Turning Junk Furniture Into Cash

When I moved house, I decided that I wanted to decorate and furnish the place on a budget. I hate parting with money unless it’s justified and for whatever reason, brand new furniture just didn’t seem to fall into that category.

The process of finding old, unwanted furniture and turning it into something which I specifically wanted was incredibly rewarding. I found each step of the renovations incredibly relaxing and it became almost therapeutic.

Once I had upcycled every piece of furniture I needed for my house, I realised that this had potential to become a hobby, which in turn became a hobby that paid me. I was sold.

Patience. When I first started selling furniture for a profit, I was determined to scale it as fast as possible. This meant scheduling when and for how long I would work on a project so I could pump out as many pieces as possible. However, this never worked for me.

Used furniture comes with it’s quirks and no piece is the same which means the conveyor belt process doesn’t work. Not hitting my goals left me frustrated until I realised that I needed to treat each project as it’s own unique piece of art and not getting discouraged when something took longer than I had initially planned.

In turn, this patience allowed me to complete my work with a higher quality and ultimately this meant I could sell for a higher price.

Furniture is like fashion and people tend to like certain things without rhyme or reason. I learned that what looks good to me doesn’t look good to everyone else, and sometimes that is something as simple as the colour or the type of handle.

When I started, white painted furniture sold really quick but I couldn’t shift green furniture for love nor money. Now it’s the other way around. The key is trying something out which you think is nice and then seeing if it sells quickly. If it does, just repeat what you already did. Changing colours for the sake of it just doesn’t seem to work, at least not for me.

YouTube is a goldmine for knowledge. However, I find that vloggers in your niche are more informative than the ‘gurus’. If you’re interested in what you’re watching, you’re more likely to learn. However, once you have a good grasp of the concept, just give it a go yourself. Don’t invest too much money in the beginning, but equally, don’t close off your options before you’ve even begun.

I’ve developed skills which I’d have never initially associated with furniture flipping. Most notably, the confidence of offering a price for a product which I’d made. Seeing someone genuinely happy and excited to receive their newly updated furniture is really rewarding. The rush of the first sale was definitely something I’ll hold onto for a long while.

I also feel like a real boss when operating my arsenal of power tools!

I only sell my furniture locally but I do post all my projects on Instagram and I’m starting to upload satisfying time lapse videos on TikTok.