Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

Loanranger

PasturesNew wrote: »

Here we go... money for nothing

Judith's mother's wooden bedside cabinets. Old/1950s/brown shiny wood in good condition. They were her mum & dad's wedding present. Jay Blade is the man who will do something with them. He likes adding quirky colour to things, so sounds like he'll be painting those in bright colours. He is based in Wolverhampton. Jay said restore outside, inside go mad with colour and put some holes in it so it becomes more modern. Might put colour on the kickboard. Labour/materials estimate £75 for the two. "I think you will double your money on these". He's now decided to paint them inside and put wallpaper on the shelves and the doors. He used PVA glue on the door and the wallpaper to get those bodged together.

One man just kept his shelving and took it home with him as he said she'd pricked his conscience and he should do something with them.

Richard has had an old toolbox case for 40 years. Solid suitcase, brown. A bit shabby/worn, but basically sound. Sarah's thinking it could be a "portable office" holding a laptop/keyboard and other stuff. That's off to Horse (Mark) electronics engineer by trade, also an audio engineer and loves old/antique radio equipment. He's in Manchester. She's now thinking it could be a speaker. Labour/materials £300-350, he thought it could sell for £450 if it sounds good. He's made a new handle for the box from his gf's old belt. He still has to jigsaw holes out for the speakers. He also cut a hole for the controls and has a bit of metal for that. Then he has to wire it up.

Keith - has an old sofa. Nothing special about it, red in colour, 2 seater. The charity shop didn't want it. Sarah will be reworking this item. She's in West Sussex. The sofa's now in her big barn - she'll rip off the covers then surface-stitch new covers. She's got some old linen pillow cases she got from a car boot sale ages ago and some other fabrics. She'll lay her fabric on the sofa to see if she comes up with an idea. She also scavenged some feather cushions at the tip. She's stapled the first layer of fabric to the sofa.
My note: this means the covers aren't removable/washable.... seems a bit daft for expensive resale.
She's used patches all over and used huge uneven stitches on it. She says it's "part of the charm". She's made cushion covers for it.
My note: What a bl00dy mess

The Bottom Line:
What's sold/not then ....?

Sofa went into one of her barn sales. She sold it. Materials £120. Sold £1200. Profit £1080. "Absolutely flabbergasted" said Keith who was tossing the old sofa out.

Cabinets. Materials/labour £75. Sold to a top vintage furniture dealer, Martin. He bought them for his shop. Sold £125. Profit £50.

Old Toolbox. It's now a portable speaker with rechargeable battery, USB, bluetooth. On/off switch, main volume control, input hole for smartphone/whatever, switch for internal bluetooth or not, digital voltage display so you can see how the battery's holding up.
Materials/labour £350. She's not sold it yet.

I'm with PN on this nonsense. Emperor's new clothes springs to mind. Can't stand shabby chic and patched up stuff.

Having said that, I bought some old dining chairs for ten bob in late 60s and still have two of them. I used Nitromors on them in the 80s to strip off the ugly brown varnish and have reupholstered the seats numerous times to match other furnishings. Last week, I had to pay someone :eek: to repair the broken seat on one as someone, The DH, I think had stood on the chair to reach something in top of wardrobe.

Also,I recycled another dining chair which had been abandoned in the garage of a house we rented 15 years ago. That has been painted black with Annie Sloan paint and I recovered the seat with black Toile de Jouy fabric. I paid someone to paint it. She wanted to do the shabby chic thing and I explained I prefer it to look good, classy, not ready for the tip. Said with a smile, of course.
These chairs will last many more years I think.

PasturesNew

Never had an avocado. Can't say I am attracted to trying them at all... they look nasty and slimey.
Hate aubergine, had it in a couple of moussakas in works' canteens about 30 years ago and it was slimey/nasty stuff I picked out.

PasturesNew

michaels wrote: »

It feels so strange to hear these stories when local it is all about properties selling for 50% more than 2013...

This morning's HutH was a repeat. But I looked it up.
Savills auctions, May 2013, lot 48. A 1-bed flat in Chiswick. Sold at £318k
They bought it to sell/profit from.
Bought/done up, £378k total spend declared.

Agents both said £520k, take £500k due to stamp duty threshold.

It sold one year later (June 2014) for £488k.

But, when I looked on RM it had a link saying it's on the market now, so I looked. On at £495k.
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-56674531.html

Pyxis

Anyone interested in this free course?


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"Identifying the Dead"


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Not a real body, obviously! :rotfl:
Sounds like a good intro to forensic science!
You don't need any prerequisite study or knowledge to do it.


There are no time limits or constraints to doing it. Once registered, you can do it as quickly or as slowly as you want to, superficially, or in greater depth. It's up to you!

PasturesNew

Just last week I was wondering how they'd work out who I was if I keeled over in the street without any ID.



They'd be able to tell I was probably English/local, due to colouring/clothes ... and my age (aged 40-65) .... more than 40 as I've got a bit of grey, probably under 65 as I've still got some teeth.

But what next?

I still check every 2-3 weeks to see if they've identified the mystery man who died at Saddleworth Moor. On CCTV arriving on a train, went into a local pub, had a drink, asked for directions... went up the road/hill, lay down all neatly, took strychnine and died.

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=mystery+man+saddleworth+strychnine

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

Just last week I was wondering how they'd work out who I was if I keeled over in the street without any ID.



They'd be able to tell I was probably English/local, due to colouring/clothes ... and my age (aged 40-65) .... more than 40 as I've got a bit of grey, probably under 65 as I've still got some teeth.

But what next?

I still check every 2-3 weeks to see if they've identified the mystery man who died at Saddleworth Moor. On CCTV arriving on a train, went into a local pub, had a drink, asked for directions... went up the road/hill, lay down all neatly, took strychnine and died.

https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=mystery+man+saddleworth+strychnine

Well, unless you went out without a handbag, purse etc, there' would be something on you. Credit card, store card, reward card, bus pass?

Do your keys have an insurance tag on them, for if they get lost?
Failing all that, dental records, I suppose.

A car key could eventually lead the police to your car, and then you'd be identified from the car reg.
Do you carry your driving licence?


It did occur to me a while back that I might not be missed by anyone for a few days, if I fell off the perch at home!
Especially as there are no more milk deliveries!

Sobering thought.




I prefer not to carry my address around, 'cos if someone stole my bag, they'd know where the keys fitted!

silvercar

I prefer not to carry my address around, 'cos if someone stole my bag, they'd know where the keys fitted!

Many years ago, my handbag was stolen from my place of work in central London. The culprits found my address from papers in my bag and burgled the house. I had to make 2 statements, one to the local police and one to the Met police. The Met policeman asked me why I hadn't thought to notify the local police, it hadn't occurred to me until that point - I had been too busy cancelling credit cards etc I did suggest that they could have thought and actioned that!

Thieves were thick, my car keys were in my bag and the car was parked on the drive.

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

Well, unless you went out without a handbag, purse etc, there' would be something on you. Credit card, store card, reward card, bus pass?

Do your keys have an insurance tag on them, for if they get lost?
Failing all that, dental records, I suppose.

A car key could eventually lead the police to your car, and then you'd be identified from the car reg.
Do you carry your driving licence?

No. If travelling lightweight to the nearest shop, say, I might just take the patio door key, a £5 note and a bag to bring the item/s home with me.

PasturesNew

You lot probably thought you'd got off light today .... but no, I was just teasing. Money for Nothing IS on ... I think it's a re-run today.

Cocktail cabinet.
6 lumps of tree trunk.
Some broken/shabby 1970s small cars/toys.

Quick heads up: Oh, you really have to see the !!!!!! she's making from the toys. It's utterly unbelievable! Take 6 broken old toy cars, like you've had at home kicking around with bits missing. Glue them one on top of each other. Buy a simple lamp. Glue the stack to the base of the lamp.
£180 on materials for the 5 lamps.
Blimey - she sold that pile-o-cr4p! Lamps/glue £180. Sold 5 for £325. Profit £145.

Cocktail cabinet: new glass, did some screen printing on the top. Painted the back of the cabinet with a purple criss cross pattern.
Budget £500. Price included a professional polisher, glazier and a new lock fitted.
Sold to Janet, Lombard Gallery, Margate for £600. Profit £100.
Here it is: http://lombardstreetgallery.co.uk/zoemurphy_glasscabinet_wr/

Lumps of wood turned into 11 chopping boards, spoons, spatula sets etc.
These were all bought by the same people as yesterday: Ali & Nicky of Such & Such.
Budget £250 materials/labour. Sold for £300. Profit £50.

Let's face it - all this show is is free BBC advertising for these luvvie-connected people.

Pyxis

PasturesNew wrote: »

No. If travelling lightweight to the nearest shop, say, I might just take the patio door key, a £5 note and a bag to bring the item/s home with me.

Well, what you could do is get one of those cheap little key fobs with a piece of paper in them, and write on it:

In an emergency, please contact........

And give the telephone number of a neighbour or friend who would be able to identify your remains! :rotfl:

Seriously, though, you might just be unconscious, so it might be a good idea to do something like that, and keep it on your key fob.

As a precaution, in case your keys get stolen, warn the neighbour/friend that she shouldn't give any telephone callers your address unless she is 100% sure it is the police calling..