Tamzin Outhwaite would love to start her own upcycling shop.
The former ‘EastEnders’ star admits she would be keen to start the venture if she had "loads of time", because she is a big fan of creative reuse – in which people use their creativity to transform unwanted products into usable and better quality items – and has plenty of products she has modified in her Cotswolds and London homes.
She said: "I think upcycling is the way forward.
"In an ideal world I would have my own little shop, where, if I had loads of time, I would find pieces and instead of chucking them out I would upcycle them.
"I’ve done that for years and years.
"There are pieces of furniture in my house that were my mums and I’ve now upcycled.
"And now I’ve gained pieces of furniture from other people."
Tamzin – who played Mel Owen on the BBC One soap until the character’s death in November – is hoping to encourage others to upcycle because she "doesn’t believe that everything is disposable".
She said: "I think it’s good to pass your furniture through your friends and family.
"I don’t believe in, and I try and teach this to my kids, that everything is disposable.
"It’s why we still like to do a car boot sale. What’s your trash is someone else’s treasure."
The 49-year-old actress sadly lost her mother Anna in April 2018 when she passed away suddenly, and the former ‘New Tricks’ star admitted her mum got her into upcycling.
Speaking in an OK! magazine video, she added: "My mum was always very much into property, so when we were looking at estate agents about what you could do to places my mum always had this vision.
"When you walk in you see it and you have to have the imagination to see what it will be like. I suppose I got that form her.
"I do the same when I’m going around flea markets and car boot sales and junk shops.
"I see bits of furniture. They’re everywhere all over my house in London and here [the Cotswolds].
"I’ll see something and put a lick of paint on it, or I’ll sand it down, or put a wax on it."
Tamzin Outhwaite would love to own an upcycling shop
