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Hello AT,
How can I start selling furniture I paint?
I've painted a few pieces just to brighten up some cheap furniture I had, and I've gotten really positive feedback on it from friends who say I should make more and sell it. I've been painting stuff a bunch of colors and then crackle-painting over it with a darker color so you get this patchy multi-colored effect. Where do I start? Do you think anyone will want this kind of stuff?
Thanks, Rebecca
Dear Rebecca, although your furniture is not quite our style, it is SOMEONES. We also love your enthusiasm and can-do attitide and want to put you out there. As for "anyone wants this kind of stuff" we'll let our readers decide. As for where to sell it, you are welcome to list them in our classifieds. Craigslist is good too. And if you get more feedback and two other people recommend you, we'll list you in our archive. MGR
As a rule, if you even ask the question "Will anybody buy this?" in America, the answer is YES! Maybe find an arts and crafts show to participate in, and bring some pieces? I've seen some really ugly stuff that people sell out there and people buy that, so since yours looks much cooler than that, so I'm sure someone would buy it! Good luck!!!!
Have you thought about Etsy.com? They have a furniture section, or even in the everything else category. It's a great little place to set up shop. I would just list in your item profiles that you won't ship if it would be too much of a hassle, just stick to your area. Might be an idea!
I would just like to say that this is why I love this site--no nasty comments. What nice, positive suggestions! Good luck, Rebecca.
The only thing I must warn you about, Rebecca, with furniture, is that it's a cumbersome kind of thing to deal with.
I used to live in Hell's Kitchen, and I seriously, there was some very fun furniture that I found on the street, and I used to strip it, and work it into something pretty nice.
Often, it would be chairs, and I came up with this great, fun way of upholstering them that I kind of invented, but the materials were kind of expensive, but I really enjoyed doing them, and people got a kick out of them.
Anyway ... I found a place (now since disappeared) that took them in on consignment, but they only could keep just so much in there at a time, and it was a little hard to price them so that they would sell AND I could pay myself for my time. I enjoyed it though, and it wsa kind of gratifying for a while there, and what you might do is start noticing really funky little shops that do sell stuff that's customized, hand-made stuff that you feel has a compatible vibe to your own, and if the people that run it seem like the kind of people you can imagine dealing with, from the way they deal with the public, etc., then think about starting a conversation about your stuff. That's kind of how it started with me, I think but it's been almost 10 years since then.
Don't forget about eBay. You can let people know they have to pick items up themselves but you could also make smaller things like wall shelves which could be shipped.
There are an astounding number of "shabby chic" handpainted item fans on auction sites.
If you delve into eBay, you should look at a lot of listings for similar items on it, AND ... you should read the feedback of the Sellers and the Buyers on there, so you can get an idea of what kinds of customer issues that can come up in the shipping and/or delivery of the kind of item you're dealing with, because especially if there is negative feedback, you can learn an awful lot about the kinds of things to watch out for.
Also, look at all kinds of hand-painted furniture to help you figure out what kinds of key words you should put in the name of your listing, because if no one is doing searches of the words that are in your listing, you'll have NO bidders.