Mister.Bee

» collections

Furniture restoration

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. 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.