I'm here to save furniture, it's kind of my thing.
Every year Alex and I put together a garage sale. If there's one thing I've learned from helping our parents clean out their houses either for a move or getting ready for a remodel, it's that belongings accumulate! At least every six months but sometimes more than that we go through our basement, closets, spare rooms, and garage to get rid of anything that won't be a project for me or we won't be using in the next year. Our system is this- three piles. A definitely keep, a let's see if we use it, and a definitely sell. By utilizing this system we are able to know what we in fact will and won't use. Anything in the "maybe" pile that hasn't been used or at least had a plan of action made for it will go to the sell pile. Easy peasy.
Our neighbors were moving a few weeks after we decided to have our sale so they brought their things over and set them out. The deal was in order to make our yard sale look bigger and get more attention we had to donate the proceeds from their portion to our local animal shelter, Four Footed Friends! Of course we said yes and we ended up donating our earnings as well. For just 5 hours of unloading some of our unwanted items we were able to pay the adoption fee for a dog who has been in the shelter over a year and a cat who has been looked over after her kittens were adopted. This felt so good that we've continued the tradition. Every year we hold a garage sale and take our money to FFF. They do amazing work and I urge you to think about donating your garage sale money too if you can. By us listing that the money was going to FFF, people didn't heckle us about prices and one lady offered to pay $5 for a large stuffed Tigger!
Ok- I got off topic but back to the sale. Our neighbors brought over an old changing table from when their kids were babies... they're now middle schoolers. We used this to set out clothing which made it way easier for potential customers to see everything we had. The piece didn't sell and instead of hauling it off to Goodwill with the rest of what didn't sell, we decided it was solid and had some good bones. This was definitely a piece I could work with. Fast forward a year later, I finally dug it out of the garage, dusted it off and this is where we start our quick flip.
See what I mean?? It's a great changing table that has served it's time well but still had many years left to live. Below are some tips for beginning your furniture flipping journey.
1. Get Krud Kutter!! This stuff has saved my arms and wrists what have now surely accumulated up to hours of scrubbing. Spray on, let it sit and do the work for you, grab towels and get to work wiping it down.
2. Keep old large towels and sheets! I had never thought of this until Alex's grandparents had a contractor over one day and I noticed he was using old bedsheets as drop cloths. What a great idea! This is also my way of being environmentally conscious. Old cut up towels work great at getting into every nook and cranny in the piece to make sure all the dust is gone.
3. Be patient and understand this furniture is USED! Rescued furniture is my favorite but it's not without it's, umm let's call them beauty marks. If you find a completely intact piece with no damage or scuffs, consider this a gift from the furniture Gods.
For this old changing table, I had a vision. A kitchen cart with wheels and a little towel holder for my brother and his newly remodeled kitchen. I grabbed my favorite Junk Monkey Paint in Vintage White, and got to work. This is a pretty straight forward project as lets face it, there isn't much difference between a kitchen cart and a changing table other a good ol' fashioned scrub.
One of my favorite activities is scavenging the returned paint shelf at Lowe's. You could say I'm kind of a connoisseur when it comes to people's unwanted paint. I can almost always find a color I'll use in the future and even if I don't love it, well it's $2.50 for most anything under a gallon and I can mix what I find to create something fun. I was lucky enough to find this beautiful cream/white color but fun fact, the label was painted over so I have no idea what the name .......nice.
Once the cart was painted I cut some left over particle board to make each shelf a bit more sturdy. I then purchased some peel and stick laminate floor tiles from Lowe's to place on each of the shelves. What an awesome visual transformation!
The last bit of work was to add a handle made from an old wood curtain rod we had laying around as well as four casters with locking capabilities. This cart was a gift for my brother and sister in law after they remodeled their kitchen and since it's a long space, the vision was for a space to gather pots, pans, utensils, and ingredients to have next to the stove so they aren't making tons of trips.
After two evenings of work and about $23 later, here she is, a custom kitchen cart saved from a lifetime in a landfill. Not too bad if I say so myself.
Until next time,
Brittney