Garage sales are good places to find cheap furniture that needs refinishing.
If you want to become a furniture painter, a great way to start is to study books on the subject. You won’t even have to buy them if you can borrow them at your local library. You can also read articles online from furniture makers and other experts, as well as join carpentry workshops in your community. Taking furniture restoration courses in your area is another option, but even if there isn’t one, you can still become a furniture painter by studying all the available materials on the subject and also experimenting with the techniques.
A wooden dining set can be a type of furniture that can be successfully restored.
Start with old furniture that nobody wants. You can often get discarded furniture by asking family, friends, and neighbors. Flea markets and garage sales are other great sources of cheap furniture to practice finishing. Beneath the layers of paint, there may be quality wood or just bits of wood chips; either way, you will get scraping experience.
Furniture refinishing may include staining wooden parts.
Depending on the type of furniture restoration you’d like to do, you can experiment with different painting techniques on inexpensive pieces and bring out the wood grain on quality items. Some people who want to become furniture painters paint old items and turn them into beautiful display pieces that others want to buy. A local furniture store or artisan gallery may be interested in these works.
Remember that whatever techniques are used to refinish furniture, they need to attract buyers. If you hope to become a furniture painter to earn an income, you will need to find a market for your work. Promotion is also important. Placing your refurbished pieces in local furniture showrooms may be your goal if you hope to sell items on a regular basis.
You will not only need to know and have practiced the techniques of dismantling, restoring and painting furniture, but also have the necessary equipment and space to work. Don’t overdo it and spend too much money on supplies, or you won’t make much profit for the first few weeks. If you want to become a furniture painter, start small and grow your business while continuing to understand what your target buyers want.
After studying and learning different techniques in practice, it is a good idea to print business cards and also have a website with photos of your work. When you approach furniture stores with your marketing material, just talk to the manager. If you want to become a successful furniture painter, you shouldn’t waste valuable business time meeting with an employee unless he or she is an authorized decision maker when it comes to buying products for the store.