How to Start a Furniture Upcycling Business

Part 1 - How to start a Furniture Upcycling business - Background

Part of upcycling can be simple refurbishment, and part of it is re-styling it. New covers, new coats of paint, and other new changes can make something old and worn down into something chic and modern. The business also scales nicely, letting you grow from a solo operation to a team, if necessary.

You may also be interested in additional side hustle ideas.

Our guide is in 3 parts:

• Part 1 - How to start a Furniture Upcycling business - Background
• Part 2 - Our planner tool to see if this idea is the right fit for you
• Part 3 - Action plan to get started

What are the costs involved in opening a furniture upcycling business?

Perhaps the most attractive thing about a furniture upcycling business is that you can open it very cheap. For instance, it is very possible to open such a business for $2,000 or less. This assumes that you are starting from home, so $500 goes towards hiring someone to create a professional website. You may spend another $500 (possibly more) on some in-town advertisement, such as newspaper or radio ads when your business first opens. The remaining $1,000 is spent buying old furniture and refurbishing it. This gives you a decent amount of items to start with that you can still reasonably work on and store at your home. Afterwards, the business is very self-sustaining—you can buy new furniture and materials as your stock sells, keeping you from over investing.

What are the ongoing expenses for a furniture upcycling business?

Functionally, there are very few ongoing expenses for your business. You will pay varying amounts of money for furniture each month, but you should price your work to reflect those costs. You may pay varying amounts of gasoline to drive around town to the aforementioned thrift shops, yard sales, auctions, and so on. Your annual website hosting costs should be less than $100. If you use eBay and Paypal to sell furniture or receive payments, you must pay the appropriate surcharge for those services.

Who is the target market?

Your best clients will typically be those in their mid-20’s to early 30’s. This is a demographic that typically needs to decorate a new space (such as a first house) but also desires the more sleek and modern aesthetic that your business provides. Additionally, being able to provide that furniture for a much lower price than brand new chic furniture will appeal to a demographic that is early in their careers.

How does a furniture upcycling business make money?

For furniture upcycling, the business model is straightforward: you buy old furniture, refurbish, and restyle it, and then sell the “new” product to clients for a fixed cost.

How much can you charge customers?

The exact amount you charge will vary based on the size of the furniture and the complexity and cost of the refurbishing process. One upcycler reported that she bought a table and chairs for $50 and the spent $75 restoring and restyling it. She then turned around and sold it for $290, which recouped her investment and netted her $165 in profit. Considering that it only took her three hours to refurbish, this meant she made $55 per hour spent, which is part of what makes this an exciting job even as a side business.

How much profit can a furniture upcycling business make?

The exact profitability of your business depends on how many pieces of furniture you sell and what the profit margin is on your items. Some successful companies make a little over $100,000 per year doing this kind of work. While it is unlikely that you will make this much in your first year (or first few years), it is very easy to start this kind of work as a side business and turn it into your main income stream after you have established a reputation and built enough experience.

How can you make your business more profitable?

Try to sell your work across multiple venues, such as Etsy, eBay, and specialty sites like Furnishly. Doing this as well as selling furniture in your own town can really help boost sales. Make sure you have ample photography to show off your work from the best angles, and write up helpful descriptions that include exact measurements (this really helps those buying furniture for their new homes). Finally, make sure you have an eye-catching and distinctive logo that will help you stand out from the competition!

Day-to-Day and Growth

What happens during a typical day at a furniture upcycling business?

There are many day-to-day activities of such a business. Part of your days will be spent going to thrift shops, yard sales, and online auction sites in order to acquire old furniture at low prices. Afterward, you will spend time refurbishing and re-styling the furniture you have acquired. When you are not doing these primary activities, you may be communicating with current clients and prospective clients, updating your website and/or social media presence, and actually selling the furniture you have upcycled.

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful furniture upcycling business?

Any previous experience refurbishing furniture yourself can be a big help. Similarly, work experience in something like a furniture store can give you valuable insight into how furniture is sold and how custom psychology works. Also, as alluded to earlier, your previous experience navigating thrift shops, yard sales, and auctions within your town will be a big help.

What is the growth potential for a furniture upcycling business?

The growth potential for this business is modest. As an industry, luxury furniture is expected to grow by four percent between 2015 and 2019, and upcycled furniture benefits from appealing to different markets: some turn to it as a kind of luxury unique item (which goes hand-in-hand with the modern mania for antiques), while others see upcycled furniture as a more affordable alternative to modern designer furniture. Through this appeal to multiple demographics, your business has great room to grow.

What are some insider tips for jump starting a furniture upcycling business?

One great tip is to do ample research before starting your business. Figuring out just how regularly different thrift shops and auctions and yard sales in your town (or neighboring towns) sell old furniture will give you an idea of how much business you can actually conduct if and when things get busy. Also, start small: try refurbishing a few things for fun before diving into a full-on business. The nature of this business is that it is very easy to do it as a part-time gig while getting the hang of it before you devote your full time and resources to it.

How and when to build a team

Unlike many businesses, this one has a visual cue for when you need to build a team. If you are selling stock faster than you can store it, then it’s time to rev your game up. That means acquiring and refurbishing on a larger scale, so it’s time to recruit a team. The best part is that you can do this and still keep overhead low: you may want to invest in monthly storage for your furniture rather than everyone keeping it at their homes, but this is a good intermediary step before opening a small store.

Part 2 - Is a Furniture Upcycling business the right fit for you?

Part 3 - Action plan to launch your Furniture Upcycling business in 90 days