The Anatomy of a Good Furniture Flip

When we moved into the house one of the big debates was about the dining area and table. I knew I wanted to be able to sit more people than the 4 seater at the previous house. I thought the way to go would be a round table that seats 4 with a leaf to extend it to seat 6....




I also knew I wanted to find something and refinish it to create that rustic farmhouse look, so I set out and scoured Craiglist, FB buy sell trade sites and the like to find what I was looking for. You can probably imagine the one I was looking for; that iconic (90's?) round with a pedestal. I found one, it had 6 chairs and thought it'd be perfect.

We lived with it for a few days before we put the leaf in. Waaa Waaa Waaa it became wobbly!!....

A couple more days living on a wobbly table and I wasn't having it; getting another table moved very quickly up the priority list. So back to the drawing board, really I was open to a bunch of different styles, I was just looking for a good deal that I could make work. The chairs I have I love, just needed the table.

I found a set on Craigslist, table and chairs. $100. Boom. It was quite a drive to go check it out, but man the table was solid as a rock! It was big, with chunky legs, with 2 leaves, everything anyone could ever want in a farmhouse table.

The chairs were blah, they were also very sturdy, just not my style. They also needed to be reupholstered.

So I bought the table and chairs for $100. I then preceded to sell the chairs that I didn't want...for $100. Then I sold the other round wobbly table (yes, disclosing the wobbliness) for $50.

I made $50 for trading my small wobbly table for the most solid, sturdy, chunky, farmhouse table out there! I'm telling ya this table will be passed on to my children; Mr. Goober and I had to take a couple of breaks just getting it into the house!!

So here are four tips on a good furniture flip!

1. Buy low. As with anything, the cheaper the buy, the more you make.

2. Don't be afraid to buy a set if they won't separate. Selling off the other parts could be a good thing! In my case, I had no problem purchasing the chairs because the set was such a good deal, I was confident I'd be able to sell them for at least what I paid.

3. You don't necessarily have to do any work, to do a flip. I didn't paint a single thing.

4. Know where your buyers and sellers are. People will pay more or less for things in different circles. For instance, in my area, generally speaking, I can get a good deal on Craigslist, but I know that people will pay a little more on our city's BST sites.

So there you have it! The Anatomy of a Good Furniture Flip!