Furniture flipping 101

Seven things I learned the first year of my furniture flipping  adventure.

Soon we will be celebrating Aleksandra’s Furniture first birthday. It’s almost one year since I finally decided to create my FB page and started sharing my furniture makeovers with a wider public. So much has happened since…. Here are some things that I learned through my first year of furniture flipping.

1. Styles

I learned to see through the old layers of paint and peeling lacquer. To notice their beauty and find inspiration in their original forms. Not every piece can, or should be painted it the same style. If you are a fan of Shabby Chic, rustic, French Provincial etc, you should be looking out for older pieces in classical shapes. For example, a simple IKEA dresser won’t do the trick.
But if you like mid-century modern, clean lines,  typical IKEA is a good base.


2.Equipment:

It’s makes a BIG difference!  Good quality sanders, a heat gun, painting equipment suitable for the type of paint you are using is a must! Good lighting is also something that you can’t and shouldn’t work without.


3.Paint

There are so many different types and brands available, it’s easy to get confused. My advice is to try them out and decide for yourself what kind of finish is best suitable for your style. Matte chalk paints are good for distressed and old look and acrylic and oil paints are good for modern clean lines. But that’s just a general idea, so don’t let it limit you! Remember one thing! Matte finish will hide minor imperfections while high gloss finish will make them very visible. Steer away from glossy look if your furniture is damaged and used up.


4. Techniques

…and again , there are so many different ones. Wet distressing, dry distress, decoupage, color layering, crackle, stencils, masking tape etc…. I love to mix and match! Sometimes I create my own techniques and styles. Check out the links to my previous blog post and learn more about: decoupage, stencils, masking tape


5. Pictures

Use day light. And not just any day light. Morning light gives a totally different color effect than evening light. Here in Norway the days are extremely long during summer. Some of my best pics were taken at midnight cause it’s still bright out here. But the situation is more complicated during winter. Most of the days I have a short 1 hour slot to use the daylight. After that it’s back to sunless dark sky. Styling is also an important part of the overall impression. I use mostly simple items, most of which I find in second hand shops. The key is to make sure they match the style of the presented piece of furniture. Color and scale are also very important. I often see people styling their furniture with too SMALL items.


6. Details

Details are, by far, my favorite part of every furniture project. Every piece needs the right knobs, paper lined interior and even tassels or in general – furniture jewelry.

7. People

The most important thing I learned about people is that no matter how good you are, no matter how beautiful your work is ,you will always meet someone who doesn’t like it.
And it’s OK… remember that whatever you do is suppose to make you happy in the first place. Fighting for people’s approval is a fast route to madness… I’m still working on it. 😉

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