Thursday, July 26, 2012

Anyway You Want It

I've been lucky lately to be kept very busy with custom furniture pieces. They are fun for me to paint because it forces me to break out of my usual style. Each custom piece of furniture I've painted has been something that I would never have thought of on my own, but loved when I saw the finished product.



My latest was this this set of antique dressers. They are finished in Granite Boulder by Behr and have glass knobs. 


This adorable green cutie is finished in Fresh Meadow by Valspar and has white ceramic knobs.


Yes, I paint a lot of  dressers.... This one was for a newborn baby girl's room and is stained Rustoleum's American Walnut. The top is painted Heavy Cream by Olympic. The knobs are brushed nickel and kind of old fashioned looking. 

I'm currently working on one more custom dresser. This one will be bare wood with purple glass knobs. I love that each one is so different and not at all what I would have chosen.  And since I don't always paint dressers here is one more...




This headboard was done for my mom who specifically wanted a pine cone headboard. I walked into my favorite used furniture store one day and it was there waiting for me for only $25! It was meant to be. Mom's request was "IKEA white" so this is finished in Glidden's Parchment White. 

So that's what you get when you design the piece and I do all the work... whatever you want. I enjoy working with each customer to give them exactly what will work in their space. Custom work is keeping me pretty busy at the moment, which is such a blessing, but I'm excited to use some ideas of my own soon.

On another subject I have a question for anyone who happens to read this... a new furniture consignment store has opened very close to my home and I talked to the owner today about selling my furniture through them. She seemed interested in refinished pieces and it seems like things sell quickly. So my choices are to sell pieces quickly through a consignment store and give half the selling price to the store owner or sell on my own at a much slower rate and keep my entire earnings. What would you do? Have you used a consignment store before? I'd love some feedback on this one. 





2 comments:

  1. Christina, this is great! Way to use your talent & passion and transform it into $$!

    As for your selling dilemma, I suggest you do a bit of both! Maybe sell some pieces through the store just to get your name and work out there, and save the really special pieces to sell on your own--through your blog? or FB? or Etsy? Or some other avenue? Local arts & crafts events?

    Unless you have to have a long-term contract with the consignment store, it doesn't hurt to try them out. They might sell at higher prices than you are comfortable asking. And then when you are ready, you can sell on your own for the prices you deserve!

    Either way, if you love doing it, keep doing it, and you'll discover the path you were meant to take! :-)

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  2. I have to agree with Katrina; splitting between both options sounds good. Is the consignment store really asking for 50%? That seems awfully steep to me. I also think you need business cards and maybe some flyers. You do really great work and I hope this goes really well for you.

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