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Furniture Flipping for Beginners: 6 Things to Check Before You Buy · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in on this Labor Day weekend.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Thanks for being here. You're listening to Home in Progress
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: by Repco Light Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And hopefully
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: you've got big, enormous fun plans for your extended weekend.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm going to the lake later today, so
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: that's going to be fun. Fun for me and fun
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: for all the people who happen to be at whatever
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: beach I decide to grace with my presence. I'm sure
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: they'll be thrilled and excited beyond words. But unfortunately for me,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: that's going to be the extent of my fun. I
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: can only handle just so much. So right after that,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: after the beach, it's back to business at home. And
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I'll probably spend, oh man, probably the rest of Saturday
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and for sure a lot of Monday weeding and mowing
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: the yard and doing things like that. So hopefully your
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: long weekend is going to be a little more fun
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: than that. Anyway, speaking of fun, let's get moving with
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the show. And right now I want to start just
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: jumping in and looking at an emerging trend in interior
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: design called color capping. Now, if you haven't heard that
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: term yet, there's a pretty good chance you're going to.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: It's been showing up more and more on design blogs
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: and in paint conversations. And to give you an idea
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: what it is, color capping is a way of using
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: multiple shades from the same color family in one room,
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: usually getting darker or richer as you move upward towards
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: and then onto the ceilings. So, for example, picture this.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe you've got, let's just say, a soft, dusty blue
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: on the walls. Then you use a somewhat deeper blue
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: on the crown molding. And then on the ceiling, maybe
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: you go with a rich navy. Now, it doesn't need
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: to move from lighter to darker. You could reverse that,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: but typically that's how people do it. And it also
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: doesn't need to incorporate just three colors. You know, you
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: could pull it off with two. You could stretch it
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: to more. But for the most part, that's color capping.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: And it's definitely something that's getting more attention in design
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: circles lately. You know, Benjamin Moore has been talking about
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: it and we're seeing it pop up on design websites,
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: decorating blogs all over the place. But before you jump
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: in to give it a try yourself, I've got five
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: things that I'd keep in mind. First off, when choosing
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: your colors, remember that undertones matter. You know, don't just
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: assume that because you're using three greens or three blues
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: or three browns or whatever, that they're automatically different. going
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: to work together. You could grab three different greens off
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: three completely different color cards, and one might have a
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: really strong yellow undertone. Another might lean blue. Another might
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: be grayed down and a little bit earthy. They're all
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: green technically, but that doesn't mean they're going to look
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: good together. So if you're going to try this, start
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: with a color card of a color family that you like,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: and then choose from amongst the graduating tones. Now, if
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: you're not working with a color card like that, just
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: make sure that you look at the colors together on
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the cards that you picked and compare the undertones. They
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: need to work together and not fight each other. Second,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: make sure the colors that you choose are different enough
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to be distinct, but not so different that they look disjointed.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: You know, if you're working with a color chip with
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: graduating tones, choosing options that are two or three shades
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: apart is usually a really good starting point. But whatever
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: you do, however you get your colors, sample them. Benjamin
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Moore color samples are perfect for this. You can Brush
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: paint onto the walls, onto the ceiling, onto the trim.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: You can put it on foam board. However you choose
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to do it, it's going to give you a way
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: to see the colors in a larger scale. That's the
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: big win there. So do that and then look at
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: those colors next to each other. Look at them in
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the morning. Look at them at night. Live with them
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: for a while and see how they interact. Then you
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: can make your final choice from that. Third thing, let
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the architecture of the room help you decide where the
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: colors change. You know, this one isn't rocket science, but
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: color capping... is especially effective and easy to do in
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: rooms that already have natural transition points. You know, if
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: you've got crown molding, that makes it super simple. You know,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: maybe the walls are one color, the crown is another,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the ceiling gets the deepest shade. Picture rails, if you've
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: got that, that can work beautifully. Same idea. Beams can work.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Trace ceilings can be fantastic for this. Anything that naturally
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: divides one surface from another gives you a logical place
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to make that color shift. Now, without those architectural elements,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: you can still do it, but you need to think
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a little bit harder about where those transitions happen. You know,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a good rule of thumb here is to create your
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: own visual breaks, maybe two-thirds of the way up the wall,
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: and then shift at that point to your darker tone
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: or the next darker tone, and then you move to
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: the darkest tone on the ceiling. Fourth thing, think really
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: carefully about what the ceiling color is going to do
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: to the room. You know, adding a color to the
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: ceiling becomes a major part of the design. A deep
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: ceiling color, we talk about it all the time here,
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  Speaker 1: it can be absolutely beautiful. You know, in a dining
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: room with 10-foot ceilings, for example, a deep navy or
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: charcoal or a dark green overhead can really make the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: room feel incredibly rich, intimate, just a really cool look.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: But if you take that same dark ceiling and you
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: put it in a smaller room, you know, with eight-foot
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: ceilings and one little north-facing window, if you do that,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: you could get a very different effect. You know, the
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: room could end up feeling much smaller, much darker. It
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: may feel more enclosed. You know, not necessarily. It's not
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: always going to happen. But it could. And if that's
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: what you want, great. You just want to make sure
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: that you're making that choice intentionally. You know, don't just
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: choose a dark ceiling just because you saw one in
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: a gorgeous photo online. Make sure that it's the right
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  Speaker 1: color for your space and for your intention for that space.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: So look at the size of your room. Look at
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: the ceiling height. Look at the amount of natural light
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: you get. And be sure to sample your color before
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: you commit to it. Last thing, number five, don't be
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: intimidated by color capping. You know, I think it can
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: be intimidating because visually... It looks pretty sophisticated. But mechanically,
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: there's really nothing terribly complicated going on. You're painting walls.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: You're painting trim and moldings. You're painting a ceiling. Nothing
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: really new here. You're just using different colors on those surfaces.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: The hardest part is probably choosing the right colors. And
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: we'll help you with that. We've got color experts in
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: every location. Just stop out and talk to us. And
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: if you are thinking about this, a few other things
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: to know. I gave you the main five. Here are,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: I guess, three quick freebies. Benjamin Moore's Waterborne Ceiling Paint.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: That is ideal if you're going to be putting a
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: darker color or any color really on your ceiling. You know,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: it's a dead flat and it remains a dead flat
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: even when it's tinted. That's unusual. Most ceiling paints aren't
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: going to do that. And you want that because the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: flatter the finishes, the easier it is to apply. So
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Moore's Waterborne Ceiling Paint, that's the paint you want
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: if you're putting a color on your ceiling. Next thing,
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: we're running a September special on Frog Tape at Repcolite.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Frog Tape, if you're not familiar, it's a perfect product
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: for creating crisp lines between colors. There's a lot more
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: to it, but that's all I've got time to say
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: about it right now. I'll talk about it next week.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: But it's on sale for $ 13 for a three-pack of
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: 1 1⁄2-inch Frog Tape, and that's all September long. Last thing,
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: running right now through September 14, we've got a 20%
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: off sale on Benjamin Moore's Regal Select. So if you
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: do have painting to do, now's a great time to
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: snag a premium paint for a really good price. Okay,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: that ends September 14, that 20% off on Regal. All right,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: that's enough of that. Let's shift gears now and talk
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: about one of my favorite projects. It's the project that
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: gave me my first taste of DIY work, and we'll
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: dig into it right after this. Home in Progress is
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: brought to you by Repco Light Paints and Benjamin Moore.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: You know, people often think of paint as just another
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: line item on the project supply list, but here's the thing.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Everything you do, every hour of prep, every stroke of
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the brush, all comes down to the quality of the paint.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: And we're back. You're listening to Home in Progress by
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Repco Light Paint, sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And as we're
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: heading into fall and starting to move inside with some
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: of our projects, I know that the exterior projects, you
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: can still tackle them. You've still got plenty of time.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: So if you just freaked out for a second that
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: exterior work is done now, no, you got plenty of time.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: You knew that. plenty of products that will work far
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: into the fall. There's a great big window of exterior
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: work time yet. If you've got projects you need to
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: get done. But with that said, a number of us
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: are starting to wrap those things up. We're starting to
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: move inside. And so with that in mind, I thought
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: I'd do a deep dive, you know, a bit of
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: a deep dive series on refinishing furniture, you know, flipping furniture,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. I want to talk
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: about all kinds of different aspects over the next few weeks,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: you know, finishes that you would use, you know, why
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: this finish is better than this finish for this situation.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: We'll get into all of that. We'll talk about how
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: to get the furniture prepped. If you're painting it, do
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: you need to strip it all down? Can you just
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: sand it? We'll talk about those things. We'll talk about
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: tools and tips and tricks, all of that stuff. We'll
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: get into it over the course of a number of weeks.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: And I really like this topic and the projects like
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: this for a number of reasons. First and foremost, furniture
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: refinishing is a great gateway project. It's your way into
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: the world of DIY stuff. If you're not already firmly
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: entrenched in that world and doing all kinds of stuff
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: around your home, this is a great place to start.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: The investment can be really low, and there's a huge
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: payoff at the end. You can find a dresser or
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: a table or a cabinet at a thrift store, estate sale,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: garage sale, whatever. you can find those things often for
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: not much money. You know, you might even have something
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: in your attic or in your basement right now. You
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: find that thing, doesn't cost you a lot of money
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: to get that. And then with a relatively small collection
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: of tools and products, you can end up learning a
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: surprising amount of stuff that you'll use throughout your home
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: on all kinds of different projects. And if you discover
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: that you really enjoy it, there's even the possibility of
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: buying pieces specifically to flip and sell. You know, there's
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: a number of influencers all over the place who didn't
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: do anything, you know, DIY or handy around the house
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: who got their start by buying refinishing a chest of
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: drawers or something like that, or an end table. They
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: did that, had so much fun, learned so many things,
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: end up getting people commenting on it. They end up
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: selling that piece and they start a whole business based
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: on that. Or they end up, you know, completely redoing
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the upper level of their home, you know, all the painting,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: something that they'd never thought they would do. The gateway
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: to that was this project, you know, refinishing furniture. So
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: I love this project. And because of that, we're going
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: to spend some time, like I said, talking about all
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: kinds of different things. And we'll do it in bite-sized segments.
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: You know, it's not going to eat up the whole
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: show every week. And I probably won't even hit one
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: of these topics every single week. But as we go,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: no matter what skill level you're at when it comes
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: to refinishing furniture, flipping furniture, you're going to learn something
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: every time. That's my vow. We'll see if I can
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: come through. The first thing, though, that I want to
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: focus on today isn't really learning how to do, you know,
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: the sanding or the painting or how to strip anything off,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: you know, the finish off or anything like that. What
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I want to focus on today is learning how to
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: work your way through the thrift store or an antique
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: store or flea market or whatever and be able to
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: recognize if a piece that you found there is worth
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: bringing home or not. You know, there's a lot of
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: junk out there. And while much of it's easy to identify,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: it's not always easy to identify. In fact, years back,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: we had a person on the show who was doing
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: a lot of this. You know, this is what she
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: was doing. This is what her career was. And a
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: lot of furniture refinishing. And she told a story on
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: air about how she spotted a piece of furniture on
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: the side of the road once. She's driving by. There's
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: a big free sign and some really good looking, cool
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: looking furniture. furniture right there. So she stops, scans the furniture,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: thought it looked beautiful, grabbed it, put in the car,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: drove away. You know, on the show, she was saying
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: it's one of her most embarrassing things that she's done,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: you know, in all of this refinishing work, because when
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: she got it home and got it into her little shop,
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: it took her just, you know, a minute, just seconds
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to realize that she didn't even have something that was
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: real wood. It was just particle board with a really
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: good picture on it. You know, she would have caught
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: it if she looked at it longer on the side
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: of the road and you know, but traffic and all
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: of that. So she didn't have time to look at it.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: She's just pumped. You know, it looked good. The sign
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: said free. So she grabbed it. Basically, my point in
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: rambling about that is that you can be duped, right?
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Most of the time you'll catch that kind of thing.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: You're going to figure out it's particle board in the store,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: but not all the time, you know, and it happens
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: to the best of us. We get duped sometimes, you know,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of things to consider before you slap
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: your money down and haul something home. So that's what
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: we want to focus on today. So first off, first thing,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: I've got maybe five, six things. First thing, and each
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: thing is like 12 things lumped together. So this is
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: meaty stuff. Get your notepads out, get your pencil sharpened.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: Here we go. First off, when you see something in
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: the store and you're interested in it, you've got to
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: start by looking at the bones, right? Is the piece solid?
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: You know, is it constructed well? Is it wobbly? Look
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: at the joints, the major joints. Are they separating or
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: are they in good condition? Do doors, if it's got doors,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: do they open and close smoothly? If it's got drawers,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: do they slide reasonably well? Are the drawer bottoms intact?
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: You know, check that out. And don't just look at
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: the inside. If you're serious about the piece, and if
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: you can do so easily, pull the drawers out and
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: take a look at the underside as well. You know,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: just check it to make sure that it's all solid
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and in good shape. And speaking of the drawers, look
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: at the joinery. You know, we talked about the joints
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: separating earlier. Look at the joinery of the drawers. You know, dovetails,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: if you see that, that's a good indication that somebody put,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: you know, a fair amount of effort into the construction.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And it generally gives you a much stronger drawer than
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: something that's stapled or fastened, you know, just on the corners.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: And also, if you're looking at the dovetails and you
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: happen to see irregular hand cut dovetails, that's pretty exciting,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: pretty cool. it often suggests that the piece is quite
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: old or that someone really put some time into it.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Or maybe both. I found a desk that way once.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I didn't buy it. I can't remember why. I do
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: remember beating myself up later, but I remember opening it
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: up and seeing how irregular the dovetails were. They were beautiful,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: and they were really solid and in really good shape,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: but it wasn't a machine-made dovetail. And for some reason,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: in all my brilliance, I didn't buy that piece. Anyway,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: all of that to say, look at the joinery and
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: the condition that it's in in those drawers. Now, beyond
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: the drawers, make sure that the back of the piece
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: is attached properly. Check that out a minute. Look for
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: any major warping or rot or water damage, things like that.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Minor warping, rot, and water damage, minor stuff, that can
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: be relatively cosmetic or at least something you can deal with.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: It can be fixed in most situations if it's minor.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Serious levels... of, of rot or warping or something like that,
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: that gets harder, you know, to deal with. It's harder
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: to get the piece looking good again when that's what
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: you're working on. So check all of that over. And
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: last thing I'll say about this part of it is
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: don't forget about the feet. If the piece has feet,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I bought a desk once and it was so cool.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: It was ornate. It was beautifully carved. It was exactly
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: what I was looking for, for the space that I
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: wanted it. You know, I looked the whole thing over.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I made sure it was in absolutely, you know, as
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: perfect a condition as it could be. I was really
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: happy with it. Bought it, took it home. But one
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: thing I never looked at was the back legs and
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: the feet. I never, ever even thought to do that.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: When I got it home and started working on it,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: I saw immediately that great big, huge chunks were missing
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: from the carvings that made the back feet. You know,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: that's the back feet. So it's not a huge deal.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: But where the desk was going to sit in my space,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: those back feet were going to be pretty visible. So
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I had to do a fair amount of rebuilding, you know,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: using some specialty epoxy putties and so on to get
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: it looking pretty good. You know, in the end, that's
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: what I got. I got something that looked okay, but
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: it did add a ton of work and it never
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: really looked as good as I hoped it would be.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: And one of the big reasons was because of this,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: you know, whether you realize it or not, And we're
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: going to talk about this more in depth in a
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: future segment. But those epoxy putties that I'm talking about
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: and pretty much most wood fillers, wood putties, you know,
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: they'll say right on the container that they're stainable. And
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: a lot of people misinterpret that. You know, we interpret
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: that with all the hope in the world. You know,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: we assume that means it's going to just take the
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: stain like the wood around it. And that's not the case.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: You know, they'll take a stain. That's what stainable means.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: They will absorb a stain. but it's not telling you
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: that it's going to take the stain in the same way,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: in the same manner, in the same color as the
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: rest of the real wood that's around that repair. So
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: if you're painting your piece, those repairs aren't as big
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: of a deal. They're still work, but they don't impact
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the final look of the piece as much. But if
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: you're planning on staining something and you find that you've
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: got a lot of repair work with putties, it's probably
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: going to stand out. You can be almost positive it's
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: not going to blend away. That was my situation. The
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: repair was good. You know, I did a decent job
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: with the repair, but after I stained everything, it always showed.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: It was a little bit lighter than everything around it. Now,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: if I had known and seen that damage on those
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: feet before I bought the desk, I still would have
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: bought it anyway. But if I'd seen that damage, I
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: really think I'd have felt better about everything. You know,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: if I'd just been aware of it going in, I
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: would have felt better about it. I didn't like finding
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: it out later and realizing I missed it. So, All
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: of that to say, check it over. You know, this
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: piece that you're looking at, check it over from top
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: to bottom and be very specific about what you're looking for.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Structural stuff, you know, ugly finishes, scratches, water rings, dated hardware,
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: all of that can be fixed or mitigated. Large sections
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: of peeling veneer, drawers that are coming apart or cracked
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: or broken sections. That's something else entirely. So keep that
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: in mind. That's the first thing. This one's going to
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: be longer. I can tell already this. I'm not going
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: to spend whole shows moving forward on this stuff, but
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: I think today is going to be a lot of
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: refinishing stuff. So I think we're going to have to
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: take a break right now, and then we're going to
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: come back to four more items, four more things that
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: you need to look at before you snatch something. Well,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: never snatch before you buy something off the showroom in
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: a thrift store or or whatever, four more things you
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: need to look at to make sure it's the right
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: piece for you. We'll get to those right after this.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Home in Progress is brought to you by Repco Light
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Paints and Benjamin Moore. Think about it. You spend hours prepping, sanding, taping,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: and then finally painting. Don't throw all that work away
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: with an inferior product. The paint isn't just another supply.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: The paint is the project. Make sure it's the best.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: And we're back. You're listening to Home in Progress, brought
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: to you by Repco Light Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: And we're kind of taking a deep dive into furniture
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: refinishing and flipping furniture. And I'm going to be doing
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: a little bit of this throughout the next few weeks.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I didn't mean for this one to be as big
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: as it is. It looks like it's going to take
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: up a lot of the show today. But it's good stuff.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: It's good stuff. So we're going to just keep plowing. ahead.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: What we're talking about right now isn't the work itself
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: when it comes to refinishing furniture. We'll get to that,
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: the tools you'll use and all of that. We'll get
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: to that. The first thing you need to do in
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: this process, especially if you're new at it, Uh, is
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: you've got to figure out, you've got to be able
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: to tell by looking at the piece in the store,
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: wherever you find it, the flea market, the thrift store,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: wherever you need to be able to tell if it's
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: worth grabbing, you know, paying for, of course, always paying
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: for and bringing home and refinishing. And we talked about
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the first set of things you need to look at
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: in the last segment. And that was the structural stuff,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: you know, make sure it's solid, blah, blah, blah. If
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: you missed it, just check out the podcast. You can
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: get all of that info. The second thing that you
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: really want to look at when you're assessing the piece
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: is to look at the material it's made of. Is
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: it solid wood? Is it a veneer? Is it an
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: engineered material? Now, this goes back to the example that
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I used last segment with my furniture refinisher friend who
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: messed up. Basically, she found something on the side of
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: the road, thought it was real wood, just at a glance,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: took it home, and in like 30 seconds... The minute
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: she looked at it more closely, she realized it was
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: engineered wood. You don't want that to happen. So analyze
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: the thing or look at it a little more closely
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: in the store before you drop the money because some
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: of those engineered pieces, they're getting better and better. They're
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: not going to withstand a lot of scrutiny, but they
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: can trick you if you just glance over them. So
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: double check. Because the big takeaway is solid wood and veneers,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: they can be worked with if you want to refinish something.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: If it's an engineered material, there's really not tons you
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: can do with it. You know, it can be painted,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: I guess, with prep, but you're really not working on
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: a quality piece of lasting furniture at that point. So
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: you want to figure out what you're looking at. And
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: you can do that by looking at the edges and
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the corners. On a solid wood, the face grain is
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: going to continue around onto the edge. A veneer, that's
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: going to show a thin seam or a separate banding
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: strip where the sheet stops. Whatever you've got, solid wood
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: or veneers, they're both fine. You can work with either one.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you hear people say, you can't really do much
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: with a veneer. That's not the case. There are some
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: considerations and precautions with veneers, but nothing that can't be
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: worked around, provided they're in good shape on your piece. Now,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: if you see a lot of lifting, bubbling, loose edges,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: or large missing areas with a veneer, then things get
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: a little trickier. You can fix a lot of minor
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: veneer issues pretty easily with But if the delamination or
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: the missing sections are big, it gets tougher and far
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: more time consuming. Now, if you're painting everything, that's less
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: of a concern. But it's still something to think about.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: If what you discover is a piece that's particle board
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: with a fancy wood grain picture on it, well, like
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: I said, that can still be usable furniture. It's just
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: not something you should snatch up thinking that you're going
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: to refinish it. It's not really going to work. Refinishing
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: doesn't work with that kind of material. All right. Third thing.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to look at is if you're looking at a painted piece,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: you're going to want to give it a little extra scrutiny.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: But probably even more importantly, you're going to want to
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: set your expectations back just a little bit. You know,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of painted furniture is painted because people got
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: sick of a wood look. You know, that's really all
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: it was. I am sick of everything looking like wood.
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: I want color. You know, they wanted something different. And
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: when that's the case, you can strip that paint off
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: and find beautiful wood underneath. And that's really fun when
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: you do. It's really exciting. It's almost like finding treasure.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: It's got that feel to it, except not quite as
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: good because treasure is treasure, right? And that's even better.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: But when you find this beautiful grain, it's really exciting.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: And when you do find it, you're going to say
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the thing that all of us say whenever we find that.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: You know, any of us who have ever done it
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: and we find this beautiful wood grain, we all say
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: one single thing or a version of it. And you
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: will say that same thing too. You will say, why
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in the world would anybody ever have painted this? And
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: you will say that to yourself over and over again.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: It's universal. You can't strip paint off a piece of furniture,
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: find beautiful wood underneath and not say it. It's just,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: it's written into our DNA. We have to say it.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: You can't stop yourself. In fact, you'll probably say it
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: another hundred times to everybody who whoever looks at that
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: piece of furniture, it will become your mantra. You will
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: be so excited. So that really does happen. You will
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: really strip paint off and you will really find something
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: amazing underneath. But remember, paint covers a multitude of sins.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: And often pieces are painted because there's something going on
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: that only paint could hide. Sometimes it's major repairs. Sometimes
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: You know, it's ugly wood grain, you know, the kind
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: of wood grain that made someone say, why would anybody
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: have ever stained and varnished this horrible thing in the
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: first place? You know, that happens. It's been painted over
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: for a reason. I've been there on that side of
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: things as well. I found the beautiful wood and I've
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: been on the other side. I stripped a desk. I
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: buy a lot of desks. I don't know why, but
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: for some reason, that's what I'm drawn to. But I
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: stripped a desk down that I bought and I was
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: certain I was going to have Just this amazing, beautiful
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: wood top that I uncovered here. I was so excited
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: what I was going to find. And when I stripped
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: it all off, I discovered that what I had was
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: just a really cheap piece of wood with terrible graining
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: that just didn't look good with stain on it. Not
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: at all. It looked horrible. And you can't tell any
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: of that when you look at it in the store, usually.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: So while I say you should scrutinize it a little
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: bit more, especially if it's painted... That's why I'm telling
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: you to make sure you set your expectations back a
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: little bit. You know, you might be able to, when
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: you scrutinize it, see some signs. You know, I guess
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: that's what I'm getting at there. Look for smoothness to
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: the surface. You know, if it's a tabletop, a desktop,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: the top of a, you know, a chest of drawers
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: or something like that, look for smoothness to that surface.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: Or rather, maybe you're looking for areas where things aren't
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: smooth or perfectly uniform. That can be a sign that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: there's a wood putty fix or something like that going on,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: you know, underneath that paint. So look for that. Check
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: for what you can. Scrutinize what you can. But more importantly,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: like I said, have a backup plan. Set your expectations
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: back a little bit. If you're planning on stripping this
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: thing and staining it, tell yourself that you might find
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: something that makes that impossible or impractical. And if you're
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: good with pivoting to a painted or a partially painted
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: piece and everything else about it is solid, then go
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: for it. Now, if you need that stained and varnished
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: look to really complete the room that you're trying to
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: put this in or whatever, if it really needs to
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: be stained and varnished and it's painted now, well, go
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: in knowing that you're gambling there because you don't know
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: what that paint is hiding. Fourth thing to think about
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: when you're looking at these pieces of furniture and assessing
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: their value or whether they're right for you and your project,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: fourth thing to think about is don't let the hardware
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: that's on the piece throw you off. You know, sometimes
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: this happens to people, sometimes it doesn't. So I don't
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: want to spend too much time on this. But remind
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: yourself constantly that new hardware can completely change the look
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: and feel of a piece. Now, I got suckered on
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: this just the other day. Well, a month ago or so.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: And then I realized how badly I got suckered just
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: the other day. You know, so a couple of months
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: ago or so, I saw this chest of drawers and
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: it had large wooden knobs on it. And those knobs,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: something about them I just detested. It reminded me of
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: something I had long ago. I didn't like the look.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: I pulled my nose up at it and I moved on.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: It just didn't resonate with me. And it was those
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: knobs that I just didn't like. Well, the other day
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I saw that same piece and the person who bought
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: it had refinished it and changed out the wooden knobs
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: for brass knobs. And it was an incredible change. The
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: refinishing part, that part I imagined. I had no problem
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: imagining that. I was blown away at how big a
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: difference the new hardware made. So, Keep that in mind.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Hardware is easy to change in pretty much every situation.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming most people will see that, but I missed it.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: And in turn, I missed out on snagging something that
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: would have looked pretty cool in my house. All right,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: fifth thing, last thing. When you look at a piece
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: that you're thinking about refinishing, especially if you're new at
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: it and you're looking for that first time project, ask
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: yourself how complicated this piece is going to be to refinish.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: You know, basically you're asking yourself, am I up for this?
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: You know, so look at the shape of it, the details,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: the condition it's in, the condition of the finish that's
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: on there. You know, is it a few coats of
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: a clear coat that's wearing off or is it layers
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: and layers of old paint? You know, if it's layers
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: and layers of old paint, how old do you think
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: the piece is? That's something to ask yourself and to
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: kind of think about. The further away from 1978 that
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: you get, you know, the older the piece is, the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: more likely it is to have at least some lead-based
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: paint on it. Now, you can test for lead-based paint
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: once you get it home. And there are steps that
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: you can take to protect yourself and your family while
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: you work on it. But have that conversation with yourself
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: right up front. You know, not after you get at
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: home and realize that you've bitten off more than you
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: want to chew. Now, if you're experienced at flipping furniture,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: this is still a concern, but probably a little bit
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: less of one. Only because you've probably encountered things like
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: this before and you've worked your way through them. If
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: you're new at it and you're looking for a great
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: first experience, well, you probably don't want that first try
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: to be dealing with something with lead-based paint. So keep
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: that in mind. I'll talk more about lead-based paint on
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: a future segment in this series. But for now, just
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: keep that front and center in your mind as you're
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: looking the piece over before you buy it. If you
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: want that perfect first project, you know, refinishing project, piece
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: of furniture, some really great things to consider would be
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: a dresser, you know, a really straightforward nightstand, a simple table,
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: a basic cabinet, you know, things with flat surfaces, things
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: with relatively simple trim. If you're finding something that's You know,
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: got a lot of carved details, a lot of slats, spindles,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: turned legs, deep moldings, you know, really intricate corners or
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: complicated veneers. Or if it's got upholstery plus wood finishing,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: if you've got those things, that's going to be more involved.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: So if it's your first project, maybe... veer away from
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: some of those, look for something simpler to get started.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: You know, you know you, you know what you're comfortable tackling.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Just keep all of that in mind as you look
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the piece over and make your decision. And remember, it's
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: okay to walk away from something that's a great deal.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: You know, something that would be beautiful with the right
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: amount of work. It's okay to walk away from something
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: like that. It doesn't feel like it is. You know,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: we see a great deal or we see something that
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: would be beautiful if I just could put the work in,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: but it's okay to walk away from that. A project
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: or a piece can be all of those things and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: still be the wrong one for you. So keep that
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: in mind. Those are some things to look for to
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: make sure that a piece of furniture that you're looking
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: at in a store is worth grabbing and refinishing and
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: also that it's right for you. But there is something
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: else to think about. It's value. I mean, what if
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: what you found was a valuable antique and the thrift
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: store just didn't realize it, right? That dream scenario. It's
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: something worth tons of money and they have no clue.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: So they got 25 bucks on it. What if that's
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: what you found? How do you know what you've got
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: before you strip it all down and reduce that inherent
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: value by painting it? Let's talk about that or a
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: little bit about that right after this. You're listening to
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Home in Progress, where the projects are real, the mistakes,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: they're educational, sometimes painful, mostly educational, and the only thing
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: more stubborn than that old wallpaper on your bathroom wall
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: is your determination to get it fixed. proudly sponsored by
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Repco Light Paints and Benjamin Moore. Paint with a purpose,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: people who care, and everything you need to get the
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: job done right. And we're back. This is Home in
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: Progress by Repco Light Paints, sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: we're talking about refinishing furniture. Now, actually, we spent the
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  Speaker 1: last couple segments talking about how to decide if the
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  Speaker 1: piece that you found at the thrift store or Facebook
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  Speaker 1: Marketplace or a garage sale, whatever, if that piece is
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  Speaker 1: worth snatching up and bringing home you know, to refurbish,
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  Speaker 1: to refinish, to flip. And in the break, I thought
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  Speaker 1: of another thing you need to consider when you're looking at,
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  Speaker 1: you know, a piece of furniture in the store. And
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  Speaker 1: this is a major, major thing to consider. And I
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  Speaker 1: can't believe I forgot to mention it in last segment,
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  Speaker 1: but it's the smell. The smell. Open up the drawers
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  Speaker 1: and just stick your face in there and give a good,
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  Speaker 1: you know, sniff. You want to find out if there's
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  Speaker 1: a stink in there. If it smells like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: cigarette smell or an old house smell or an animal
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  Speaker 1: smell or just, you know, there's a whole variety of
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  Speaker 1: really stinky things out there. If it smells like any
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  Speaker 1: of those really stinky things, sometimes that's not easy to
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  Speaker 1: deal with. It usually can be dealt with. But often
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  Speaker 1: you've got to go to some specialty products to lock
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  Speaker 1: that smell in. So if you're looking at a piece,
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  Speaker 1: give it the sniff test. If it passes the sniff
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  Speaker 1: test and all the other tests, that could be good
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  Speaker 1: for you. All right. What if you've done all of that?
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  Speaker 1: You know, you've assessed a given piece based on all
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  Speaker 1: those questions and it passes the test. You know, you
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  Speaker 1: snatch it up, you bring it home. Well, every now
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  Speaker 1: and then, especially with stained and varnished pieces that are
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  Speaker 1: obviously old, there's this lingering question in most of our minds,
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  Speaker 1: or at least many of us. we wonder, what did
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  Speaker 1: I just find? You know, is this valuable as it is?
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  Speaker 1: And is stripping it down and refinishing it, is that
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  Speaker 1: going to dramatically affect that value? Now, most of the time,
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  Speaker 1: what we find in thrift stores and flea markets, it's
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  Speaker 1: not incredibly valuable stuff, right? But that stuff is out
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  Speaker 1: there and people do find it all the time. It happens,
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  Speaker 1: we hear about it. And maybe that's exactly what you
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  Speaker 1: just found. You know, something that's older, better made, or
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  Speaker 1: more collectible than you realize. That's something that you probably
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  Speaker 1: want to know before you put an orbital sander on
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  Speaker 1: the thing and just start going to town. So if
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  Speaker 1: you're wondering about this piece that you brought home to
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  Speaker 1: help you decide and figure out what you've got, you've
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  Speaker 1: got to start looking for clues. Here's some things to
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  Speaker 1: think about. First off, check inside the drawers, you know,
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  Speaker 1: underneath the piece on the back, inside cabinets, anywhere that
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  Speaker 1: the manufacturer might've put a label, a stamp, a number,
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  Speaker 1: or a maker's mark, anything, look for that. If you
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  Speaker 1: find one, You know, take your phone out and look
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  Speaker 1: it up. A maker's mark is going to tell you
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  Speaker 1: who built the piece, usually approximately when it was made,
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  Speaker 1: where it came from, sometimes even the particular furniture line. Now,
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  Speaker 1: you also may be able to see what similar pieces
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  Speaker 1: are selling for when you start researching, and that'll give
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  Speaker 1: you great info right off the bat. Now, just because
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  Speaker 1: you found a maker's mark, you know, if you did
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  Speaker 1: find one, that doesn't mean that you've struck gold. You know,
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  Speaker 1: so don't start making purchases or saving things in your
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  Speaker 1: Amazon cart. Plenty of mass-produced furniture was marked too. A
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  Speaker 1: maker's mark is just a clue. It's a good start,
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  Speaker 1: but it's just a clue. Look for that. If you
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  Speaker 1: don't find a maker's mark, even if you don't, that's
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  Speaker 1: not the end of the world. Your phone can help you.
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  Speaker 1: Some of you know how to do this. Some of
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  Speaker 1: you don't. Some of you aren't probably going to be
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  Speaker 1: aware that your phones can do this or that we
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  Speaker 1: can do this with technology now. But you can take
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  Speaker 1: a picture of what you're looking at and then using
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  Speaker 1: the Google app on your phone or on your desktop,
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  Speaker 1: you can try a reverse image search. You know, we've
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  Speaker 1: all done the Google image search. This is a reverse
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  Speaker 1: image search. It'll look at your image and then find
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  Speaker 1: similar images. I'm not going to walk you through it,
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  Speaker 1: but it is something to try. Another thing to look
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  Speaker 1: at is the hardware. You know, that can tip you
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  Speaker 1: off as to how old something is. Old brass poles,
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  Speaker 1: wooden knobs, unusual hinges, and other original details. They can
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  Speaker 1: give you clues about when the piece was made. Just
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  Speaker 1: remember that hardware gets changed all the time, so don't
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  Speaker 1: use it as complete proof by itself. Older hardware can
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  Speaker 1: be added to a newer piece. Newer hardware can be
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  Speaker 1: added to an older piece. So it's not definitive, but
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  Speaker 1: it is just another piece of evidence. Same thing with
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  Speaker 1: the construction of the piece. Hand-cut dovetails, unusual joinery, particularly
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  Speaker 1: nice veneer work or craftsmanship that just seems a little
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  Speaker 1: different or a little higher end, all of those are
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  Speaker 1: reasons to slow down and just do a little homework.
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  Speaker 1: One last thing, age alone doesn't determine value. You could
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  Speaker 1: have a very old piece, but there are very old
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  Speaker 1: pieces that aren't particularly valuable. I had a really old
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  Speaker 1: children's desk that I bought for RepcoLite to do some
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  Speaker 1: refinish work, and we found a maker's mark on it,
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  Speaker 1: and it turns out it was made by Sears. It
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  Speaker 1: was mass produced in the early 1900s. It was old,
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  Speaker 1: but I bought it for 25 and I could sell
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  Speaker 1: it for 60. So just because it's old doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: it's particularly valuable. And just because it's newer doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: it's not. There are much newer pieces, arts and crafts furniture,
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  Speaker 1: art deco pieces, mid-century modern furniture, furniture from certain designers
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  Speaker 1: or manufacturers, newer stuff that can be worth a surprising
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  Speaker 1: amount of money. So keep all of that in mind. Basically,
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  Speaker 1: end of the day, my rule of thumb would be this.
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  Speaker 1: If something about the piece that you're working on or
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  Speaker 1: getting ready to work on, if something about that piece
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  Speaker 1: makes you stop and think, maybe, you know, this is
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  Speaker 1: more than just an old dresser. If that thought crosses
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  Speaker 1: your mind or you've got that feeling in your gut,
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  Speaker 1: take 10 minutes and try to figure out what you've
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  Speaker 1: got before you strip it, sand it, or paint it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, you don't have to become an antiques expert.
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  Speaker 1: You just want to make sure that you're not destroying
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  Speaker 1: something valuable or because you assumed it wasn't. However, and
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  Speaker 1: this is potentially a really controversial however, I completely understand
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  Speaker 1: the idea that some of these pieces are valuable as
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  Speaker 1: long as they're left alone and in their original condition.
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  Speaker 1: I get that. That makes sense. But I also know
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  Speaker 1: that many of these pieces, they're just not going to
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  Speaker 1: be valuable in certain homes unless they're stripped and refinished
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  Speaker 1: or even painted. You bought a dresser and you want
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  Speaker 1: it to be a light yellow because that would look
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  Speaker 1: perfect in the room. that you're working on. And sure,
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  Speaker 1: it's an antique. Yeah, it's more valuable as a piece
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  Speaker 1: if it's unpainted and left as is, but you don't
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  Speaker 1: like it in that condition. You want it painted. Well,
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  Speaker 1: if you don't care about the inherent value, but really
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  Speaker 1: just love the piece, make it what you want. You know,
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  Speaker 1: keeping it original to preserve a value proposition, while the
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  Speaker 1: original appearance isn't working towards your end goals with your space,
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  Speaker 1: doing that doesn't really make a lot of sense to me.
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  Speaker 1: You know, if you're all about reselling these items, or
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  Speaker 1: if the piece you found is of significant value, then
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  Speaker 1: I'd rethink things. But if it's just for you and
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  Speaker 1: you don't care about reselling it, and it's not the
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  Speaker 1: desk that Thomas Jefferson sat at to draft the Declaration
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  Speaker 1: of Independence, well, then I think it's best to do
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  Speaker 1: what you want with the piece, even if that means
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  Speaker 1: painting it. All right, that's the first jump into this
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  Speaker 1: whole idea of refinishing or flipping secondhand furniture. And I
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  Speaker 1: know it was long. I didn't mean for it to
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  Speaker 1: take up three quarters of the show, but it did.
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  Speaker 1: Next time we talk about stuff like this, I'll keep
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  Speaker 1: it shorter, probably to a segment or two. But for now,
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  Speaker 1: I think the info was good. It was fun to
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  Speaker 1: talk about, fun to think about, and maybe it gets
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  Speaker 1: you moving. So today, if you're out at any thrift
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  Speaker 1: stores or this weekend hitting some antique places, you've got
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of info that you can use to
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  Speaker 1: determine if the pieces you're looking at are maybe worth
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  Speaker 1: snagging and bringing home. All right, that's all the time
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  Speaker 1: we've got. We're going to wrap this one up. If
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  Speaker 1: you want to catch it again, you can find it online.
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  Speaker 1: online at repcolite.com. And whatever you do today, make sure
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: paint's a part of it. And if paint is going
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: to be a part of your weekend, remember that Regal
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: Select Interior from Benjamin Moore is on sale at all
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Repcolite locations for 20% off until September 14th. So if
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: you're going to be painting and Regal Select Interior is
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: your paint of choice... You can get it on sale
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  Speaker 1: for 20% off until September 14 at RepcoLite. All right,
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  Speaker 1: have a great weekend, everybody. Enjoy this Labor Day holiday,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: this extended weekend coming up, and I'll see you next week.
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  Speaker 1: For Home in Progress by RepcoLite Paints, I'm Dan Hanson.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.