painted furniture

Ep59 Furniture Flipping Craftsmanship: When Is Good Enough, Good Enough?

Furniture Flipping Craftsmanship: When Is Good Enough, Good Enough? Do you really have to fix every dent, scratch, and imperfection before selling a piece of furniture? Well, yes. And no. Helpful, right?  One of the hardest things to learn as a beginning furniture flipper is the difference between a flaw that adds character and a problem that needs fixing. And believe me, there IS a difference. I have an antique dresser in our RV that I absolutely love. It has a history, and I don’t want to erase every little reminder of the years it spent in someone else’s home. I want that dresser to still whisper a little about the lives it lived before mine. I don’t want it screaming at me because I can’t get the drawer open. That’s the difference between preserving character and overlooking a problem.   Excellence Doesn’t Mean Perfection When you’re learning furniture refinishing, … Read more

Ep58 I Broke the “Rules” on My Antique Dresser — Specialty Paints for the Win

Stop Making Furniture Redesign Harder Than It Needs to Be Somewhere along the way, furniture artists can get the idea that the harder way must be the better way. I don’t buy that. I like fast and easy—as long as fast and easy doesn’t mean skipping necessary prep or sacrificing the quality of the finished piece. If a product can give me the result I want in less time, I’m perfectly happy to let it do its job. That’s exactly what happened with the antique dresser I redesigned for our RV. Instead of opening a can of traditional furniture paint and brushing or spraying on a conventional base coat, I reached for spray paint. Actually, I reached for three cans of spray paint. Then came stencil paint, several different metallic paints and a glossy topcoat. Did I break a few of the unofficial “rules” of furniture redesign? Probably. But knowing … Read more

Ep53 Alkyd & Urethane Paint — Pretty Is Nice, but Will It Last?

Alkyd & Urethane Paint — Pretty Is Nice, But Will It Last? Pretty furniture is easy to photograph, but the real test is what happens after it leaves your workshop. One of the most important things I’ve learned through years of painting furniture is that there isn’t one “best” paint. There’s only the paint that’s best suited to what you’re trying to accomplish. That’s why I keep coming back to this advice: Learn your products and choose according to your need at the time. Alkyd and urethane paints are a good example. Products such as Sherwin-Williams Emerald Urethane are designed to create a hard, durable finish that can stand up to frequently used and cleaned surfaces. That matters when you’re selling furniture, because your responsibility doesn’t end when you take the pretty Marketplace pictures. Your work goes home with somebody. I’ve used different paints for different projects over the years, … Read more

Ep51 Chalk-Type Paint — Loved by Some, Hated by Others, but Still On My Shelf

There was a time when chalk-type paint seemed to be everywhere. If you painted furniture, chances are you had a can or two sitting on your shelf. Today? Well…people have opinions. Some furniture painters still love it. Others wouldn’t touch it. Me? I still have it on my shelf, and there’s a pretty simple reason why. I know what it’s going to do. After you’ve painted enough furniture, you begin to get acquainted with your products. You learn which paints level beautifully, which ones need a little extra help, which ones work well for certain projects, and which ones you’d just as soon leave sitting on the shelf. I call that getting to “no-brainer land.” It doesn’t mean you’ve found the perfect paint. I don’t think there is one. It means you’ve gained enough experience that you don’t have to hold a committee meeting with yourself every time you open … Read more

Ep49 Experience: How We Discover What We Love

Experience: How We Discover What We Love Experience has a way of teaching us what no opinion ever can. Ask a group of furniture flippers what the best paint is, and you may get more opinions than there are people in the room. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a favorite. I certainly have mine. But there’s a difference between learning from someone else’s experience and allowing their preferences to become yours before you’ve had a chance to develop your own. That’s why we’re beginning the paint-family portion of The Furniture Artist’s Resource Guide with true milk paint. Prefer to listen? Hit play below. Old Fashioned Milk Paint is unlike most paints you may have sitting in your workshop. It comes as a powder, you mix it yourself, and you can adjust that mixture depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. There’s a bit of a learning curve, … Read more

Ep48 Come Into the Workshop and We’ll Open Up My Paint Cabinet

Come Into the Workshop and We’ll Open Up My Workshop. One of the most common questions I hear is, “What’s the best paint?” It’s a good question—but it isn’t always the best place to start. After many years of painting furniture, I’ve realized something. I rarely think in terms of individual products anymore. Instead, I think more about what my end game is – and that usually revolves around paint families. That simple shift has made choosing products much easier. Instead of trying to memorize dozens of brand names, I first ask what kind of finish I’m trying to achieve. Once I understand the characteristics of a particular paint family, choosing a specific product or brand becomes much more straightforward. It’s a little like walking through a garden center. If you’re looking for tomatoes, you don’t begin by comparing every plant in the greenhouse. You first head to the vegetable … Read more

Ep46 Why I’m Opening the Doors Wider

Why Finding Your People Matters More Than Finding More Information When most people begin flipping furniture, they assume they need more information. Another video, tutorial…another Facebook group or another opinion. But after years of helping beginners, I’ve become convinced that’s usually not the real problem. The internet is overflowing with information and what’s often missing is a place where you feel like you belong. We all need a place where we can ask questions without feeling embarrassed – a place where experienced flippers remember what it felt like to be beginners and encouragement is just as common as instruction. Something special happens when you find your people. You gain confidence and stop second-guessing every decision. You realize you don’t have to figure everything out by yourself. And sometimes… That’s exactly what helps you take the next step. Hit play below. If you only listen to one episode… make it this one. … Read more

Ep45 We Weren’t Meant to Travel Alone

We Weren’t Meant To Travel Alone One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is believing they need all the answers before they get started. I see it all the time in furniture flipping. Someone wants to know what piece to buy, what paint to use, how much profit to expect, how to price their work, and whether their design choices are correct. Every answer seems to create three new questions. The problem isn’t a lack of information. If anything, we have too much information. Social media gives us access to thousands of opinions. One person says to paint everything. Another says never paint wood. One flipper swears by a particular product while another avoids it entirely. It’s enough to make your head spin. Over the years I’ve realized that what most beginners need isn’t another random answer. They need direction. They need someone who remembers what it felt like to … Read more

Ep44 Turn Right in 500 Feet… Recalculating…

Turn Right in 500 Feet… Recalculating… Have you ever noticed that your GPS rarely shows you the entire trip? It tells you the next turn. Then after you make that turn, it gives you the next one. If you miss a turn, it doesn’t panic. It simply says, “Recalculating.” I’ve been thinking about that lately because furniture flipping feels a lot like that right now. The market has changed. Marketing has changed. Technology has changed. Many flippers—especially beginners—feel overwhelmed trying to figure out what they should do next. The truth is, we often want a complete roadmap before we take action. We want to know exactly how things will work out before we buy the furniture, create the listing, launch the business, or try something new. But life rarely works that way. Over the years I’ve discovered that God often guides us much like a GPS. He doesn’t always show … Read more

Ep43 Sometimes You Have To Start Walking

Sometimes You Have To Start Walking One of the hardest things about building a furniture flipping business is not knowing what’s ahead. Will people buy your furniture? Will your marketing efforts work? Will all the time you’re investing eventually pay off? Most of us would love to see the entire path before taking the first step. Unfortunately, that’s rarely how life works. Years ago, my husband and I searched for what felt like a hundred houses before finding the one that would become our home. At the time, we were simply looking for a place to live. What we couldn’t see was how that house would eventually provide space for my mom, then my daughter and son-in-law, and later become the headquarters for my furniture flipping business. Looking back, I can see God’s provision everywhere. Looking forward, I couldn’t see any of it. That’s often how God works. We want … Read more