About eight years ago, I found myself laid off without a job to come back to after my maternity leave. I had been praying that the Lord would figure out a way for me to stay at home with the new little one. Boy, did he! They no longer needed the outlet store that I ran, so it was myself and all of my employees that were left searching for a job. It was an answered prayer to say the least! I was so thankful to be home with my newborn!!

I am not one to sit around and a few months into staying at home, we started redoing furniture for extra money. This was around the time that chalk paint was just coming out and everyone was beginning to try it!

My husband would go to auctions on Mondays and find pieces of furniture to paint. He has a really good eye for pieces and he has figured out how to fix just about anything. We would buy tables, dressers, accent tables, anything that had a classic look but just needed updated. We would sit at auctions on Saturdays and find unique farmhouse decor to sell with the furniture. We would go to yard sales, thrift stores, and he would scour marketplace for any good deal. We have been all over the area picking up pieces and could tell some really good stories on what we have seen! Remind me to do that one day…..

We began to get a few bigger pieces and then realized what sold the best. The first time he brought home a $100 buffet at the auction, I about had a cow. Lol! I was like how are we ever going to get our money back. He proved me wrong! Now I would buy those all day long for that price.

The furniture for a very long time was the bread and butter of what we sold. But even back then, I knew if you treated the booth like a store, you could sell just as many small items that would pay the rent. Everyone has $20 or so that they can spend at will. They may think twice about the $250 table and chairs. So we kept a mix of small home decor and the furniture. My thing is presentation, if it looks appealing and on trend more than likely someone is going to pick it up. So many times, you walk into an antique mall and its just a hodge podge mess of junk. Things people have found a good deal on and threw it in there hoping it would sell. That’s not the case! I can pick items out from certain booth malls that have set there for years. No JOKE, years!!

Looking back, I really don’t know how we managed to find the pieces, paint/redo, load/unload, and decorate the booth with an infant then later another baby. We stayed there for a few years and the business grew to several booths and eventually to a brick and mortar shop in 2017.

Over the years, we painted hundreds of pieces. One year, I counted 75 large pieces of furniture that we had sold! It was mind blowing…..I compiled a few pictures for you to see. There are so many more that we did, but the pictures weren’t staged and my photography skills back then were non existent. I would do good, to snap a few pics to put on Facebook. Then I got smarter and started doing quick videos of the booth after we restocked.

{My Favorites}

Below is a gallery of all the pieces that we have done over the years. There is nothing more classic than white, but I did do more color when I got bored with white!

After years of trying every type of paint there was, I finally found a paint that was easy to work with and didn’t have to wax. It has sealer built in. I always tell everyone that it is good to use a sealer on items like tables and chairs. They need the extra protection from wear and tear.

You can find the paint I use here. Fusion Mineral Paint http://www.leahsheainteriors.com/products/fusion-mineral-paint This is by far the best paint I have found that is easy to work with. I have made my own chalk paint, used all the name brand chalk paints, and still have gone back to this one. It goes on super smooth, you can distress (if you want), self leveling, built in top coat, and goes really long way. For an average 6 drawer dresser, I can paint 1 pint and have some left over. So for $22 in paint, I have a finished updated piece.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the furniture makeovers and got some INSPIRATION for those pieces you may have at home!

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