Naomi, Sage – Author at Plaster & Disaster

One of our favorite things to do together is go thrift/flea market shopping and make over the dilapidated things we find along the way, so the HGTV show Flea Market Flip is basically our dream come true (minus the part where we have to be on camera, which gives us both a minor panic attack to think about).

That Time We Were (not) on Flea Market Flip -- Plaster & Disaster

From HGTV

For those of you not familiar with this show, the premise is that two pairs of competitors are set loose at an antique fair where they are given a list of tasks called “the flip list” that tells them three different projects they need to create from what they find — for instance: combine two items to make something totally new, make over something metal, and repurpose an item for an entirely new function.

The teams are given a set budget to buy whatever items they want, and then they have time to make over what they’ve bought. Then they return to the flea market the next day and try to sell their new creations. Whichever team makes the most money wins.

Needless to say, this is right up our alley, and we’ve been scheming for awhile about how one day we might be able to get on the show.

Because we can do that.

So when we showed up at the Brimfield Antique Show a few weeks ago (read more about our Brimfield adventure here) and discovered that they were actively filming several Flea Market Flip episodes in our immediate vicinity, we had a mini meltdown. Not that we would have been able to just jump on camera — the teams are pre-selected well in advance and were already in the process of shopping for their items — but just the mere fact of being so close to the action had us in a tizzy.

In fact, within the first ten minutes of arriving, we found ourselves within spitting distance of a camera crew and pair of contestants (we didn’t spit on them though, don’t worry).

Moments later, they wandered toward us and then stopped immediately next to us as the camera people gave them some helpful feedback, so close that we would have been in the shot had the cameras been running. I made some panicked faces, Naomi laughed so hard she cried. True story.

We managed to calm ourselves down after this initial run-in and go on our merry way around Brimfield, where we most definitely did not practice fake “flip lists” to see what would could come up with in a pinch.

When we finally made it back to the area we’d started in a mere six hours later, they were still filming and the host of the show — the impossibly chic Lara Spencer (also co-host for Good Morning America) — had arrived to film her portions. And somehow we managed to find ourselves in the filming path several times (somehow being that we strategically orchestrated it…), such that we’d be standing there talking and suddenly the film crew would be rushing right at us, walking backwards and filming Lara striding confidently with a team of contestants toward a booth to check out some item or another.

That’s Lara in the purple dress. Hopefully we didn’t ruin this shot, the camera appears to be pointed right at us as we “covertly” take photos…. Oh and if the hutch on the right side of the photo looks familiar, that’s because it’s the one we mentioned agonizing over in our Brimfield post. So basically we were just minding our own business doing legit shopping things when they showed up.

One time we had to dive out of the way because we suddenly realized they were headed for something right behind us. It was this, an item some contestants had marked to buy and were headed back to grab:

In between diving for cover and playing it super cool, we managed to snap a couple more amazing photos. Behold our stellar photography:

She’s really tall and we were trying to be stealthy, okay?

It gets better from there, don’t worry.

Oh yeah, we’re basically famous.

Also, we worked up the courage to ask a crew member how exactly one gets on the show, and she was super helpful — she actually tried to find the casting person for us, but when she couldn’t track her down (maybe because they were, like, actually filming and we were trying to make it all about us) she took down our information and said she would pass it along and put in a good word because we seemed cool. We are, we’re so cool! Be cool.

Anyway, they’re done filming for the upcoming season (which airs this fall), but we’re sure that we’ll be getting a casting call any day now for the next season. Of course we’ll keep you posted, if we still have time for this blog thing once our TV careers take off (panic attack ensues).

UPDATE: Um, somehow this approach actually worked. In case you missed it, we were actually on Flea Market Flip a mere 4 months after this “It would be our wildest dream come true post” (though it didn’t air for another year). Check out our series of posts about our filming experience:

Filming Day #1: Buy Day

Filming Day #2: Workshop Day

Filming Day #3: Sell Day

Link to see our episode on Amazon for $1.99 (Season 8, episode 5)

I’ve complained in the past about the totally-out-of-proportion difficulty we had picking out a shower curtain, which eventually led us to design our own. It seriously took us like a year to wrestle that problem to the ground. A big factor in this is that we were totally avoiding a big part of the market: PVC vinyl shower curtains.

What’s Wrong with Vinyl Shower Curtains

I was really worried about the health effects of PVC. As you probably (hopefully) have heard by now, vinyl shower curtains off-gas a whole host of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) – 108 of them, according to one study. That’s what makes up that terrible, sickening, new shower curtain smell.

CHEJ Report Cover - Volatile Vinyl - Plaster & Disaster

(Via Center for Health, Environment, and Justice)

And if you haven’t heard about this before: You’re in luck! Read on.

Not all chemicals are bad, obviously. Water is a chemical. But at least 7 of the chemicals off-gassed by PVC shower curtains have been identified by the US EPA as hazardous air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, others have been linked to bad heath effects, and little information is available on the toxicity of many of them.

You probably don’t really want to hear about what these are, but I’ll go ahead and list a selection anyway:

Toluene: liver and kidney damage, birth defects, etc.
Ethylbenzene: respiratory effects, animal tests indicate potential for hearing and liver damage, and cancer risk.
Phenol: anorexia, diarrhea, animal tests indicate potential for central nervous system, kidney, liver, etc. effects.
Methyl isobutyl ketone: nausea, headache, weakness, etc.
Xylene: depression, insomnia, agitation, extreme tiredness, tremors, impaired concentration and short-term memory.
Cumene: skin and eye irritant, potent central nervous system depressant action in animals.
Phthalates (which are added to help soften the plastic): linked to birth defects, breast cancer, lowered testosterone and metabolism, and fertility issues.
Organotins (found in some shower curtains): linked to obesity, as well as endocrine disruption and reproductive and developmental harm.
Various Metals, including in some cases mercury and lead.

I am neither a doctor nor a chemist (and not a scientist of any kind). However, looking at that list, I don’t think I’ll risk it.

Worse, these chemicals can off-gas over a long period of time and some can also cling to household dust and continue to circulate. And some (like phthalates) actually release more when exposed to hot and humid conditions… like a shower.

All of this contributes to poor indoor air quality. This isn’t usually what we think of when worrying about pollution, but it’s kind of a big deal. We spend most of our time indoors (reading awesome blogs, for example) and indoor pollution levels are generally 2 to 5 times worse than outdoors.

And this is particularly concerning for women who may want to have children (because some are linked to birth defects) and for children themselves (because they breathe more in relation to their body size than adults, and are at more fragile stages of development).

Also, for those of you interested in buying moral, sustainable products, you should know that working in PVC facilities is linked to higher rates of cancer and that PVC production releases a whole host of pollutants into the environment.

Bummer.

What To Do About It

First off, if you’re worried if you have a PVC vinyl shower curtain, you can check to see if it has a recycling symbol on it with a number “3” inside. They’re not always labeled, but if they are it should be in this way.

Then, if you MUST have a plastic-y looking shower curtain (I would ask you: “why?”) you should know more and more companies are making alternatives out of PEVA or EVA plastic. These are essentially forms of vinyl made without chlorine (which contributes to the off-gassing issues). I believe that these are low-VOC rather than no-VOC, and are still made out of petroleum, but are an improvement. And if you really want a plastic liner, these safer ones are pretty affordable – like this one from West Elm for only $12.

But really, the best alternative is to find a shower curtain made out of some form of cloth, like cotton, hemp, or polyester. I find that these also look more “high-end” and generally make the bathroom more inviting and homey, and less dorm-y.

Edited to add: I got a great question in the comments about transitioning to a cloth shower curtain, and whether it hangs inside or outside of the shower. I use a decorative cloth curtain (hanging outside the tub) with a cloth liner (hanging inside the tub). The liner is just basic polyester, and I got it from K-Mart (I think). It works great. The shower curtain itself rarely gets wet and is still pristine. We just wash the liner every once in a while with a bit of bleach or vinegar to keep it clean and white.

Fortunately, some companies have either switched away from PVC entirely, or offer a good number of alternatives in fabric or PEVA/EVA.

My Favorite Fabric Shower Curtains

Obviously, my favorite fabric shower curtain is the one that I designed myself and printed at Cafe Press. It is polyester (so has less eco-street-cred than hemp, for example) but is much safer than vinyl and allowed me to create my own design.

Designing My Own Shower Curtain - Plaster & Disaster

I’ll pass up the street cred for that!

But if you’re in the market for a shower curtain and don’t want to design your own (again, I ask: “why?”) there are loads of high-impact ones out there.