Update: I see the show has been picked up for another season. The more I watch this show, the more I like it. Both teams have equal chances and they nearly always show a profit. If you haven’t seen this one, and you love antiques, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Please leave a comment below to let me know what you think about it.
I just watched a new program, “Flea Market Flip” on HGTV. The show is hosted by Lara Spencer, an anchor on “Good Morning America.” The show centers around two teams, with two people on each team. Each team receives $500 to go on a hunt to find some flea market finds.
Each team has a check list of several things they must purchase. These include such things as a table and chairs, good “bones,” and other things. They then take these back to a workshop which has tools, fabrics, paint, and such so they can redo or even repurpose the items into something new. There was a program in England that we used to watch that had competing teams searching antique shows and markets and then trying to sell them at an antique auction.
But “Flea Market Flip” allows the creativity of each team as an important factor. Lara is around to give encouragement and suggestions. She is an antique enthusiast and was even the host of the “Antique Roadshow” for a while. So not only do the teams have to have a good eye for the good buys, they also have to be creative in how they redo the pieces. At the time of this article there has only been one episode shown. I was really impressed with the knowledge of the contestants. One team bought a chair for several hundred dollars. I as well as Lara and her team thought they had overpaid, but research showed it was good buy.
So we get to see the teams out shopping and see them look for the different items on their checklists, which are the same for each team. An item like a table and chairs can prove to be a challenge. After the purchases are made and the items are brought back to the workroom, we see the contestants work on their projects. One team took a pair of matching chests with contemporary lines and painted them in all black. To really set them off they took mirrors and cut to fit the drawer fronts. But, even after Lara warned them to be careful screwing on the handles, they screwed one hand too tight, and it cracked the mirror. They decided to take the mirrors off the one chest and just paint the drawer fronts, now breaking up the matching chest. I disagreed with some of the things they bought and the way they redid some of them, but that is some of the fun in watching the show.
After they have finished with all of their projects, they then have to try to sell all of their things at another market. This brings another whole set of variables into who will be the winner of the competition. The winning team gets to keep all of the profits that both teams make. So they have to decide how to price each of their items and then as the show progresses, what kind of wheeling and dealing they will do. On this episode it was pouring down rain on the day of the show. So there were not as many customers as usual. It was interesting to see how much they would discount the different items, especially with a limited amount of shoppers.
I am really looking forward to watching more episodes of “Flea Market Flip.” For those of you that liked watching “Picker Sisters,” you see how these contestants try to repurpose different things. What kind of fabrics will they choose to recover that chair? Will they paint the chest of drawers, if so, what color will they choose? How will they price the different items? I might add that Lara and the staff will give input on the price of similar items on the internet. Then we watch as the big day of the show progresses to see how each team is selling. Does the team with the best items win or does one team just outsell the other team by making better decisions?
The first episode of “Flea Market Flip” aired on HGTV on Friday, April 20. I hope you enjoyed the article and will consider sharing it with your friends. If you enjoy these type of shows, check out the next episode of “Flea Market Flip” and let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.
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