my entire business revolves around second-hand furniture so obviously i spend a lot of time
hunting for new inventory on facebook marketplace
all the different local buy and sell apps as well as local thrift stores i have
three yeah three thrift stores in my town and four four uh in the next town over so i try
and do a circuit of all of those thrift stores at least once a week one of the stops that i
make every week is a habitat for humanity restore unfortunately the location that i visit hasn't had
a ton of great furniture coming through the doors lately and what they have had has been priced a
little too high for me to be able to purchase and flip for a profit so instead of giving up
on the habitat for humanity for the time being i decided to branch out a little bit yesterday
i took a little drive through the country up to the alliston restore location and i thought this
would be the perfect opportunity for me to bring you guys along again and sort of fill you in a
little bit on what i look for when i'm thrifting for furniture to flip that's a tongue twister
do
if you're not already familiar with the habitat for humanity restores they are non-profit home
improvement retail stores that resell donated home furnishings appliances and other renovation
materials at a fraction of the original price it's a great place to find unique pieces and save a ton
of money on flooring lighting cabinetry plumbing fixtures tools they've got it all and the best
part is that all proceeds directly support their local habitat for humanity community building
programs like their affordable home ownership program that helps local lower income families
who are living in unsafe substandard housing to build strength stability and self-reliance
this place is jam packed full of furniture i feel like a kid in a candy store
my first rule of thumb when i'm looking for furniture pieces to recreate is to only purchase
those pieces that immediately inspire me if i look at a piece and can instantly see it
in its transformed state then that's definitely a piece that i'm going to have a closer look at
i don't have a lot of extra storage space in my garage or in my home for pieces that are already
finished and waiting to be sold so i need to be a little picky and choosy on what i bring home
the next thing i look at is the condition of the piece i like to take a really close look
at all of the drawers and doors to see if they're in good working order i have
a look for peeling or chipped veneer or really deep gouges and scratches that may need repair
and don't be afraid to have a good sniff pieces that have an unpleasant odor
can be really hard to deal with and are often not worth the extra effort or expense to deodorize
don't spend your money on pieces that you're not able to properly repair
i try not to let the actual materials that a piece of furniture is constructed with play
too much into my decision-making process yes solid pieces generally hold more value
but the fact of the matter is there are far more particle board mdf and laminate pieces out in
the world that need saving from the landfills than there will ever be of solid wood pieces
the easiest way to take a look at the construction of a piece is to
look at the back you can usually see what the framing is made of and what is laid over top
pricing is a hard subject especially if you're new to the furniture flipping game
thrift store pricing is greatly varied and completely unpredictable but you want
to make sure that you consider the cost of the materials that will be required
the amount of labor that will be involved and figure out what you're anticipating
selling price is going to be when you're deciding how much to pay for a project piece
going along with how much you're willing to spend on a piece of furniture is accounting for the
demand in your market this is another area that greatly varies depending on your specific location
and takes a little bit of trial and error to learn in my area i've had
really good luck selling matching pairs of nightstands and small to mid-sized dressers
every time i've refurbished a coffee table however i have a really hard time finding a buyer
a few things that i've taught myself to sort of skip over and just plain avoid at the thrift shops
are dining sets they take up a ton of space in my garage and also i have nowhere to store
them until they sell so they're just not a good fit for my setup i also tend to avoid
single nightstands or end tables because there's just not a lot of demand for them in my market
they are great though for beginners or if you want to practice out a new painting technique
i also try and avoid paying for previously painted pieces of furniture
there's just a ton of added expense and labor costs involved in stripping off a yucky old finish
before i can apply a fresh new one
obviously these rules are not going to work for everyone in every situation it's really
important to have an open mind when you're out thrifting try new things
pick up items that inspire you and just have fun
creating i ended up bringing home two dressers with me this one and that one and i am going to be
making them over in some upcoming videos so please make sure that you are subscribed
and have the notification bell turned on so that you don't miss out on what i do
to update these dressers thank you so much for coming thrifting with me today
i hope you guys enjoyed this video and i will catch you guys next time
you