Chests of drawers

I started dabbling with restoring furniture about 10 years ago. I would mainly pick up pieces at garage sales or even the side of the road. I've kept many pieces but have sold quite a few on craigslist and was quite surprised how easy they were to sell if they looked nice.

My wife and I love dark wood so the first piece I did was a bookcase that I painstakingly sanded down w/ a 3M sanding block and put about four coats of Minwax's darkest stain. (I've since bought handheld electric sanders that have made my life easier :))

Over time I've conducted some research on woodworking and refinishing furniture and that — coupled with lots of trial and error — has helped me sharpen my skills. I've learned to add polyurethane, sand lightly by hand between coats, etc.

The first dresser shown here was $10 and I sold it for $80. The graffiti dresser was free by the side of the road it sold for $120.

Although it's been since before we started having kids in 2009 ... I've bought, refinished and sold 36 pieces total. I paid $388 and sold them for $2,345.

I'll post some of the pieces that we've kept ... soon.