Business Advice

Furniture Worship?

BALANCING OPINION WITH FACT Do we act like we know the difference? Look at the pieces and prices below: PRICING IS HARD We are free to charge whatever we think a piece is worth – I’m all for Capitalism and the freedom to ask whatever we want. BUT… Just because something is listed for a certain price doesn’t mean it will sell for that. Nor does it mean it really is worth that in our market. We must remember when seeing these listings, that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.  Sometimes people price based on their own emotional connection to an item. Have you ever been to a garage sale and found items that are old and worn priced at retail prices? I have and it makes me chuckle. They priced based the item based on their personal attachment to the item, but as … Read more

Are You Ready to Become a PRO Furniture Artist?

    Have you dreamed about growing your redesign and marketing skills and/or wondered how to gain the confidence you need to get to the next level? Black Friday – Cyber Monday Furniture Flipping Blueprint Gold plan will be at an amazing price for all new and returning members. It’s time to plan for 2022 to be a record year and do great things! What is the Blueprint? It’s an online manual, a membership, for furniture artists where they can learn A to Z furniture flipping. Are you ready to stop scrolling, trying to find answers, and get down to business? Go here to find out more about the Blueprint: ValFrania.com/Join.  Why would I ever consider being mentored by Val Frania? Who is she anyway?   Why is FFB an investment in my self and how will it help me in 2022? Who else has been a member of the Blueprint? … Read more

Want to Become a Mixologist?

Need Inspiration? Nothing inspires me more than the thought of playing with paint and the different techniques to create an amazing design but without knowing about The Importance Of Paint Removal, the results could be catastrophic. As you may already know, I have a store called Furniture Flipping Market that has all sorts of great products for the furniture artist. I’m always looking for new ways to make your furniture flipping and decor creating journey more fun and easy. That’s part of the reason for FFM. I’m working at making it a one-stop-shop for my online friends. I’m super excited about a new product in FFM – Colorants! Have you considered tinting your own products rather than buying quarts of every color out there? If you’d like to see a project I just did using these, go to last week’s post, My Double Flipped Dresser. Sneak peek below: Here’s another … Read more

Growing Your Redesign Skills

Have You “Arrived” Yet? “You don’t know what you don’t know.” AND… “The  more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know.” Have you considered taking a class or joining a group that will help you become a better artist? Specifically…a furniture artist.   Finding Your Tribe I have created a membership for aspiring artists that teaches all things furniture flipping (redesign and marketing). It’s called Furniture Flipping Blueprint because it’s a step-by-step 24/7/365 online manual. Those who join FFB also join my FB group, Furniture Flipping Blueprint PRO where we exchange ideas and challenge one another to grow our skills. Along with group membership, some of us meet up once a year to work on our furniture redesign skills. There’s nothing like being in a learning group that challenges and inspires. We have a group like that and you are invited to join us. You can go to … Read more

Bun Feet Alternative – TIP!

A while ago I told you about our new kitchen table and how I redesigned it. To see the before and after of the table go here: Can Furniture Become a Piece of Art? The table was too short to fit well with the chairs we already had, so we were constantly having to sit a little sideways to be comfortable. I had plans to fix the height but was too stubborn to pay the long price for bun feet. I looked in woodworking shops, on Amazon etc. but they were so expensive! I finally found something that worked, so I’m sharing a tip with you today based on my experience. Go to garage sales! To add a few inches, be cut down feet from another piece of furniture and DH attached them. I originally was going to paint the added pieces to match the table legs but once they … Read more

A Tour of My Workspace and Showroom

I get a lot of requests to see my workshop and other parts of my business set up. This is where the magic happens. I have a second kitchen area for my workshop with cabinets that hold all the handy things I need to prep and paint, a studio where I stage for listings, and a showroom to display my finished pieces. I even have a craft room where I work on crafts and store all my crafty types of my materials currently a spot in that room where I am for the time being, growing seedlings for my garden. I am blessed. I’d love to hear from you where you work and how you manage your supplies and such. It’s a lot of work to get a functional workspace, especially once we start accumulating all the stuff we need for our furniture flipping ventures. I encourage my members to not … Read more

A is for Ability – Talent is Overrated

There are many who believe they can’t do something because of a lack of talent. But I believe that most things can be learned, even if it doesn’t come naturally. “I am not talented enough,” usually means, “I don’t want to invest the time or effort to learn this.” or, “I don’t have the confidence to try.” Unfortunately, I think we miss out on a lot due to lack of effort or vision. Years ago when we attended our daughter’s graduation at Crown College, we hear the main speaker say, “Get a vision,” while pointing his finger at the audience. We joked about it later because it was his catch phrase, and since he was very old, his finger was very crooked and his voice was very “old.” “Get a vision,” has been repeated in our family many times since then in jest, but it really is the truth. We … Read more

Create an Inviting Office Space

Since I spend 99% of my time in my home, I LIVE in my home. It’s what I see when I wake up, work, play, relax, cook, eat – you get the idea. It’s my sanctuary. It’s my castle. It’s where I AM all the time. It was especially true this past year. Don’t get me started… We have made over almost every room in our 4 level home. We’ve also done a lot of work on the outside too. This house and grounds were a disastrous mess and it’s been a challenge to make it our own. Our top level has two master bedroom suites, and an office (have a peek at this web-site to find the best office spaces around your locality). It was originally 4 bedrooms, but you know, I had to make it mine, complete with moving walls. One of the bedrooms turned into our very … Read more

No Time? Practical way to find the time and motivation to get creative…

If I had a dollar for every time I heard, “But you don’t understand, I just don’t have the time.” Or, “I’m just too busy,” I’d be rich. Excuses? Yep. We all have them. We tell ourselves we “can’t” because of something or other that gets in our way. But really. Don’t we find the time to do the thing we WANT to do? It is about priorities, yes, but finding time to be creative SHOULD be a priority. There are so many reasons why enjoying the creative process is good for us and those around us. Today I share with you how I find the time and motivation to get my daily stuff stuff done and make sure I set aside time to be creative. We all think we have reasons for not doing what we need to, doing what we WANT to do. If we can just get … Read more

Managing Your To Do List

Transparency Lately I’ve given a lot of thought about how we seldom see the “real inside story” when it comes to online artists, marketers, teachers, and coaches, etc. They look so perfect and obviously they must have it all together, right? Wrong.  We as online entrepreneurs only show you, for the most part what we want you to see: an in control, experienced and in the know successful shining example of how to do it and do it perfectly. Don’t get me wrong – these things could be absolutely true. I like to think that I’ve got this life figured out and am on the right road. But we are also human and have struggles too. Never think that you cannot “attain” success like others that you see online. You can. Every one of us had to plot and plan, be consistent, learn, apply and go through struggles to make … Read more