When you are looking to buy a pair of something second hand they can be fairly expensive.

Especially with nightstands, ppl want pairs and the pricing guru in the back of the thrift store knows

 it. Well consider buying single nightstands at a fraction of the cost and paired them together.

The pricing guru also knows single nightstands take much longer to sell.

 

 

If you look carefully at the details, the edges, and the curves of these nightstands you will see they are

 NOT identical. In fact they were bought at 2 different thrift stores 2 months apart at half the cost. I

made them look the same by drawing your eye away from the differences and focusing it on

similarities I created. The left one is 1" wider than the right but both came out the same height with

the addition of new legs from another second hand purchase.

 

 

The soft turquoise color, mixed from ASCP Florence and white was repeated over all 4 drawer faces.

The ornate embellishments are antique metal door knob plates that originally sat vertically. I antiqued

 around the plates with AS dark wax and a small brush.

 

 

A comprehensive tutorial on using dark wax can be found here:

http://blogspot.ca/2013/01/aging-your-finish-tutorial.html

 

 

I hope you have been inspired!
  

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Stop in to see whats new in shabby chic white hardware available at firstfinds.

 

There are over 1000 pieces of used hardware to choose from

Etsy Shop.

 

 

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PRICING

I usually do not include pricing information in my articles about refurbishing furniture because everyones demographic is different. Yesterday I did offer a purchase price for a desk I bought and I have received many emails asking for advice regarding pricing. 

The majority of my blog followers are US residents and across the board all of our demographics are way different. I encourage everyone to understand their own market and establish who their customers are without comparing to someone living elsewhere.

How many of us read a post and start to compare what is written to our own lives and abilities. Plz use common sense when information is offered and rely on your own judgment for decisions.

 

What makes us unique also makes us noticeable!!

Now that being said … I don`t feel as if I have strict rules regarding prices however I will offer some general thoughts.

I value my time so furniture that needs repair needs to be extremely cheap … $5 to $20 I spend countless hours fixing broken furniture and I want room to compensate for the time.Look around you, ask fellow colleagues in your area for advice, and do your own research. Hard work always gets you there.

Over time you get to understand what your market will bear for certain pieces and how much you can put into pieces. This is going to be trial and error for many starting out. A perfect example of different demographics ...I had just finished painting and upholstering some dining chairs and when I advertised them a US follower suggested my asking price was outrageous because she got the same chairs for half the price where she lived. My asking price was $110 each, the same price I sell most of my chairs for. The deal she was fortunate to get was in the US, where fabric costs are less, paint costs are less, shipping costs are less, and so on. I also live in the most expensive area of Canada.

 

Here`s a hypothetical example of how much goes into a piece, I say hypothetical because with every piece there are a large number of variables.

I pay $20 for a single nightstand at a second hand store.

I add legs to this night stand costing anywhere from $20 - $40

A can of ASCP cost $56 here in Canada so take into account the cost for paint

A can of AS wax cost $39 here so add another cost for the wax

I use a paint sprayer so there is equipment costs and electrical

Supplies and tools used – wood, saw, drill, screws, nails, appliques, filter, water, paper towel, brushes, sandpaper, filler

Hardware usually needs to be added at a cost of $10 - $20 Depending on the amount of work it can take up to 8 hours over 2 days to finish.

And lets not discount my camera, computer, Internet, and all the time needed to photograph and post on line. I ask $200 for this nightstand, averaging all costs out I might get paid $100 for all the hours I put into redoing this piece of furniture.

 

And my final and most important note on the subject of pricing ... 

You must know when to walk away from a purchase if you don`t want to lose money.There is another piece waiting around the corner.

 

 

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