Max, obviously.
Maybe clean them up a little bit,
dust off the cobwebs,
bit of lacquer or a bit of clear wax
or something like that.
When he was describing how he should
leave it with paint on it and stuff,
I actually thought
he was just being lazy.
I think it's fair to say,
sometimes Henry and I are absolutely
on the same wavelength,
and other times, it's like
we're different species altogether.
You clean them a little bit,
give them a good wax or polish,
maybe fit a few shelves,
and as a freestanding shelving
unit or bookcase -
they go for loads of money.
Do they? Yeah.
Really?! It's bizarre, isn't it?
But they do.
Is that in your urban areas?
It's for the urban folk.
So one item each,
although Max's choice of some
ladders to turn into book shelves
may need a little bit
of imagination.
But it's onwards into the shed
for their final item.
A bit more around here, look. Yeah.
I know it's a bit kitsch,
but imagine that
with some gold pineapples,
pink flamingos,
cocktail glasses, umbrellas...
Mate, mate, can I just stop you?
Who are you talking to?
I thought I was talking to
a man with taste, but then...
I'm a hairy old biker - what
are you talking about with that?!
If I've got respect for one geezer,
it's Max, right?
The man is a genius.
But sometimes,
geniuses go off the rails.
The drinks trolley
may have lifted Max's spirits,
but something else
has caught his eye.
What have you got there?
Well, it looks like just a...
A horrible filing cabinet,
and I see so many of these.
Still really works, doesn't it?
Yeah.
You don't need to just store files
in these things -
you could use it
as just a really cool cupboard.
Imagine if you sanded that back,
exposed all the metal
and changed the fronts
of the drawers -
either paint them bright colours
or chalkboard paint
or magnetic paint or something.
You could put your pants and socks
in there.
That's much better
than a grotty old chest of drawers.
I'll take that, if you don't mind.
I was going to say,
"Tell me you're going to take it
and prove to me that there's life
"after a shed
for those filing cabinets."
Right, I'm going to give it a go.
Good lad.
So, with the drinks trolley jilted
for the old filing cabinet,
that's Max's second item sorted.
So, hang on -
you've got two items now,
and I'm floundering slightly.
I've got both of mine.
Come on, get a move on.
Which is to be expected, obviously,
cos there ain't
any combustion engines here.
Without anything resembling
an engine, finding a second item
is going to be tricky
for petrolhead Henry.
Oh, hang on.
A coal scuttle?
Could be that or it could be...
LOUDLY: ..for a tannoy, like that.
Eh?
Max! Get off the flamingo!
There's one thing you don't need in
life, and that's to be any louder.
Just first thought, hear me out.
Yeah?
Handles on or off,
spray it a really funky colour -
umbrella stand.
Ooh! That could fetch a bit
more money, couldn't it? Yeah.
You going for it?
Yeah, I'm having it.
You've surprised me yet again,
Mr Cole.
HENRY CLEARS HIS THROAT
Two each. Let's do it.
Happy days, man.
Search done, it's back to find Mike
to see if he's happy to let
the lads loose on his items.
Mike, thank you so much.
I tell you what -
people are very generous round here.
They are indeed, yeah. We've got
some great stuff here, yeah.
Right, well, I know
it's slightly weird, but ladders...
Wooden ladders covered in paint are
a real big thing right now. Really?
In interior design circles,
people are going to lap them up.
Excellent, yeah.
And the filing cabinet
is a bit of a punt.
But I think if we polish it
right back to bare metal,
kind of storage for a student
or something.
Somebody who's a bit quirky with
a bit of an eye for design. Yeah.
We have before us a small
coal scuttle with a broken handle.
Umbrella stand.
If it's a really crazy colour,
that would really work, yeah.
Now, the tool chest, do you know
anything about it, Mike?
No. We just picked it up. Oh, OK.
All I can tell you -
it looks like an antique.
So, Mike, be honest.
Pull no punches.
What do you think of the items
we've selected here?
We'd probably get £10 to £12
for them. No! Really?
So, if you can do better than that,
it's really going to help us.
Thank you so much, Mike.
Thank you so much.
Coming up, Max steps it up...
Proper flat-pack furniture.
Absolutely, it's going to last.
...Henry has his work cut out...
Lovely orange glow.
Hm?
...and there's good news
at the valuation.
From what they were,
absolutely incredible!
Reclaimers and restorers
Henry Cole and Max McMurdo
are on a mission to turn
the nation's clutter into cash.
Is it an emergency?
It's going to snap, yeah.
Oh, my God, it's all gone wrong.
In Oxfordshire, it's time for Henry
to reveal to upcycling expert Guy
the latest two items he's collected.
I think that this could be... Mm?
...an umbrella stand.
OK.
So Henry and Guy
are on the same page.
But what about Henry's second item?
Now, then... Yes.
This, I think,
is more up your street, mate.
Yes, it is.
And in here is the engineer's tools.
There's all sorts in there, mate.
Apart from the tools, there's
a bit of green baize in there.
Yeah. I think if that cleans up
we should leave it.
Glue it back, original.
Oh, OK. Cos it's lovely.
So all it really needs is
a new front panel
and it will be as good as new.
And then work out whether we're
going to paint it
because the wood doesn't match...
Yeah. ..or try and match the wood,
cos it'd be lovely
to polish this up.
I think this'll look quite nice
when we've done it. So do I.
OK, mate, all right. So, look,
we're vaguely happy, yeah?
Yes! Yeah, right,
let's get on with it. Yeah.
First, Guy cracks on with removing
the broken handles from the scuttle.
Cor, blimey.
You wouldn't think they'd
be so difficult, would you?
The new handles will be fabricated
from brass strips,
which will be bent
and polished before being attached.
Right. That's the handles fitted.
I think they look
quite smart, actually.
Next it's onto
the engineer's tool chest.
I think it's going to be good enough
to not have to paint it.
That's what I'm hoping, because
I'd really like to keep it...
...sort of bare wood, because I
think, one, that will look nicest,
and two, you know,
it is a lovely old tool box.
It would just keep it
as it's meant to be.
Nothing fancy here,
just domestic furniture polish
and elbow grease in equal measures.
The metal corners and hinges
are polished with
a fine rotary polisher.
Back in Bedfordshire,
Max is revealing his latest haul.
Right, filing cabinets.
I think just really
give it a refresh.
So bring it up to date
maybe shotblasting it,
get rid of all this old paint
that is a little bit...
Seen better days.
Yes, it's not nice.
Then maybe just polish it up.
So the challenge is to modernize
this old filing cabinet
by getting rid
of the drab grey paint,
and giving it a bit of urban chic.
That's going to be awesome,
cos there's so many filing cabinets
all over the country,
and people just don't know what to
do with them. They don't, no.
So, from one item of redundant
office furniture to
another no-longer-useful item,
the wooden ladders.
What I'd like, I think,
is some sort of storage,
but I'm wondering
if it should be free-standing,
not just by bracketing them
onto a wall.
Maybe we can cut them up,
because it's good strong wood,
and we could repurpose it,
cut them into a funky shape,
angles or something.
Proper flat pack furniture.
Absolutely, it's going to last.
Excellent, let's get cracking.
Good job. Right.
So, a funky ladder storage unit.
Max waste no time in cutting the
ladders in half to make the A frame.
Well... It's quite small now.
Yeah, about half the size!
Funny, that. But a nice size for a
shelving unit.
Yeah, very good.
But a storage unit needs shelves,
so the other ladder
gets the same treatment.
Let's just mock this one up. Yeah.
See how big
that's going to be... OK.
Yeah, that's big, isn't it?
That's nice, because you've got
equal spaces, three equal spaces.
Looks like an A, it's solid,
but it's also flat-pack. Yeah.
Outside, and the boys send the
second item, the filing cabinet, off
to have
the dull grey paint removed.
Right. You got
all the drawers, yeah?
Yes. All... What, one, two...
Four, yeah, got them all.
Perfect. Off we go.
Right.
I'll see you in a bit.
See you soon.
In Oxfordshire, and returning
to the first items,
the old lamp that was ready for the
bin has come back from the painters.
Guy has polished and reassembled it,
but will light up Henry?
Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it? Cor!
Very pleased with it.
It does look good, mate.
It looks great, but does it work?
There we go, it's lit.
Beautiful.
Man, that's a great job.
Look at that, eh?
Well, hopefully it will shine
brightly at the valuation.
However, Henry has already
lined up a buyer for the lamp.
Don't you like the colour?
Erm...
I'm not mad about it.
Hey? Lovely orange glow.
Hmm?
Come on, Henry, you're going to
have to work harder than this.
Every hotel room,
you should know this,
needs to have something quirky,
a little talking point. Yeah.
85 quid. For a conversation piece.
Look, right, the Mona Lisa
is quite a lot more.
Right. This is a little table lamp.
Can we put you... 75?
OK.
I was going to say... That's the
easiest deal we've ever done.
I was going to say 75.
Then we're both happy.
All right, happy days!
So Henry's struck a brilliant deal,
selling the lamp for £75.
At Max's, it's also time
to get back to work
on the old white chairs
from today's first location.
I'm actually going to use
this spray-on vinyl,
because that's much
better than painting it,
cos it's a classic
piece of furniture.
If I had to key it all then paint
it, it'd kind of ruin it,
and that means you got to keep it
like that for life,
whereas spraying on
a vinyl coating means
if in a couple of years you don't
like it, you simply peel it off
and create another colour.
So a coat of vinyl rather than paint
will form a skin over the chairs,
giving a smooth and durable
replaceable covering
for little more than
the price of ordinary spray paint.
I'll let that dry now.
That is perfect.
The legs have simply been stripped
of all the old paint
and the tarnished aluminium
polished to a shine.
Nothing screams of the 1970s more
than polished aluminium bases
with mustard and turquoise tops.
They are stunning.
And to think these were left outside
to go mouldy and horrible -
the powder coat was flaking off
and falling apart.
These have been
completely reinvented
and these would look awesome
in anyone's dining room.
On the other side of the workshop,
Chris can finish the coal bunker.
A wooden floor is added,
and a final touch -
a vintage steam gauge,
again in keeping with
the railway theme.
That's fantastic.
I'd love that in my house.
I wonder how much
they'll value it for. Great.
With the refurbished lamp sold,
Henry and Guy just have to finish
the lattice-top garden table
ahead of the valuation.
Do you like the blue?
I do like it,
but it's not what I imagined
when we sent it in.
Neither me. I thought it was
going to be a lighter blue.
Oh, well, too late now, Henry.
Cor, I love these dome nuts,
they're beautiful.
No expense spared, me.
And the legs fit back on a treat.
Inside, and the new wooden
surround just needs
a quick coat or two of varnish.
I do think this is pukka.
Just making it a little darker,
this wood. Yeah.
Do you know what I mean?
Because by making it darker,
it'll have a lovely sheen to it.
But it sets off the blue.
A final buffing to bring out
the shine, and that's that.
That's really nice.
That has surprised me.
That's really good.
I'll tell you what...
Our work here is done.
But has their hard work increased
the items' value?
It's time to find out
with the first
all-important valuation.
Henry chose to help Robin Woodcock,
who's here to see
if the boys have made him any money.
Hello, Robin, how you doing?
Lovely to see you, man.
Very well, thank you.
Good, good! Great to see you.
Yeah, nice to see you, too!
Well, here you go. Come forward,
have a look, mate,
have a looky round.
My goodness.
What...
What a transformation, Henry!
Absolutely, mate. Fantastic.
Robbie, come on over here, man,
and we'll tell you a little bit more
about the restorations.
Well, I'll start. Robin, the table.
Absolutely marvellous.
I'd never have got it's the same
table as when you took it!
Well, it is a kind of piece that
you can't walk past, really,
without commenting.
Absolutely.
Right, Robin, the chairs,
they're clearly '60s, '70s
kind of style.
Absolutely incredible,
from what they were!
Now Robin, so, hopefully,
you like what we've done.
I do, yes. But the key is, obviously,
have we made you any money?
So to that end let me introduce
you to Adam.
Independent valuer Adam Partridge
runs several auction houses
in the northwest.
With years of experience, he can
accurately value almost anything.
Let's start with... the table.
Actually, the table's
a lurid... colour.
Some people will like that,
won't they?
It cost £50 to clean
and paint the iron lattice table,
giving a funky
electric-blue finish.
I think that's either side of £100,
and because I'm such a nice,
happy chap, I'm going to say £110.
So a tidy profit
of £60 for the table.
Let's talk about the lamp, shall we?
I like the lamp a lot.
Very sensitive.
Nice restoration.
And I love the colour of the shade,
and the way that's echoed
in the flex.
The rusty old lamp couldn't
have been in worse condition.
But in the hands of the experts,
it's become a shining example
of a perfect restoration.
How much?
A comfortable 60, 65...
£65.
Well, I have to tell you, Adam,
I've sold it for 75.
Good gracious!
So Henry has topped
the expert valuation,
and sold the lamp on for a
tidy £55.
Now, Adam. Yeah. Those chairs.
What do you reckon?
Well, they're kind of classic
arcana, sort of '70s chair.
You see them quite a lot in white.
Were they all white and maybe
covered it in a bit of bird muck,
and that kind of thing, werethey?
Definitely. Yeah. Yeah.
Anybody sitting on them would've
finished up with a white bottom.
It cost £40 to re-cover
the chairs in funky '70s colours,
and to take the aluminium legs
back to their former glory.
£95 per chair.
Cor!
So that's a far-out profit of £150
for the '50s tulip chairs.
Right. Now, speaking
of the modern home,
what do you think to
the log storage?
Actually, I've been positive
about all of these, haven't I?
But this is my favourite.
I think this is wonderful.
The logs give it an extra aesthetic,
it's functional and it's decorative.
That would fly out, I think.
The scaled-down coal bunker has been
brought right up to date
by spending £110 on a jazzy paint
job and opening up the front panel.
I think it could be more than this,
but I'm going to be realistic
and say £220.
So a solid £110 profit
for the solid-fuel bunker.
Robin, so, hopefully, you love
what we've done. I do! Yes.
And, just a little extra,
we've made you £375 in the process.
Absolutely incredible.
Pick me up off the floor!
Fantastic, man, that's brilliant.
So, Robin, that 375, what are you
going to spend that on?
I'm going to split it between
my restoration
perhaps on the model railway,
and the air ambulance.
Oh, mate, happy days.
Robin, thank you so much, mate.
Thank you very much, Henry.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
Appreciate it. Thank you, too.
So Henry's choice of location
has raised £375,
and put an unexpected smile
on Robin's face.
Well, words can't
explain it, hardly,
I never thought that it would've
come up like it has.
Absolutely magic.
Coming up, Henry can't
believe his eyes...
This is going to be the craziest
coal scuttle you've ever seen. Yeah!
...Max cannot see anything...
Oh, look at that!
You can't even see they exist!
...and there's a shock
at the valuation.
Well, there's a phrase about
polishing something, isn't there,
but what you've done, you've...
Adam!
Kings of clutter Henry Cole and Max
McMurdo are on a mission to turn
junk into cash.
Hey, Max!
There's one thing you don't need in
life, that's to be any louder.
Henry's choice of barn made train
enthusiast Robin £375.
Absolutely incredible! Pick me up
off the floor!
Fantastic, man, that's brilliant!
Back in Oxfordshire, and Guy is hard
at work with the tool chest
that Henry found at his location.
I'm just cutting a piece of brass
to go along the bottom of the door
on the little tool box, and that
will slot into the groove
inside the box,
so I'm just making that.
To cut out the brass,
Guy uses a jigsaw
before drilling out three holes in
the new door of the tool box.
Next, he fits a new lock and slots
the newly-fabricated door
onto the tool box,
and the job is done.
Henry's second item, the coal
scuttle, has arrived back,
painted, from the sandblasters.
But after their surprise at the
electric blue table legs,
how will they react to
seeing the scuttle?
This is going to be the craziest
coal scuttle you've ever seen. Yeah.
Oh, wow!
That is beautiful.
That is, isn't it?
I mean, truly, truly beautiful.
So, that's an overwhelming thumbs up
for the coal scuttle.
All that's left is to add the brass
handles and it will be ready to go.
Twist it in there for you.
There you go.
I absolutely love it.
From a grey, decrepit old coal
scuttle to that.
And I've enjoyed doing it.
Over at Max's workshop, the filing
cabinet has returned
with the dull, old, grey paint
a distant memory.
It's come back from the blasting,
and then I've done the polishing
with a rotary wire brush and then
put two coats of clear lacquer,
just simple car lacquer you can get,
and then the next thing is to paint
the front with the chalkboard paint.
The chalkboard paint will turn the
front of the cabinet
into a blackboard handy for making
it clear what's inside.
Max has created some fun handles
out of spanners,
and all that's left is for Chris
to fit them.
A little washer on the front.
Here we go.
Fantastic.
I'm really pleased with that.
With the filing cabinet completed,
Chris can turn his attention
to finishing the ladder
shelving unit.
So, next job is to find the centre
of the...
Where the bolthole's going to go.
Chris simply needs to drill and fix
bolts through the frame
to hopefully hold everything
in place.
So, as you can see, it's all bolted
up, but it's still a bit wobbly.
To stabilise the shelves, Chris is
going to add some hinges
to the top of his A-frame.
After a quick wax to bring out the
beauty of the wood,
it's time to fit the
all-important shelves.
Now, the finishing touch...
are these bits of acrylic sheet,
which hopefully should just slide
in there.
Aw, look at that!
You can't even see they exist, so
once you've got stuff stacked on it,
it'll look like it's levitating!
Now THAT is how you turn
an old ladder
into a beautiful set of shelves.
So good do the shelves look,
Max has already got
a potential buyer lined up -
Debbie Berriman, who's popped over
to the workshop.
What do you think of your
ladder shelving?
I really love it. I think it's going
to be perfect in my conservatory,
with some books and... I don't know,
some candles and things.
It would look fantastic. Maybe
a couple of plants as well.
It's going to be a great feature,
I think.
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you're pleased.
Thank you. I am.
The ladder storage unit has been
sold for a very pleasing £120,
but has Max struck a good deal?
Another one of the charity leaders,
John, has come along
to inspect the lads' handiwork.
Come on in. Hi, John! How you
doing? Good to see you.
How are you? Nice to see you.
Good to see you! I think we're OK.
Be a lot better once you've seen everything.
Is this the rubbish that you took
from our barn?
Er... Yes. Former rubbish.
Go and have a look and let us know
what you think.
The filing cabinet's brilliant.
So, is this the ladder that you took
from the wall on the barn?
That was a very useful ladder and
it's now possibly more useful.
What do you think of it? You've made
it into this sort of display unit.
Guys, you've done a
fantastic job there.
Thank you. When you think of the
rubbish that we saw
back in those... Back in the barn...
Yeah, I know. It's great.
Absolutely fantastic.
Now, the engineer's box.
Really, that was a piece of junk
when it left our barn,
and I doubt if our auction would've
got more than 50p for it.
No, really?! Funny you say that,
John, because we've got Adam,
our rather independent valuation
expert, and he is going to come
and tell us what it's worth now.
Independent valuer and auctioneer
Adam Partridge is back
to put a price on the latest
collection of restorations.
Good job. Lovely. I like the look of
everything, actually -
I'm in a very generous mood.
He IS in a good mood.
All of these things were kind of
redundant before, I presume.
Absolutely redundant. Yeah?
Well, yeah, it's always a wonder
what to do with these old
filing cabinets, because
I think they mainly end up
on the scrap now,
and they're kind of
redundant these days.
It cost £60 sandblasting the filing
cabinet back to the bare metal,
giving it a cool, industrial look.
So, from a value of a few pounds
at best or scrap metal value,
I suppose I'm going to suggest
a figure of £180 on that.
Nice! Wow!
So, a profit of £120
for the cabinet.
Adam, what do you think of the
ladder storage shelving unit?
Well, another imaginative conversion.
The unusable wooden ladders have
been turned
into a rustic-feeling shelving unit
costing £80
for the Perspex sheets.
Again, I could see that in a trendy
shop at...
...£125 or so?
Well, if I can intervene at this
stage, gentlemen, I've already sold
that for £120, so £5 short of
your valuation,
but I was pretty chuffed with that.
So, a profit of £40 for the
ladder shelving unit,
and Max's sale was pretty much on
the money.
Can we get on with the coal scuttle?
Coal chute, coal whatever it is,
but it's purple, it's gorgeous,
Adam, and just value it high.
Well, there's a phrase about
polishing something, isn't there?
What you've done, you've...
Adam!
That is a work of art, son -
you can't use those euphemisms!
Well, I congratulate Guy for the
fabrication of the handles
and for the finish, cos it's a
lovely finish and lovely handles.
You wouldn't use it as a coal or
coke chute any more, would you?
You'd use it as a flower display or
stick stand or something like that.
Know it, mate.
Henry had a real challenge on his
hands to turn the rusty old
coal scuttle into something
modern and useful,
but with £60 spent on sandblasting
and powder coating,
he looks to have pulled it off.
Well, I suppose if you had
your trendy London shop,
you could stick a ticket price of
maybe 95 quid on it
or something like that,
but... I wouldn't buy it.
OK, well, someone has, OK,
and strangely, for 95 quid.
Bingo! That means a profit of £35
for the purple coal scuttle.
Now, let's talk about something I
love, which is the engineer's box.
Good, solid thing. Nice brand,
nice to see the little label
still on there as well, gives it a
bit more
of a kind of vintage-y feel to it.
With no restoration costs,
it will be profit all the way
for the charity.
But what will expert Adam
make of the chest?
You see these come up at auction
and fairs and things like that,
varying prices from 50 up to maybe
150, for a really good example.
I'm going to go kind of in the
middle, but slightly less
and say £90.
So, with no costs, it's profit,
profit, profit,
as the chest sells for £90.
Now, if my maths are not mistaken,
which they sometimes can be,
I think that's a grand profit
of £285.
Man, that's great.
That's incredible.
Max, thank you very much.
Henry, thank you very much indeed.
Fantastic, mate. And thank you.
Yeah, thank Adam for a change.
Well done.
Restoring the collection
of charity donations
netted a total of £285
to help with the community hall rebuild.
I think they've done
a fantastic job.
It was rubbish when it left us,
maybe worth five quid,
and what they've done to it
is restored it,
made a value of about 285 quid. Fantastic.
The four items from Max's location
pulled in...
But Henry has pipped him to the post
with his selection, which made...
♪ I love the taste of victory
♪ I love the taste of victory. ♪
I did win, didn't I? Yes, but that
does not suit you, that dance.
No, but I still won!
THEY CHUCKLE
Henry, it's not about winning, it's
about creating beautiful products
for a very good cause.
You're right. Even though I won,
I have to admit,
we're a great team, mate, eh?
Come on.
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