How to Start a Furniture Flipping Side Hustle

My first (and favorite) side gig

A few years ago I started listening to podcasts about side hustles and making some extra money in your free time. I was a broke college student, so I’m all ears.

After a few weeks, I had a brilliant idea: I’ll start building furniture.

I built two tables from scratch. They cost me $300, took weeks to build, and sold for $40. I was ready for the next idea.

What if I could buy old furniture, clean it up, and resell it? I did some Googling, went to the thrift store, and bought my first potential flip. I spent $15 on a nightstand + $10 for paint and sold it for $50 the next day. Everything about it was significantly more enjoyable than building from scratch.

Since then, I’ve flipped 25–30 pieces of furniture and made a few thousand dollars, all on the side.

I’m staring at my computer for 8+ hours a day, so I flip furniture when I need a break from the online world. Here’s how you can get started and have a profitable side hustle by next week.

What you need to get started

• A car or truck
• $50–100
• A Facebook account
• Sandpaper, paint, and a paintbrush
• A place to work
• A bit of creativity

Side notes: you can start this with $0, but a bit of funding helps. Also, I’ve done all the work in my 1 bedroom apartment. Also, having a truck or SUV will give you more options, but I get it done with my Honda Accord.

Start with market research

You can’t pick up any piece of furniture and flip it for a profit. There’s a certain style that sells well. If you’re shopping at thrift stores, garage sales, or on the side of the road, you need to be careful not to pick up a piece of junk.

80% of the furniture you see is worthless crap.

It’s hard to describe exactly what makes a piece of furniture a good potential flip, so take a look at what’s selling. Once you’ve sold a few, you’ll start to develop an eye for what’s good and what’s bad.

Look at your Facebook Marketplace and local buy/sell groups. What types of tables, chairs, dressers, and nightstands are for sale? What are the prices like? How long have they been for sale?

Next, look at a few Instagram pages. @FusionMineralPaint and @mmsmilkpaint are my two favorites. They have tons of inspiration and beautiful pieces of furniture that sell for hundreds of dollars. Also check out the accounts they tag — they’re usually professional furniture flippers.

Once you’re feeling inspired and confident, you can go shopping.

Where to buy the furniture

You can start shopping online: Facebook, Craigslist, and OfferUp all have potential winners. Lots of people will sell their furniture for super cheap if you’re willing to pick it up.

Make sure to check the free sections of Craigslist, FB Marketplace, and OfferUp. Some of the best flips have been sitting on the side of the road.

This is where a larger vehicle is helpful. If you have a smaller car, your options are limited, but I’ve been able to pick up a lot of decent sized nightstands, coffee tables, and TV stands.

You’ll also want to visit your local thrift stores. Most people drop off on Saturdays and Sundays, so Mondays will usually have the most new inventory. My local thrift stores also decrease the prices every month, so if you can find a table that’s been there for two months you can get a better deal.

Your goal is to sell for at least 3x the purchase price. If you see a coffee table selling for $20, you’ll need to sell it for $60–80 to make a profit worth your time.

I bought this coffee table at Goodwill for $17, used it for 2 years, then sold it for $80 when I moved.

You’re looking for wood furniture that has some minor wear and tear, but is not seriously damaged. Putting a fresh coat of paint on it will make it look brand new.

How to restore it

Once you have your potential flip at home you can start restoring it. This process shouldn’t take too long, and you don’t need much experience.

The first step is to clean the dust off and clean out the drawers. Sometimes I’ll give it a quick sand to get rid of the old paint or stain. That will also help your new paint stick.

Next, I’ll remove the drawers and the knobs and get ready to paint.

The paint you use is super important.

I’ll always recommend Fusion Mineral Paint. It’s literally the best paint I’ve used for furniture. They have tons of colors and the end result looks awesome.

You can buy a 500ml jar on Amazon for $25–30. That’s enough to paint a few medium pieces of furniture, or one larger piece. I used less than 500mL to paint this chair and wine cabinet.

If you don’t want to spend a ton of money on paint, I’d suggest buying a neutral color like white, cream, or grey. The paint will completely hide the original color — even if it’s dark brown. You also don’t need to worry about applying any finish.

Seriously — this paint is an essential part of the process.

Once the first coat is dry you can do some touch-up work and get your piece ready to sell.

Marketing the finished product

Once your flipped furniture is ready to sell, you need to position it correctly. Just because you added a new coat of paint doesn’t mean it’ll sell for much.

People are willing to pay $200 for a coffee table, and $350 for a dresser, and much more.

If you want the higher sale price, you need to put some effort into staging it.

Go back to Instagram and find the high-end furniture flippers. Pay attention to how they’re staging their stuff:

• It’s well lit.
• You can see the details.
• There are accessories around the piece.
• You can visualize it sitting in your home.

The key to getting paid well for your flips is how you can market to your potential audience. Your refurbished TV stand needs to look like it’s worth $275.

Where should you sell?

I’ve sold nearly every piece of furniture on Facebook Marketplace. If you get more serious into this side hustle, you can start your own social media page or website, but I choose to go where people already are.

Again, taking quality photos and writing a good description will help you sell for more. And you can charge $15–30 for delivery.

I live in a bigger city, so I’ve never explored shipping what I sell. I’d avoid it if possible.

Good luck, and happy flipping!

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