A 33-year-old marketing professional has turned her passion for refurbishing furniture into a successful side hustle, earning $25,000 annually.
Carrie Anne Harmon lives in the coastal region of New Hampshire with her 39-year-old husband Steve and stepson.
Harmon describes herself as “crafty” and has always enjoyed hands-on creative projects. As a child, she often made small decorations for her bedroom.
“I was the kind of kid who rearranged her room every month and constantly made DIY layered sunscreens and pillows,” she told The Epoch Times.
After graduating from college, Harmon rented her first apartment at 23 years old, buying a few pieces of used furniture to furnish it economically.
Her first piece was a wooden item worth $10. When she moved out of the apartment, she sold it for $40. A few years later, she refurbished a rocking chair as a gift for a friend. During the pandemic, Harmon’s hobby turned into a business. With plenty of free time at home with her then-fiancé, she began to pursue this side hustle.
When she bought a new kitchen table, Harmon recalled her husband suggesting they give away the old table for free. However, she painted the old table and sold it.
“I might spend $35 on a piece of used furniture and sell it for $300,” she said. “Refurbishing a table, making a few hundred dollars, and I got hooked, I was obsessed.”
She scavenged discarded furniture from people’s curbs, brought them to her garage, and created cool designs. Watching “a ton” of woodworking YouTube videos made her feel like she could do it too.
“I’m a very confident person… I think I might be delusional,” she said. “I see something and think, ‘Oh, I can do that,’ and then I go all out.”
Sometimes, not knowing how a piece will turn out, she believes she can find the necessary resources to complete the project.
She found upgrading furniture to be a great way to keep busy at home, learn new things, and bring in extra income.
In her process, Harmon said she first searches for promising low-cost items on Facebook Marketplace.
“I usually won’t spend more than $50 on a piece of furniture,” she said, adding that she also accepts friends and family’s used furniture at times.
She then assesses the furniture’s damage, devises a plan, and gets to work. After an initial cleaning, for wooden pieces, she usually strips off old paint before restaining. The prep stage (stripping, sanding, filling scratches, repairs, and stain removal) can be time-consuming. The painting process includes wiping down the entire piece before adding one or two coats of primer for adhesion, followed by several coats of paint and a topcoat.
Living in New Hampshire surrounded by old farmhouses, Harmon found many antique furniture pieces. However, she prefers refurbishing mid-century modern and high-end contemporary style pieces.
Blue and green colors hold a special appeal for her, and she has used these colors in some of her favorite pieces. A lovely empire-style vanity is painted green while an antique chest of drawers is coated in a distressed robin’s egg blue.
Harmon introduced one of her favorite pieces, a navy-blue secretary desk, where she replaced all the hardware and added new keyholes.
“It took a lot of time. Result was pretty much a perfect piece,” she said.
In addition to her own favorite pieces, Harmon accepts commissions and special requests. The wedding season last fall temporarily interrupted her side hustle, but a big advantage was having spare time to use the profits from furniture refurbishing and brand partnerships to renovate her home. Some brands even gifted lighting fixtures and flooring materials to the couple.
When asked how she manages to find time to refurbish furniture amid full-time work and household chores, Harmon said, “For a long time, I put my business and furniture refurbishing first. Now, I try to adjust the pace of refurbishing furniture so I can spend time with my stepson and husband and enjoy family time. They are the most important to me.”
She spends about 6 to 20 hours a week refurbishing furniture and an additional 10 hours creating content for her social media accounts.
Meanwhile, Mr. Harmon is very proud of his wife’s entrepreneurial spirit.
“He’s amazing,” Harmon said. “He’s been helpful throughout the whole process. Every time I want to refurbish a piece, he’s right there. He’s excited too.”
The side hustle allows this family to have new experiences while improving their home.
“It has brought a lot of benefits,” Harmon said, mentioning that the extra income from flipping furniture can be used for family vacations.
Harmon expressed her desire to turn her side hustle into a full-time job, possibly upgrading to flipping entire homes. For now, she is excited about this particular mission of women’s DIY and furniture upgrade.
“Women doing this kind of work themselves is common,” she said. “You can see many women online cleaning kitchens, renovating homes, learning how to use power tools for the first time. I think that’s really empowering.”
Harmon believes that having practical skills and an additional source of income can provide great freedom for women and mothers.
“You never know what life is going to throw at you. Having a cushion… financial freedom makes your life more like what you want,” she said.