I get asked all the time, "How did you get into this?" or "How did you learn how to do this?". ALL THE TIME! It gets a little old having to repeat myself and I have become pretty good at shortening the story as much as possible. You readers out there, however, will have to hear the WHOLE story.
Last year, I lived in South Texas working as a medic. Long hours, low pay, but I enjoyed the reward of helping others. Best and most rewarding job I have ever had. I had always enjoyed working for myself but this one was quite alright.
Around October 2011, my family, who lives in North Texas was having a bout with a number of medical conditions. My grandfather was in the hospital, my mother was scheduled to go in for several operations, and my grandmother, who has multiple sclerosis, needed someone to help her with her daily routines. So I dropped everything and came to help my family. The morning after I arrived, my grandmother had an attack and had to be hospitalized.
So here I was, freshly unemployed, all of my relatives are in the hospital, and, oh yes, I'm freshly unemployed.
I really didn't need to work immediately. I knew it but it bothered me. I was living with my mother and sister. There was no real need for me to get my own place because I simply didn't have the time to work to afford it. I was doing a lot of running around. After awhile things kinda settled down but my mother was still out of work and bills needed to be paid. I did a number of things; cutting lawns, selling used boxes (a story itself), storage auctions, ebay, and eventually
shabby chic furniture.
Around March or May of 2012, I read an article about a girl who went 50/50 on a distressed house with her mom using $6,000 that she saved up in part by doing shabby chic furniture. We needed extra money so I tried it out. I looked up a few "how to's" online, watched some videos, bought some paint, and gave it my best shot.
It was a disaster. A terrible, smoky smelling, particle board, wobbly drawered disaster. I hated it. I didn't know what I was doing. I bought this night stand for $10 from a lady on Craigslist. When I got it, I realized she was an indoor smoker and this thing smelled like an ash tray. I didn't realize, or think to check, that the piece was particle board until I started trying to distress it. It was uggers, I'm telling you. I was so disappointed that a 14 year old was making cash, but here I was in my late 20's and I was terrible at it.
Still, I snapped this picture and put it on Craigslist. Within a day or so, it was sold for $50.00.
Is your jaw hanging open? Mine was after I sold it. I thought, "People will by anything!" and ran out to buy more furniture.
I was more careful with my selection process this time and I tried out a few other things to make the quality better. I hated brush strokes but they plagued me. No one seemed to mind. Over the next couple of weeks, I painted and sold several pieces. My work definitely improved:
Now, keep in mind, I was just doing this on the side. My ebay income was increasing and demanding more work, so I stopped painting from the end of March until August 4th, 2012.
Ebay had been doing pretty good but it was faltering and I was getting tired of the mundane listings I had to post every day. My wife suggested I go out and "girl up some more furniture". I have to say, I got a little excited about it but I didn't jump right in. I needed money. Selling end tables for $50 a piece wasn't going to cut it. So I decided I would go for something bigger; a dresser.
Aaaaand it begins....
One day, while I was stuck downtown waiting for my mother's appointment to be over, I spied two dressers on Craigslist from the same guy. He wanted $75 for each of them so I jumped on it. Seemed like a good deal to me!
That evening, I took them home, started painting at 9pm at night, and finished them both about 6am. Then, I went to bed. I was exhausted and nervous about whether or not anyone would buy them.
I slept for a few hours and woke up around 11am. Posted them on Craigslist, then waited. By the time the day was over, I had sold and delivered both of them for a total of $700. I was flabbergasted! In a little over 24 hours, I had turned $150 into $500 profit. I had to buy more!
Since then, I have painted over 100 pieces of furniture. I started painting in our living room, then painted in a 10x10 storage unit, moved from there to paint at my grandparents property so I would have more room and be able to use a sprayer, and then moved into my current 3,600 sq ft shop with two paint sprayers to expedite my work.
So that is my story. I've been working hard at it since then. There have been highs and lows but overall it is great work. Can anyone do it? No, I don't think so. But I'll discuss that another time. :)
