When Life Gives You Lemons...
...you flip furniture.
When I was laid off from my job as an Art Director, this single mom naturally panicked. Then my TikTok and Instagram algorithm showed me what was in front of me the whole time. I could combine my love of design and on-trend furniture with my beloved power tools to make my corner of the world a little more beautiful -- all while keeping my family afloat. The AI component was the icing on the cake.
While this is a physically tough way to make money, I'm doing it and it's thriving. I'm still looking for my next full-time job (preferably indoors with a/c and no mosquitos!) but in the meantime I absolutely love taking discarded furniture and breathing new life into it. What a gift to take a once-loved part of someone's home and give it a little love so that it can continue on for another generation.
I rely on AI image tools to give me inspiration and to give clients an idea of what their customization choices will look like. I'm careful to create AI images that don't alter the product in any way -- they just allow for staging and lighting while I'm actually waiting for the piece to dry. A little art direction mixed with a lot of hands-on effort for a beautiful result.
Solid Mahogany Bleached Dresser
This dresser had such beautiful wood grain that needed to be highlighted instead of painted. I stripped off the 1980's lacquered finish and bleached the wood three times until the grain really popped. I conditioned the wood and used an ultra-flat topcoat to let the wood shine on its own. These feather drawer pulls were the icing on the cake. I sprayed them a matte gold
and then antiqued them each by hand.
Solid Mahogany Dresser
My client needed a very specific width for her dresser. I sourced it, then got to work customizing it for her space. I modernized the base, fixed some broken drawer slides, sanded it until it was buttery smooth and updated it with a deep navy paint and snazzy brass pulls.
Lexington Cherry Nightstand
This solid cherry nightstand had been in the client's family for 20 years. They loved its history but not the off-trend time capsule it represented. I stripped it, bleached it, then did a farmhouse-style paint wash. I replaced the outdated bun feet with more casually elegant feet.
Lexington Mahogany Nightstands
These solid mahogany nightstands were a little outdated, with hundreds of intentional distress marks and a heavy lacquered finish. I filled in every nick, cut down the flourishes on the base to modernize it and repaired the broken drawers. It got a few coats of primer and paint, updated hardware and a good deep conditioning and sold within 12 hours.
Hungerford Solid Mahogany Dresser
This timeless beauty had great bones and just needed a little modernization.
I updated the base, sanded it all smooth, primed,
painted it a soft matte black and updated the
drawer pulls. It sold in less than 24 hours.
Custom Hungerford Solid Mahogany Dresser
My client had been searching for a specific sized dresser for her daughter's bedroom, which was decorated in shades of peach, navy and white with chrome accents. The dresser I sourced had an outdated base, so I built a new one. More modern but still with just enough curves to feel feminine. It was sanded, primed and dressed with a tough coat of creamy off-white paint and shiny new polished chrome drawer pulls.
