One of my favorite things to look at on Instagram and Youtube is a furniture flip. I love seeing something old get a new shot at life. I’ve watched countless videos on YouTube of people flipping furniture and finally decided to give it a go myself. Hopefully I can share some tips and tricks I learned along the way to help you out on your furniture flip.
A year ago, Facebook was dead to me. I only had an account still because my mom would send me links on messenger all the time. Then one day I was introduced to Facebook Marketplace. It’s better than Goodwill, less sketchy than Craigslist, and more affordable than a thrift store (is it just in the PNW that thrift store prices seem insane?) . You can buy, sell, and even set up alerts if you are looking for something specific. There is also a TON of free stuff just waiting for new life to be breathed into it.
Another great place to find free furniture on Facebook is to see if you have a “Buy Nothing” group in your neighborhood. It’s exactly what it sounds like. People in your neighborhood are all part of a Facebook group where they post and give items they no longer need away for free to their neighbors. I particularly like this group because I have met a lot of really nice people in my area, and it is super fun to swap things and help each other out.
I do look for furniture in other places, I just happen to have the most luck with Facebook. Below are some other places that usually have good finds.
Where to find free or affordable furniture to flip
- Facebook Marketplace- in my opinion the best of the best
- Facebook Buy Nothing group
- Habitat ReStores- usually really quality furniture might be a bit expensive but I’ve seen some gems
- Goodwill- a bit hit and miss, I’ve found going to stores in more affluent areas of town is a good strategy
- Offer UP- I’ve used this once or twice but I always gravitate towards Facebook
- Craigslist
- Flea Markets
- Thrift stores – be careful and know what you are getting. I’ve seen thrift stores around me selling Ikea furniture and not for cheap!
- Antique shops- can be more expensive, but have unique older pieces
Safety first friends!
One side note that may or may not apply to you ,but food for thought. I’m a single female who lives alone. One of the reasons I do prefer Facebook over Craigslist or OfferUp, is I feel like I can vet the people who I am going to pick stuff up from. I’m not insanely scared that the Craigslist killer is out to get me ,but it’s just gives me a little extra piece of mind. Also it’s a good idea to either tell a friend where you are going, or coerce them to go get the thing with you and then do lunch after!
My furniture find
A few weeks ago I found the most perfect piece of furniture. I felt super lucky too it had already been posted for 5 hours, which sounds like a short amount of time, but things in my area go fast!
After I got the side table home, the first thing I did was give it a really good wipe down. I just used some all purpose cleaner I had from Target and an old rag. It wasn’t super super dirty or gross, but I think its good to start with a clean slate. Then I put the side table in the spot I thought it was going to go. Since I wasn’t 100% sure what I wanted to do to it yet I just lived with it for a few days and kind of tried to visualize my ideas as they came to me.
The design process
You could do mock ups by taking photos of them and using Procreate, Photoshop, or Adobe Fresco. Some of the ideas I came up for this furniture flip where wood bleaching, painting, or sanding down the wood. As it turned out though the material of the side table was just a really convincing wood veneer so I decided to go with painting.
Work with what you’ve got
One of my biggest pieces of advice when furniture flipping is to be realistic. You can’t turn a side table in to a couch. Work with what you have and let the applications you decide to use work for you not against you. My side table has kind of a warped top and a chip on one of the corners. To me this isn’t a big deal as it isn’t major damage. I did however think that making the surface darker with paint rather than sanding it or bleaching it to make it lighter would camouflage those imperfections, and in my humble opinion, I was right.
Don’t make undoable decisions
I thought about popping off the drawer handles that were built into the drawers and replacing them with more sleek drawer pulls. I also thought that the built in handles were what gave the table a unique look. Another thing I’ve learned is not to rush into things that can’t be undone. Had I taken those handles off there is a good chance I may have damaged them, so I decided to keep them. I’m really happy with that decision. If at a later date though I’m really not feeling them I can still go back and rethink what might look better.
Get creative!
Lastly was deciding what to do with the drawer fronts. I did not want to paint the entire table the same color. I thought about leaving them the wood color but that didn’t really match the black color I was planning on painting the table. There were so many different things I would do with the drawer fronts ,but I happened to have some wood veneer that I was using on another project. I decided to use it on this piece too. As it turns out wood veneer can be an affordable way to update furniture, I had no idea!
How to execute the furniture flip
Sanding
Okay, so now you have you’re piece of furniture, it’s clean, and you have a design plan. Time to turn this trash into treasure! Before painting or staining you are going to want to give the entire piece a light sand. This will help even out any uneven surfaces and help paint stick to the surface better. Since my piece was small I just sanded by hand using a 120 grit sand paper. I used 120 because it was what I had laying around. I always just use these sanding disks from my orbital sander even if I am hand sanding. They come in a big affordable package, and I always have the grit I need. Anything from a 120 grit to about 320 should do the trick, you just don’t want something too course or too fine.
After sanding I wiped the piece down again using the generic cleaner and a rag. Make sure any dust from sanding is off the surface it super important otherwise paint isn’t going to go on smoothly. If your piece has a lot of stains or smells weird (hey it was free, so who knows!) or is a dark color and you want to paint it lighter I would suggest using a primer. I skipped priming my piece and it turned out just fine.
Painting
I used chalk paint. A lot of people who regularly flip furniture use chalk paint and for good reason. It goes on nice and thick and gives a good coverage and leaves a matte finish. Keep in mind that chalk paint is not the same as chalkboard paint! I accidentally picked up chalkboard paint first, so just make sure you double check your label. Chalk paint can be a little goopy ,but I think the benefits out weigh the negatives. The chalk paint I got was from Lowes. I didn’t know, but they have chalk paint base. Meaning you can choose pretty much any paint chip they have in their store and they can tint the paint to that, which is incredible because prior to learning this I was at the mercy of whatever Michaels had in stock, which was not much.
I painted the entire piece let it dry, gave it a second coat, let it dry….and then decided the color was far too gray. I always do this. I never get the color right on the first try no matter how much thinking and planning I do. So I bought a bottle of pure black chalk paint and used it to darken up the paint I got from Lowes. In the end it was cheaper and safer to do it this way because I could keep testing the shade of black I was creating. If you do end up doing this make sure you mix enough paint the first time because getting the same shade a second time is next to impossible.
In the end I had about four coats of paint. If you can get your paint choice on the first go around two to three max should suffice. Then I used a matte chalk paint sealer to finish off the paint. It keeps the same finish as the chalk paint but gives it some added protection. It will have a blue cast and may be a little bubbly at first when you put it on but it should dry clear and smooth.
Applying wood veneer
Like I said before I had left over wood veneer from another project. I got it off of Amazon and it was super affordable and surprisingly easy to work with. To apply I cut the veneer down using a super sharp utility knife. If it’s not super sharp your lines may not look as crisp. One thing I did learn after a couple of cut was if you get a good deep cut you don’t need to keep making passes with the utility knife but can fold it onto itself and it should snap in half cleanly.
Another thing to think about is if you are using several pieces of veneer, plan out how you want the wood grain to go. I cut one piece so that the grain was going horizontal and one the grain is vertical. It definitely looks wrong. Just something to keep in mind!
Some veneers come with an adhesive on the back and you just iron it down. The one I purchased did not come with adhesive on the back so I used some contact cement. It is SUPER important that you do this outside. Reading the label is kind of scary it tells you to turn off gas sources in your house and a whole bunch of other precautions. Taking it outside in my opinion is the best way to avoid any of the issues that the warning label warn you about. Once it has been used to adhere the material it is totally safe to be in your home.
Contact cement is like rubber cement but 1000% times goopier (lots of goopyness going on in this project). Using a cheap foam brush apply the contact cement to both the wood veneer and to the furniture piece itself. Let it dry completely for twenty minutes. The instructions and everything you read online say you have one shot at sticking this down. This is kind of true kind of not. I thought that once it was down there was no going back. This is almost true but there is a tiny bit of wiggle room. It’s not coming up easy, but if you completely mess up, it will com back up if you remove it immediately.
You want to apply the veneer kind of like you would a vinyl decal from left to right. Stick one side down and then smooth from left to right using your hand to scrape out any air bubbles.
Now go try a furniture flip yourself!
The most important thing to keep in mind with a furniture flip to just have fun with it. Don’t take it too seriously or stress out about the outcome. When I started this project I almost convinced myself I should just leave the piece as is because I didn’t want to mess it up. Now I love it! It fits into my room so much better! The reality is too that if you don’t like something you did it can always be redone and reworked. If you do try flipping a piece of furniture send me a picture on Instagram @callitadiy I would love to see!
Great job on the table and the project description in the blog! I know that you not only take free stuff from Facebook but also contribute your unwanted items as well.