Welcome to the third (and final) day of our grand retelling of that time we were on reality TV. If you missed our recaps of Buy Day and Workshop Day, be sure to catch up before you read today’s last hurrah!

The final test on Flea Market Flip is to take the pieces bought on Buy Day and made over on Workshop Day and try to sell them at a flea market in New York City. Whoever makes the most profit wins $5,000!

We had another early call time, so we headed down to New York City the day before. We brought with us a million accessories to style and stage our pieces — here’s just a small sampling.

This time Brad drove us, which was a lovely treat compared to the long very-fatigued drives we did ourselves after filming on Buy Day and Workshop Day. We grabbed some dinner with one of Sage’s friends, and stayed with some of Naomi’s relatives. Their apartment had an amazing view of the city, which we enjoyed (nervously) as the sun rose on Sell Day.

Unfortunately the day started off cold and rainy, but we held out hope the rain would clear up and headed out to Green Flea Market where we were selling. On the way we picked up flowers for staging, and Sage tried to take some broken furniture on the side of the road until Naomi reminded her that we already had our hands full with furniture to sell. Brad dropped us off at Green Flea, which we commemorated with a photo:

Next we got our mics put on and then used some downtime to choke down a half a croissant each and grab some coffee. Fortunately this time Naomi had actually slept the night before, but caffeine was still in order. We huddled under some tents, where we discovered that the official Flea Market Flip instagram account had posted a picture of us. Sage showed it proudly to one of the camera men, Steve, who was not impressed by our celebrity (apparently he’s used to being around way more famous people than us…).

We also got to reunite with another set of folks we’d met on Buy Day who were filming their Sell Day at the same time. It was fun to see their projects — they had some chairs with amazing upholstery and a really cool coffee table. Michael and Victoria got there last, and we joked that if they didn’t show up we would sell their stuff for them (at a steep discount).

For Buy Duy and Workshop Day we had one producer, Sam:

And Michael and Victoria had their own producer, Michael:

On Sell Day, though, Sam was producing the other episode filming at the same time and Michael was producing our episode. We were a little nervous because we hadn’t worked as much with him, but he was awesome and we had a lot of fun getting to know him. The producers are so great about supporting all teams equally, and Michael gave all four teams some advice to kick things off: don’t price things too high, there is probably one buyer per item so don’t let them get away, make a sale when you can, and don’t stress about what the item is worth but focus on the fact that this is a competition and it is about selling within the time period.

Next it was time to unpack our furniture and stage it on camera. Fortunately we were set up under a tent protected from the rain. Everything comes plastic-wrapped from the workshop, and we were relieved to see all our pieces, labeled with our names and episode number.

As we started getting set up, though, we noticed that one of the knobs was was missing from the side tables. Panic ensued since the hardware was so unique and this was our big ticket item, but Cija saved the day (as always) and found the missing piece in the truck. Cija we love you. With that we were able to finish staging everything and get some footage of the booth all set up and ready to start selling.

Victoria and Michael were set up under the same tent, and of course their pieces look annoyingly amazing. Seriously can we have that bar?

At that point it was about 10:30am, and it was time to start selling! We got a lot of initial interest in all the pieces, especially the marble tables, but no buyers for a while. A lot of people said they might come back, but we were anxious to make our first sale! We did get really excited when we met some shoppers who mentioned that their daughter is friends with Daniel Kanter of Manhattan Nest. #blognerds

We had some interest in the sewing table, but the buyer just wasn’t ready to commit. Naomi got her phone number, though. Then around 12:30pm, Michael and Victoria sold their bar. We had no idea how much they sold it for (or how much they bought it for), but we suspected they got a lot for it because it was so well-crafted and substantial. After each sale we had to do an interview saying how we felt, which was typically: anxious and not great!

Fortunately, shortly after they sold their bar we got an offer on the marble tables! We negotiated to $350, which was an awesome $310 profit given that we’d gotten then for just $40.

It was strange to be doing all this on camera. The crew hung back and shot from afar most of the time:

But then whenever someone expressed serious interest, they would swoop in to get a closer shot. No pressure or anything!

We passed up an offer on the coffee table for $70 from a lady whose kids really liked it.  We came back with $150 and she declined. Of course by the end of the day we were totally kicking ourselves for that….

One guy who came by was really mean — he asked us disbelieving questions about what we were doing and our relation to Michael and Victoria (apparently “TV show contestants” didn’t seem like a good explanation to him), and then he told sage that she was too aggressive. Move along, sir!

We didn’t know exactly how long we would have to sell for, as it’s not a set period every time. However, it’s always fair because both teams get the same amount of time. By mid-afternoon we were getting really nervous, and Naomi decided to make a move and call the buyer who had left her number earlier about the sewing table. (None of this made it into the episode!) After first she dialed the wrong number (it’s hard to dial while being filmed), and then she got through but the phone disconnected. We assumed she had hung up on us, but about 30 minutes later she texted and we negotiated a sale price of $150 if she could come in the next 15 minutes. The rules are that if you say you’ll hold something for someone you can’t sell it in the meantime, so it’s important to set a time limit so you don’t end up waiting forever and possibly miss another sale.

It was the longest 15 minutes of our lives, but she actually came back! She got nervous when she realized the cameras would be focusing on her and that we would actually need to try shooting the scene a few times. It’s definitely intimidating! Our producer, Michael, assured her that it would be okay and that we would walk her through it, and we were super flattered that he was so confident in us. We were surprised we actually could — we had really picked up a lot in the previous days of filming! We got the deal done and then she came back a few minutes later for photos with us and we thanked her.  We were happy that it was going to a good home.

But then Michael and Victoria quickly sold their chairs right after that, which meant we’d both sold two of ours items. Tense interviewing ensued. We both only had coffee tables left.

With time running out, they sold their coffee table. We didn’t know for how much, but we thought it was listed for about $175.  We had heard them say they got the supplies for very cheap, so we were super nervous. Unfortunately there weren’t a lot of shoppers at that point. At one point a woman came to admire our side tables (which were already sold) and we asked if we could interest her in a coffee table. She looked down her nose at it and said “not that one.” Okay, point taken….

We went way out of our comfort zone to try to shout (politely) at passersbys to get them interested in the table, but surprisingly that didn’t work.

We got a 5 minute warning, and then just like that the time was up.  Victoria and Michael had sold all their pieces and we had only sold two, so we were sure we were going to lose. We started pumping each other up, reminding each other that we were so proud of each other and all the work we’d done, how awesome Michael’s and Victoria’s pieces were, how much we like them and would be happy for them to win, and how getting on the show and having the experience is the real victory.

Still, our post-selling interview was very down. Michael (our producer) was asking us so many leading questions: do you think you have a shot at winning?  How much of a long shot does it seem at this point? If you do win, what would have done it for you?  We were like, no, we do not have a shot THANK YOU FOR RUBBING IT IN MICHAEL WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN.

Lara arrived to shoot her scenes with us and we were feeling bummed, but we had to perk up and film all of the scenes for the day, including getting set up and pretending the day hadn’t happened yet.

Lara talked about how the coffee table was a very particular piece and she wondered whether we would be able to find a buyer for it. I DON’T KNOW, LARA, THAT SURE IS SOMETHING WE ARE WORRIED ABOUT. She said that she didn’t love the sewing table, but wanted to buy our side tables. She praised us for being bold with the coffee table, and we assumed she was being nice about it so we’d look good losing on camera.

As we filmed the reveal where Lara talks about how much each team bought and sold their pieces for, we both tried to do the math but totally gave up — it’s hard to think on camera. When Lara announced that we had won, we were so shocked!  Sage screamed and Naomi stared at Lara as if she were lying.

Michael and Victoria were such great sports, but we knew they were disappointed. They made such beautiful pieces and sold them all, but had a different strategy than ours which was to buy things as cheaply as possible. Instead they invested in some nicer pieces, which turned out beautifully but jeopardized their profit margin. They were so nice and gave us hugs, said nice things, and took photos with us before leaving. We are still in touch with them more than a year later (and will actually do a blog post soon on some of the other amazing projects they have done!).

We were still in shock during our victory interview. Everyone was super nice with us, and we took a photo with Lara and just about everyone else on the crew. Our producer, Michael, told us that we had really held it together and not melted down when we thought we were going to lose, which we appreciated. Even when we thought we were going to lose, we knew it had been totally worthwhile.

It was the last episode of the season, so the crew took a big photo together. It was fun to see them celebrating after an intense few months of filming.

We called Brad to let him know we were ready to go and he said he was 40 minutes out. We tried to wander the flea market, but couldn’t focus. We did snap a few photos of the space where our booth had been and the crew up on a big ladder shooting some panorama shots of the market.

Then we sat on a curb and ate small quiches and had big feelings.

Brad picked us up, and it was a joyful ride home. We stopped for Mexican food (per tradition) and ice cream and plotted what to do with our winnings (spoiler alert: we haven’t done much but buy a dollhouse).

Overall it was such a wonderful experience. It challenged us both in some big ways, as neither of us is particularly comfortable on camera or with things like public speaking. We really pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone, and it was so rewarding to learn new things, meet wonderful people, and make ridiculous and silly memories together. Each day of shooting was hectic and stressful, but as soon as every day ended we realized how much fun it had been and were excited to do it again. We were obviously thrilled to win, but a little bit disappointed not to be getting to show up again for another day of filming. We’re not saying we’re ready to quit our jobs and become reality TV stars, but…I guess we’ve learned to never say never!

(Update: here is the link to see our episode on Amazon for $1.99 (Season 8, episode 5).)

Yes, we were on Flea Market Flip this past Sunday.  Have you been hiding under a rock or something?  #onlyconceivableexcuse  If you’re catching up, start at our first recap of “Buy Day” here.

We did feel a little better after our first day of filming.  As hard/stressful as it was, it was now a known experience, and we had made friends on the crew and had a good time!  We also had our items and some projects that we were pretty excited about.

However, there was a gap of time for us to stew before our workshop day — and stew we did!  Would we make a fools of ourselves when confronted with real tools in the workshop?  Had Michael and Victoria bought totally awesome things for like no money, setting up our utter humiliation?

We directed all that nervous energy toward being productive.  We were tasked with thinking about our projects and picking up some supplies before workshop day, so we shopped and planned.  We also tried out some of the materials that we were planning to use, so our first experience with adhesive vinyl and chalk paint wouldn’t happen on live television.  Hence, our spoof chalk paint pumpkin and Naomi’s garage cabinet with vinyl decals!

The workshop is in Connecticut, and we drove down the day before and stayed with Sage’s friend, Lish, and her husband, baby, and dog. We tried to be friendly but were mainly just terrible house guests and went to bed early after continuing our pre-filming tradition of eating Mexican food.

The day didn’t exactly start off “easy” — Naomi got barely a little more sleep than before Buy Day, and then had a short job interview phone call that was scheduled the night before set to happen 15 minutes before our filming call time at 9:30.  We arrived at 9:14 due to traffic, and Naomi took the call while Sage stood around the corner trying not to distract her by creepily staring at her.  And then we went in at 9:30.  Stress levels were very high! (Sage’s note: Naomi got the job, so clearly she performs well under pressure.)

The workshop was amazing and huge. Michael and Victoria were already there and had claimed their workbench so we got the other one. It was great to see them again, and all of our new FMF friends! We were also relieved that our Brimfield purchases seemed to have made it intact.

It was the last workshop day to film, and people were tired, and poor Sam (our producer) was sick, but was trying to be very nice to us.  We sure needed it!

We’d gotten used to the flow of things, so it was all much easier now that we knew what to expect.  The day started with interviews and filming “intro” bits on each piece either talking to each other or to Cija or Mark (the amazing people who are responsible for anything good that happened to our pieces) about what we wanted to do for the  project.

When they let us get to work, it was very strange!  We started unscrewing hardware but it is NOT the same with a camera watching.  Suddenly you wonder, how does a screw driver even work?  What do I do with my hands?

Our plan had been to stay together, but we immediately had to split up.  There was too much to do!  There was one camera for both of us, and we had to wait for it before starting something new (like starting to sand something or making a first brush stroke).

We did get to do a few things together but mostly were working on different projects, and checking in when we could.  They filmed our decisions and conversations on camera so the show could follow along.

Lara came in to do her consults.  She gave us a lot of advice, and we took most of it — or at least adjusted course based on her concerns even if we didn’t do exactly what she said.  For example, we changed our bedside table plan from black paint to gray on her advice.

Overall, we did a lot ourselves but a lot was also done by the experts due to time constraints. Also if you hd amazingly talented people to help you, wouldn’t you make use of it?

It was a total blast, but it was not all smooth sailing!  Our sewing table fell apart like 5 times and it truly only came together through the force of Cija’s will.

Cija is an absolute rockstar, truly amazing, beautiful, talented… all the praise-ful words that you can think of.  Brainstorm a list and apply them here please. (And just a reminder, Cija is who we accosted way back when at Brimfield to give our contact info to casting in the first place. Cija, we literally owe you everything.)

But the biggest challenge of the day was the coffee table.  It wasn’t always easy to work on schedule (waiting for the camera, lots of projects going at once, sharing space/tools with the other team) and the coffee table only got painted after lunch. We then had to wait for it to dry and apply the vinyl decals. We finished it right under the wire and so it is a very good thing that it all ended up working out!  Thankfully we were prepared with templates and experience working with the materials.

Maybe the biggest thing that we learned is that we are not as funny as we thought.  Our sarcasm and irony doesn’t translate to film.  We tried a few snarky conversations followed by Jim Halpert looks at the camera… it did not come through. Mostly they just told us to stop looking at the camera, and wisely they didn’t use those bits in the final episode.  (Please tell us in the comments how funny we are when writing to make us feel better.)

The timing of the show is spot on — it really is just one day to make everything over!  We finished everything by 7pm (with help from the experts) and then did final shots and interviews.  Of course we took some celebratory shots with the amazing crew!

We were surprised we didn’t get more time with Micheal and Victoria.  On Buy Day we had been sitting around the full day and so had gotten to hang out  a lot.  On workshop day, we were in the same room the whole time but were so busy we barely got to talk!  We were also mic-ed the whole time, and whenever we tried to chat the cameras would come and shoot us to capture the interaction, so it was “higher stakes.” Of course if you saw the episode, you saw Sage sneak in a serious burn about the upholstery choice (definitely not staged…).

Their projects were amazing and came out beautifully.  We both wanted their bar for our own houses, and their coffee table was so nice.  We left feeling a little down, thinking that they had a better chance of winning.  Our only hopes were that they paid a lot more than we did, and that maybe we would be selling in Manhattan where our smaller items might do better than their larger ones.

We drove right home from the workshop.  It was late!  We left at 8:15, stopped for McDonalds at like 10:30 (we hadn’t exactly been hungry for breakfast or lunch…), and then got home after midnight.  Naomi had to get up at 5 a.m. for work for a big event, and Sage had meetings the entire next day.  We sure didn’t have time to stew on things this time!

So that’s our recap of Workshop Day, and on Friday we’ll be back to share our final recap of how the last day (and triumphant victory narrow win) all went down. (Update: here is the link to our posts about Filming Day #3: Sell Day, and the link to see our episode on Amazon for $1.99 (Season 8, episode 5).)