No sooner had I got back from our holiday and bottled my Elderflower, than an email popped into my inbox that sent me scurrying around for the rest of the week; mostly tidying our house and garden, but also conceiving and gathering supplies for this upcycling project. The purpose of this project was to give an example of what’s possible (a simple hallway/mud room treatment) with a bit of old junk and some imagination, in an afternoon….while my usual self criticism is kicking in here (the box needs another coat of paint and the corners of the seat cushion need sorting out) I’m actually pretty happy with the whole concept and more or less happy with how it turned out. Given more time I would have given that extra coat of paint and restapled the fabric seat. But the gist of what I was attempting has been satisfactorily expressed I feel…
The coat rack is made from timber salvaged from a pallet, repurposed drawer handles for coat hooks (salvaged from another project) and cheap ikea brackets. The blanket box has had a foam cushion added to the lid and is covered in thrifted curtain fabric (about £1-2 worth as I have loads left…).
Here’s how in started out. A simple (if slightly battered) blanket box that I got from Freecycle and a pallet that I got from a kind man on our local industrial estate. Neither of these items cost me a penny and the aim was to show what it was possible to do on a very tight budget and in a very short space of time. So a bit of sanding, painting and drilling later I ended up with what you see above…
Now for the story part….
A few months ago I received an email from someone asking my views on thrifting, refashioning and upcycling. That person turned out to represent an indie TV production company. They liked my blog and what I had had to say, and would I be interested in meeting to discuss the possibility of fronting (yes you read that right!) a new show that they were putting together that has thrifting and refashioning at it’s core!! Whaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I HATE having my picture taken let alone have myself filmed for telly. But all of that pales into insignificance when presented with the opportunity to be involved in such a project. I’ve never been confident in how I look but I do have confidence in what I say and do, so in this instance I can work around my camera hatred!
So to cut a long story short, we spent Friday filming a trailer for the show, which will now be re-pitched to a major UK TV Channel. The channel have previously been very positive about the format but vito’d the original presenter that was proposed to them. Which is why they came looking for me….so now the proposal has to go back to them but this time with me at the helm!
This is probably the most ridiculously exciting thing that has ever happened to me. The whole idea still feels vaguely surreal. But it really could happen. If they like the trailer and decide to commission the show, I really could be appearing on a TV screen in your living room! How bizarre would that be peops!!! I keep laughing when I think about it because the whole thing seems vaguely insane!
Now the filming is done all I can do is wait. I’m not good at waiting…especially with something this exciting….