Redemption Refinishing

This is the China hutch I refinished for my friend Brittany.  I LOVE the way it turned out.  I have decided to open a small business refinishing furniture for people and selling refinished furniture on etsy and craigslist.  I have no qualms about buying furniture, redoing it, and charging what I feel appropriate.  I find it a little trickier deciding what to charge people to refinish what is already theirs.  So, a very wise friend explained that I should do a project for a friend and charge them minimum wage by the hour and that how little I make would give me an idea how much my time and skill are really worth.  So, I love Brittany and I really would have done it for free, but I asked her to pay me minimum wage and this was a very educational experience for me!  I'm definitely worth more than minimum wage...

This mirror was fun to work on because I tried Annie Sloan Chalk Paints.  LOVE Them!  Pricey, but you make up the money because it requires no prep work.  No sanding!  No stripping!  So easy to distress.  I will definitely be using them in the future.

Here it is finished.  I did one coat of Paris Grey topped with two coats of Old White, then distressed and waxed it.

The problem with sanding a piece down that you want distressed is that it takes all the imperfections away that would look awesome once it was distressed.  So this mirror has a lot of character because I didn't have to sand it to make the paint stick.

My business's name is Redemption Refinishing.  A friend came up with the name and I like the idea that I'm taking tired, worn furniture and giving it a new life.  Yesterday I got a tax number, business cards, an etsy shop, and drew up plans for a shed for me to work in.  I have several projects already in line.  I am so excited to have found something I love doing and could actually make money from!  I will share the etsy shop's link when I've posted something for sale on there.