I have been painting furniture for over 11 years now. One of the most common questions I get asked is "How did you get into painting furniture?" or "What made you decide to start painting furniture?". Unfortunately, the answer is a pretty long story so settle in and get ready for a read.
In 2011 I was working as an EMT in South Texas. I moved back to Dallas to help with my grandparents, who were failing in health. Around the same time, my mother also entered the hospital with her own complications. I couldn't work a regular job. Medic hours were way too long and even a part time job wouldn't work out because I was needed to take care of my grandparents with daily needs, taking them to appointments, running errands, etc. I needed to be on call.
I was living with my mother and my sister since I had no income. Eventually things calmed down a bit but my mother was still out of work on short term disability, which would run out soon. I had to find a way to make money.
Throughout those few months and into the next year I did a lot of things to make money; I flipped items I found at garage sales, dabbled in storage auctions a bit, sold used boxes to people wanting to save on moving boxes, and I sold antique book prints on Ebay.
A moving truck I rented to move a haul of used boxes I would resell for $1.00 each
The antique prints were the most lucrative. However, Ebay had a limit on how many items you can list at one time. Eventually I was capped out and needed something else to do until my limit was lifted.
Antique books and the prints I used to sell on Ebay
In March of 2012 I came across an article online about how a teenager made money flipping furniture and used the money to go 50/50 on a property with her mother, who was a real estate investor. Long story short, it inspired me to give it a try. I figured I could add it to my other hustles.
I got on Craigslist to find a cheap piece of furniture and found a nightstand for $10 that was nearby. I brought it home and got to work on the back porch of our apartment. This was the result:
I hated the result and I hated the experience. I knew nothing about paint so I grabbed the first thing I saw that looked like white, which turned out just to be a tint base. It took eight coats for me to get it this white, and even then you can see some color showing through. I tried to distress the drawers, which were pressed board so they just shredded. And looking back, I didn't even have the drawers in the right place. I came to the conclusion that painting furniture wasn't for me.
Hoping to cut my losses, I posted this nightstand on Craigslist for $50. The next day someone bought it. I couldn't believe it. Instead of giving up like I had planned, I decided to use that $50 to buy some more furniture and improve on my mistakes.
Over the next few weeks I painted several small pieces, selling them here and there on Craigslist.
I started with small, easy pieces, then worked on larger and larger projects until I felt more comfortable with what I was doing.
Looking back, my distressing was a little heavy handed but I was still learning. What matters is the stuff sold. "Shabby Chic" was all the rage back then. You could shred up any paint job and it would sell.
I specifically remember buying this three drawer end table. I bought it at a yard sale for $3 and sold it for $75.
This would also be the last piece I would do in the Spring of 2012. Ebay had raised my selling limit and I went back to doing antique prints full time.
However, in July I had a customer give me negative feedback due to the post office losing his item. Before even contacting me and even refusing to talk to me after. Not my fault but this negative rating ruined my top seller status and my income went from a few thousand a month to a few hundred.
At this point I was now married and my wife said I should take another shot at "girling up some furniture" as she called it. Not long after this conversation I would have the opportunity to test my skills again and it would change my life.
A few days later I took my mother to an appointment and had a few hours to kill. I got on craigslist and found someone nearby who had a nine drawer dresser for $75. He was available right then so I drove a short distance away to grab my first dresser. When I got there he had another dresser in the corner, which I inquired about. He said I could have that one for $75 too. An easy decision. We loaded up both dressers and I went on my way
Later that evening I bought all the supplies I'd need and unloaded the dressers at my grandparents house since they had a large barn I could work in.
I started working on these dressers at 9pm and worked on them through the night, finishing at around 6am. I woke up at 11am, posted each dresser on Facebook for $300 and within a few hours I had them scheduled for delivery later that day. By 6pm I had both dresser sold and $720 cash in my pocket. (I charged each customer $60 for delivery)
I was tired but also amazed that within 24 hours I had made more than some people make in two weeks. I knew what I had to do; I used that money to buy more furniture and the rest is history.
Today I have painted well over 800 pieces of furniture. I've learned a lot in that time, made a lot of mistakes, and honestly I've had a lot of fun.
Furniture pouring out the front of my shop in 2013
My second shop where furniture was stored and prepped
In that time I've painted in storage units, had huge 3600 square ft shop with several employees, and then took a step back to keep it simple and work out of my garage but I'll have to touch back on all that some other time.
In my next post, I'll talk about how I ended up with my YouTube channel. It is a whole other story in itself.
Thanks for reading! Have a great day!
Ryan