Refinishing Old Furniture
The reality is that TLP is going to struggle in life. : ( My job as his parent is to attempt to teach him as many new skills as I can that will help him somewhere down the line. One of these skills that we are learning TOGETHER is how to refinish old furniture and make them like new again. As part of our school day, we are now shopping at our local Goodwill store to find some really good deals on old furniture. And WOW... we are seriously finding some really awesome deals! TLP is learning to look for the STURDY pieces of furniture, regardless of what they might look like. He is learning that if they are sturdy... they can be sanded and primed and painted and recovered. And we are having way too much fun over here with this particular class, which has also become a source of income.
I recently discovered that we should have been taking BEFORE pictures... as well as AFTER pictures. So, today... I will just share with you some of the after pictures so that you can see what we have been doing. Later... I will post a few BEFORE AND AFTER pictures so that you will really appreciate our hard work.
Project # 1
The writing desk on the left was bought from Goodwill for $3.00. It was badly scratched and had a few missing knobs. The top was drawn on with permanent marker.
The chair in front of the desk was bought for $2.00. The fabric was UGLY and the chair needed a little wood glue... some primer... and a new coat of paint.
The headboard was bought from Goodwill for $1.00. We needed to prime and paint that too.
The dresser on the right was MAJOR UGLY, scratched up, and seriously in need of help. But like the desk, it was a really sturdy piece of furniture for the $4.00 that they were asking for it. TLP and I took it home and gave it a little bit of love. ; )
As you can see above, we did a pretty nice job. This furniture was NOT a matching set... but we tried to make it match. When we were done, we advertised it online for $100. Our email was overflowing, and we sold this set the next day. TLP and I split the profit.
That was pretty easy, so we decided to try this again.
Project # 2
First, we found the two chairs for $2.00 each. They too were UGLY and the seats had about 4 layers of ugly fabric on them. We removed the seats and tore off the old fabric. Then we sanded and primed the chairs. Then we painted them green and bought some new fabric at Walmart for $2.00. We carefully stapled on the new fabric and attached the seat. Very cute chairs!!!! Now all we needed was a table. So we went to Goodwill again and found this really sturdy but ugly table for $4.00. We took it home and sanded it... and primed it... and painted it green to match the chairs. When we were done, we advertised it online for $50.00 and it was SOLD! TLP and I split the profit for that too.
We have since sold many other groups of furniture and some single pieces. One of my favorites was a broken bookshelf that we bought for $2.00. It really needed a lot of help! TLP and his daddy both looked at me sideways when I said that we were buying that piece., but I bought it anyway. After a little love... this is what we ended up with.
We sold it for $40.00 and split the profit.
I like this new profitable little hobby that TLP and I have come up with. We're having a lot of fun outside in the garage. We're getting in a lot of good quality time together, and making some extra cash too. TLP just bought himself some new toys, took his dad out to Olive Garden for lunch, and bought his mom flowers. Yes, I really DO like this new little hobby. It's keeping him busy, keeping him off the streets, and teaching him that if you need a little extra cash... all you have to do is go to Goodwill and spend a few bucks. ; )
