The Top Nine Furniture Flipping Side Hustles
Looking for ways to 'top up' your income? Try one of these furniture flipping side hustles
Previously, I taught you how website creation can help you grow your business into more than a furniture flipping side hustle and generate full-time revenue. Besides flipping furniture, there are other furniture-flipping side hustles to make money that you might not have considered.
While a successful furniture refinishing business may not need other revenue streams, building your furniture refinishing business can take some time, and extra money is rarely frowned upon. Look for furniture refinishing side hustles to create a passive or supplemental income stream.
In this list of the top nine furniture refinishing side hustles, many, once set up, will help you earn money without much, if any, additional work. Some furniture refinishing side hustles will require time and effort in addition to your current workload. So consider how much time you have available to put into your furniture refinishing sideline.
The top nine furniture flipping side hustles broken down:
1. Furniture Restoration Workshops furniture flipping side hustle
If you can’t beat them, join them… Lots of people are getting into furniture flipping. Since they are new, they will be looking for help learning the basics.
This furniture-flipping side hustle will allow you to share your expertise by offering furniture restoration workshops or classes in your local area. I teach furniture refinishing online, which teaches the fundamentals of furniture refinishing: the products, principles and practices. However, a hands-on experience is a great furniture flipping side hustle. Some people want to learn one technique or only fix up one piece of furniture.
What you will need
A Dedicated Space: If you run the workshop in your home, you should have liability insurance if you have people coming into your home and possibly using power tools. Check whether local retailers, particularly those selling paint and refinishing supplies like transfers and moulds, have space in the back. This setup is a win-win for both you and the store – you bring in the business that makes you money, and they get sales from those you bring in.
Advertise: You will need to advertise – if using a retail space, ask about putting up posters or cross-promoting. Use your social media and word of mouth to attract interested persons.
What to Paint: People should bring their own pieces – small pieces like end tables or nightstands are best. You can include supplies in the fee or have people buy or bring their own – maybe the retailer can offer a discount to those who participate in your class. Allowing the clients to choose their own paint colours can help them feel the piece will fit in their homes better.
Plan ahead and keep it simple. While trying out new techniques is a lot of fun, layers of paint can take a long time to dry and not allow you to complete the piece in one class. You may need to arrange to run the workshop on multiple occasions if you want to teach different techniques and allow for drying times.
2. Furniture and upholstery services furniture flipping side hustle
This furniture-flipping side hustle is a way to expand your furniture refinishing business with value-added services. Often, upholstery can return you more money than refinishing, depending on the difficulty and products used. You can also teach those skills once you’ve mastered them. If you already have a work space, adding this furniture flipping side hustle won’t be difficult once you master the craft. Advertise your upholstery services alongside your furniture refinishing business. You will need some upholstery tools to get started.
The upholstery bible
The Upholstery Bible is a is a great resource to help you get started with this furniture flipping side hustle. Description from Author: A complete resource for furniture upholstering, regardless of your abilities, with easy-to-follow, illustrated instructions explaining all the essential upholstery techniques, from covering buttons to stripping and upholstering entire chairs.
Build your skills at your own pace, with advice on the basics such as choosing materials and tools for the job and estimating yardage, as well as more complex upholstering techniques. It features invaluable advice on what to look for when buying second hand furniture, teaching you what’s fixable and what’s not as well as how to avoid costly mistakes by choosing the right stitches, and techniques and textiles for the job.
*bonus furniture flipping side hustle: you can teach upholstery as a furniture flipping side hustle once you get good at it.
3. Furniture Rentals furniture flipping side hustle
Often, we get very creative when designing our furniture flips. These dramatic transformations can sometimes be difficult to sell to the average homeowner. But they might have a place as a feature piece in a show home or at a wedding. You don’t have to sell the furniture though, you can rent it. Furniture rentals are growing for home staging, weddings, or film and TV productions, which is an excellent fit as a furniture-flipping side hustle.
You will need a large storage area that is easily accessible to load and unload. Remember that the furniture may come back damaged and need repairs or touch-ups so charge a damage deposit. Consider renting out your mid-century modern or antique furniture too. The options are endless for this furniture flipping side hustle.
4. Marquee Sign Rentals furniture flipping side hustle
Another trend is renting out large wooden, lighted letters.
You will need some carpentry skills and tools and maybe a CNC machine (or you can hire that part out). To get started with this furniture-flipping side hustle, start with some common words and add the letters as requested. Like furniture rentals, you will need to store them somewhere you can get at them as they are rented and pull out the ones you need without too much trouble or damage to the signs.
Check out this YouTube channel for inspiration and blueprints for most letters. Yellowhammer Woodcrafts gives you some insight into renting out letters in this video, plus instructions on how to wire the letters. You can also purchase the blueprints from ETSY here. The Ampersand blueprint sells separately. Signs come in different heights, so you can choose which size to start with and if you want to add larger/smaller versions once those start renting. It is also suggested to make only the letters you need – if requested, you can make up a letter quite quickly.
Not sure you want to make letters and numbers? Consider other items you can create and rent– maybe wedding archways or benches?
5. Furniture accessories and décor furniture flipping side hustle
For a more passive furniture-flipping side hustle, diversify your offerings by creating or sourcing and selling furniture-related accessories like cushions, drawer knobs, or decorative items.
If you don’t want to source out the décor, you can create it. While not entirely passive, the items can serve as staging items as well as items to sell.
Small items are a great way to play with techniques and get creative. Maybe you like to tie macramé? Create wall hangings to accent your pieces and sell them on the side.
Don’t want to make your own products? You can buy bulk, wholesale products from suppliers on sites like Alibaba and sell them instead.
6. Furniture refinishing supplies furniture flipping side hustle
Another furniture-flipping side hustle is to become a stockist. You may already be an affiliate for some product lines, but stockists buy furniture-flipping side hustle supplies such as paints, varnishes, brushes, and hardware and resell them at retail prices. Hardware, including salvaged hardware, is sought-after by other furniture refinishers.
Unfortunately, many companies require you to have a storefront to become a stockist. Search for those businesses that will allow websites or home stores. You may also be able to rent a space in a retail store to sell your finished furniture and stockist products. If you go to craft fairs, having smaller, lower-priced items to sell and help pay for the table rental fee is a great idea. Ensure you read the fine print to ensure you can resell items you didn’t make – some fairs are stickier than others about this rule.
7. DIY Furniture Kits furniture flipping side hustle
Create and sell DIY furniture kits for those who want to try their hand at refinishing but need some guidance. If you are already a stockist or want to get creative, put together some kits – possibly at a discount on the individual prices (if you can buy the items at wholesale), to help provide some design ideas for those getting into the business. Kits are also great to add to your furniture flipping side hustle workshops too.
8. Affiliate Marketing of Furniture products furniture flipping side hustle
Like stockists and ambassador discount codes, affiliates can also make money as a furniture flipping side hustle from sales of products they promote by driving traffic to company websites. Becoming an affiliate is quite simple–the larger the social media following your pages or profiles or the more traffic your website gets, the more likely the company will approve you. Check out sites like CJ, Impact, ShareASale, Wholesale2b, PartnerStack, and many more. Look for products that suit your business – home improvement sites, power tools, products, etc. Then, use your affiliate links on your website’s blog posts and social media posts.
Country Chic has discontinued their affiliate program but offers the chance to apply as a creator. Check out the Fusion Mineral Paint Affiliate Program here. It seems to include Homestead House Milk Paint, as well.
Have a favourite brand? Try Googling their name and affiliate program to see if one is available.
9. furniture-Related Content Creation furniture flipping side hustle
This furniture flipping side hustle is an easy add on if you have already set up your social media accounts. Consider documenting your refinishing process and as part of the process, you can tag the companies of the products you used. You may become an influencer for that brand and receive free products (or maybe even money and free trips).
Social media accounts like YouTube and Facebook pay out for views, so the more interesting and relevant your content, the more views you will receive. Explore the world of content creation by starting a blog, YouTube channel, or social media account dedicated to furniture refinishing.
Wrapping up
These nine furniture flipping side hustles are great ways to add income to your business. Whether you want to add in more services, sell retail products, or promote your business and earn money through social media, one of these furniture flipping side hustles is sure to fit your business. Comment below to let me know what you do to make additional income as furniture flipping side hustle.
