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Flipping vintage furniture can be a fun and rewarding hobby, but it's even better when you can share it with your family. If you're looking for ways to get your family involved in your hobby, here are some awesome ideas:
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If you're a fan of vintage furniture, you may have considered flipping it as a hobby or even a business. There’s something about discovering the masterpiece that lies beneath the surface of vintage furniture that makes it a hobby like no other!
But what makes flipping vintage furniture such a great idea? Here are the five best reasons to get into flipping vintage furniture: Flipping vintage furniture can be a fun and rewarding hobby, but it can also be a lucrative business if you know how to find the best pieces to flip. Here are some tips to help you find the best furniture to flip for a profit:
by Tim Holt One of the most frustrating things about the end of Autumn in many parts of the country (besides the end of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, of course) is the weather getting in the way of our stripping, refinishing, restoring and flipping of furniture.
For years, our ability to keep our passion alive has been limited to working in the backyard, the driveway, the garage (with the door wide-open), or anywhere else that those toxic fumes would be less likely to cause any harm. On most days, the local weatherman would tell us whether or not we were going to be productive. The reason for these limitations is simple: toxic Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Theses toxic VOCs are a large group of chemicals that are found in many common furniture refinishing products… especially stripping agents. by Gary LeClerc As we approach Thanksgiving of 2022, I wanted to share a snapshot of my story. First of all, my name is Gary and I am the founder and owner of Stripwell. I am the husband of my beautiful wife, Lisa, and father to my 6 year old daughter, Via and 5 year old son, Lucas. Via and Lucas are adopted and many times adoption is presented as “changing the lives of children,” but I will say that I would not be who I am today if it were not for the two of them. Lucas and Via may not be blood, but they are so much more and are 100% my children and will be forever. They make me so proud. They are filled with such beautiful energy and vibrancy.
So, with that being said, let me tell you a little more about myself. To start, we need to go all the way back to the 1980’s. Who loves the 80’s? Who’s trying to forget the 80’s? Anyway, back in 1986, the song “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles was one of the longest running number one singles of that year, and the original Top Gun movie hit theaters. Also in 1986, my dad made a change that profoundly impacted my life and the future of our family. In order to spend more time around my mom, my older sister, my older brother and quite possibly even me, he decided to take a big risk. He left his career in the aerospace industry working on jet engines and started a furniture refinishing and restoration business in the garage of our home in Cheshire, Connecticut. Sometimes, I feel like a walking paradox. On the one hand - I really, really care about the environment around me. It’s my personal belief and conviction that the world around us was created so that we could both enjoy and take care of our planet and the living things that inhabit our world. I also believe that there are big changes that can be made to help ensure the longevity of the planet for our children and for future generations. On the other hand, I really, really love cars. That’s right — gas guzzling, fast, rip-roar-those-tires-’til-they-smoke kind of cars. I was the kid with posters of Lamborghinis and Ferraris on my wall who watched Top Gear all day long. (Now as an adult with three kids, I keep those limited to my phone wallpaper because my wife says it doesn’t go with our home’s aesthetic). The paradoxical problem here is obvious — the gas guzzling cars are terrible for the environment that I’m passionate about protecting. Enter my fascination with electric cars. My chagrin for California gas prices aside, I am in awe of the meteoric rise in the popularity of the electric car market. They’re far from perfect in regards to environmental impact, but they do make a world of difference compared to the gasoline-fueled vehicles that we drive today. However, there is one problem: electric cars in their current state are relatively expensive. A new Toyota Camry will cost you in the neighborhood of $28,000, while a Tesla Model 3 will put you in the hole for about $39,000. So why am I the proud owner of a Tesla Model 3? Because for me, there is something so much more important to life than a price tag. As someone who wants to leave the world a better place than I found it for my kids, in most areas of my life, I’m much more concerned with the cost than I am with the price of something. Cost vs. PriceVery simply, the definitions of price and cost are as follows:
Welcome to QCS!Congratulations! You did it! You just unboxed our flagship product - QCS Finish Remover! 🙌🏼 We’re so glad you made the bold choice of choosing your health and well-being over the status quo. We believe that you won’t regret your decision! QCS stands for QUICK, CLEAN and SAFE and QCS Finish Remover is all of those things. It is eco-friendly, non-flammable, biodegradable, and non-hazardous. It was developed for furniture refinishing and restoration professionals, but is safe for everyone! QCS Finish Remover was born out of 35+ years of furniture restoration experience. We asked ourselves the question that begins most journeys toward innovation: “Why?” In our case, we asked why we were using such hazardous products? That’s where it all began. QCS Finish Remover was developed to keep YOU safe as you remove paint and finish from your projects. This can be a tedious and often hazardous task that many try to avoid, but our goal is to make stripping furniture a safe experience for all. When we set out to develop QCS Finish Remover for the furniture refinishing and restoration industry we had two primary goals:
So, thank you for valuing what we value at Stripwell and giving QCS Finish Remover the opportunity to prove itself to you. We believe that if you care about starting your projects safely and effectively, then QCS Finish Remover is going to become your go to finish remover. P.S. Don’t forget to grab a bottle of QCS Surface Cleanser! It’s a liquid sandpaper, pre-prep or post clean, and a deglosser. If you are looking to skip stripping your project and go straight to finishing it, then check out the QCS Surface Cleanser. Sincerely, Your Stripwell Team QCS Finish Remover InstructionsFor the best possible results please read the following instructions before using. ***ALL PROJECTS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL*** We recommend testing QCS on a small area first with the following instructions to minimize product waste. ONE: For application, we recommend spraying QCS Finish Remover on, but you may also apply with a brush or pad. Apply a light and even tack coat of QCS Finish Remover (not too heavy) over the surface you wish to strip and wait approximately 30 minutes. TWO: After the initial waiting period, apply a second even coat of QCS Finish Remover over the surface. This coat should be heavier. Wait 30 minutes. THREE: Check the results. If the coating is loose and/or liquified and feels ready to release from the surface, you can move forward to step FOUR. If it is still clinging, coat the surface again with QCS Finish Remover and possibly apply plastic wrap to keep the area wet longer. Keep checking the surface every 15 minutes for up to an hour. NOTE: You can walk away from your project and QCS Finish Remover will not stain the wood like other products, but if you let QCS Finish Remover sit for too long, you may need to use more product than necessary to reactivate it. BE PATIENT AND LET QCS FINISH REMOVER WORK FOR YOU. Use the necessary amount of product and allow it to work. FOUR: Once the coating is showing signs of releasing, begin to remove the coating with a putty knife, scraper or blade on flat areas. Use a nylon brush or wire brush with softer brass bristles for cleaning the details. Finally, use a wet 0-grade steel wool to scrub the entire item being stripped. NOTE: Sometimes steel wool can react with certain woods and cause some staining. To avoid this, use copper wool, scouring pad, or dish sponge with scrubby side. ***VERY IMPORTANT*** Be sure to pour some QCS Finish Remover into a small container and dip your scrubbing pad of choice as you scrub OR spray QCS Finish Remover onto your scrubbing pad. You DO NOT want to scrub the surface with a dry scrubbing pad. Always scrub wet. FIVE: Once you have scrubbed the surfaces thoroughly, wipe off all the residue with paper towels. These will not become a fire hazard because QCS Finish Remover is non-flammable. If there are any gummy areas remaining, these are the areas where the finish has not been fully removed. Apply fresh QCS Finish Remover to the surface and allow it to work. If there is any residual finish in the grain, apply fresh QCS Finish Remover to the surface and allow 30 minutes to work. Then use a soft bristled brush dipped in QCS Finish Remover to remove. Wipe off any remaining residue. SIX: Apply part B of the QCS System - QCS Surface Cleanser. Using a paper towel or rag, wipe down all surfaces. QCS Surface Cleasner is your after wash and replaces the need to use mineral spirits, acetone or denatured alcohol. SEVEN: If necessary, spot treat any areas that you may have missed by applying some more QCS Finish Remover and repeat the previous steps. EIGHT: Allow the project to dry a minimum of 24 to 48 hours to minimize the risk of moisture bleeding through the new finish. Applying gentle heat with a heat gun can speed this up and in some cases. Frequently Asked Questions
By: Tim HoltMy first experience with "disposable furniture” came when I was first married to my wife in 2015. We had just moved to Chicago and had rented a cheap studio apartment as our first home together. When it came to furnishing our apartment, we immediately drove to the cheapest furniture store we could find: IKEA. We picked up the cheapest version of a bed, couch, and coffee table we could get there.  IKEA is one of the top distributors of disposable furniture in the world. We returned home to our little hole-in-the-wall apartment and began the first great test of our marriage: trying to assemble each Ikea piece together. We eventually decided that divorce within the first month of our marriage wasn’t the best option and each worked on separate furniture pieces. After a “short” time, we had an apartment full of furniture!
Sadly, at the end of our stay there, each piece was falling apart and had no lasting value. So, we did what nearly every other young couple does with their disposable furniture — we sold what we could and disposed of the rest. It turns out that we weren’t the only ones who had bought into the quick-buy-quick-trash world of disposable furniture. |