In our opinion, flipping furniture is the perfect side hustle or small business. When we started our furniture flipping business, nobody was as surprised as we were that we were able to make quite a bit of money in our spare time. I use the term “spare” loosely because we have three little kids which really limits the amount of time we have to do anything refinish furniture.
But that is the beauty of flipping furniture! It can take as much or as little time as you have and you can do it in your own home, whenever it suits your schedule. If those weren’t enough benefits, one of the greatest things about flipping furniture is that the cost to get started is very low. Are you convinced yet? We’ve put together the 3 “how tos” of starting a furniture flipping business:
1. How do I find furniture to refinish to start my furniture flipping business?
It might sound crazy to say they’ll find you but it’s kind of true! Once you’re on the lookout, unwanted furniture is everywhere. Our favorites happen to be those curbside finds. Not only are they completely free, but refinishing and re-homing them saves them from the landfill. Another great benefit of the furniture flipping business! You can read all the details on where to find pieces here.
2. How do I refinish furniture?
The bad news is that it does take some skill to refinish furniture. But the good news is that it’s easy to learn! You can start out simply, don’t worry about all those fancy painting techniques. All you need is your furniture piece, some paint, brushes and a finishing coat. You can read about the technique we use to achieve the near perfect paint finish here.
There is no shortage of great tips and tricks on the internet and blogs like ours. Don’t know how to clean your brushes properly? The answer is an easy Google search away (fyi – for latex paint, just water is sufficient). If you don’t like the end result, try again! At most you’ve lost a few hours of your time and the cost of a few coats of paint.
3. How do I sell painted furniture?
For us, this was the scary part. Would anyone even want to buy our stuff? Could we actually make any money with our furniture flipping business? The answer is yes! The easiest way to sell pieces at no cost to you is to post them on online sale sites. We like to use Facebook Marketplace to post our items for sale. It is hugely popular and we’ve found we get a much greater response than some others like Kijiji or LetGo. There are a few things you should do to increase your chances of a quick sale:
- Take great photos (try to get good lighting and stage the piece with a few accessories);
- Price your piece right (check what similar pieces are listed for in your area and price it slightly under to attract interest);
- Write a detailed listing description (don’t just say “painted white”, try “beautifully refinished in Benjamin Moore’s classic cloud white”, also include dimensions and general pick up location to avoid lots of questions);
- Offer delivery (presumably you got the piece home somehow to refinish so consider offering a delivery option, it also helps with any price negotiations);
- Be prepared to accept a lower offer (we always price our pieces slightly higher than the least amount we’re willing to accept since everyone likes to feel like they’re getting a deal);
- Encourage a quick pick up or delivery (online buyers are notoriously fickle and often change their minds, seal the deal while you can).
Our friends at Porch have compiled a great list of frequently asked questions about starting a furniture flipping business. You can check out the answers from different furniture flipping pros here!
We hope we’ve convinced you to give flipping furniture a try. If you’re reading this, you must already have some interest and really, there’s nothing to lose! Have you already started your own side hustle flipping furniture? We’d love to hear about what you like and don’t like about it! Leave us a comment below.
Cheryl Heck says
Thank You!! Your ideas have been very helpful! My husband & I are close to retiring. Our entire home is furnished with refurbished furniture that we have done. We get a lot of compliments & suggestions to sale…. So seriously considering! Thanks again, Cheryl
admin says
Hi Cheryl – glad it was helpful!!