Upcycling ?

LavenderBoy

Hey Everyone

For the last few days I have been discussing with a friend the possibility of setting up an upcycling business.

It is a real hobby and passion of mind making old furniture beautiful again.

I have many peices in my home and family homes that I have either repainted and basically jazzed up.

I was just wondering if there was much of a call for anyone wanting my services so to speak.

I have no exact qualifications just good ideas and lots of creativity.

My idea was that if someone has an old peice of furniture at home they could come to me and I could make it pretty again rather than them buying a whole new bit of furniture.


I could go and view the item and quote how much I would charge for it and tell them what my idea for it would be. Then they could give the item to me and I can work my magic on it.

Just did not know wether this would be popular or not ?

Any advice ! Thanks

Avon2001

Hi, Without seeing examples of your work or knowing your area I'm afraid it's impossible to say. People need furniture and people are catching on to the idea that 2nd-hand (upcycled, whatever you want to call it) can be a good deal but frankly I suspect that you're going to have to offer a very competitive price to get interest particularly since you're far from the only person interested in this area. Why not start small and see how you go?

Ilona

I think I would be more inclined to buy some cheap furniture from an auction and do it up and sell it. If you offer it as a service, the customers own furniture, you would have to be sure you could follow their instructions to give them exactly what they wanted. Say if you were recovering some chairs you would have to have samples of fabric for them to choose from.

You could start off by photographing the pieces you have already done and put them in a portfolio of your work. Then you would have something to show potential customers. Do some market research, ask around.

You would have to set your prices according to cost of materials and time to do the job, plus any other overheads you might have, eg, rent a workshop.
Ilona