DIYing Free Items for a Profit!

We are bringing our competitive sides out to play!! If you follow us, you know we love thrift flipping, upcycling and DIYs…so we thought it would be lots of fun to spark a little competition out of it! Finding free items on Facebook Marketplace, Kijiji, Craigs List, the side of the road, etc. is not too hard when you have your eyes out for it!! But upgrading it to be resold for a profit within a day is!! The goal is to see who can sell their free item for more money! All the profit made will be donated to a charity of our choice!!

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Storage Bench UpcyclE

-Kelsey

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The item I found was this old storage bench that someone on Facebook Marketplace was giving away for free! I could tell it had great potential, it just needed some love to really be wanted by someone. Here’s what I did:

  1. The first thing I did was take out the beams in the back of the bench. They felt a bit dated and I was going for a more modern / CB2-esque look, so I replaced them with some straight tambour pieces I had left over in my storage closet. All I had to do was saw the old ones out and wood glue the new ones in.

  2. The second part to tackle was the arm rest shape. Similar to the wood beams, it didn’t really scream modern, so I went in with a circular saw and cut the edges to be a right angle. Quickly, I just added two pieces of scrap wood to resemble an arm rest and it immediately looked way more expensive, finally veering away from the farm house look it was giving at first.

  3. You could really tell that the wood on this piece was old and very loved in a previous life, so to revive it, I sanded the whole bench down and painted it a black. I internally struggled with the colour choice for a while, because I had so many amazing colour options on hand to pick from, but because I was trying to sell it quickly, the black was by far the safest bet when thinking through a sales lens.

  4. Lastly, I styled it with some small accents and posted it, resulting in a $200 profit that will be donated to the Asian Solidarity Fund.

Final posting shots:

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Wicker Chair

-Becky

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I was able to snag this old outdoor wicker chair for free but when I got it, it was in a rougher shape then I was expecting. However, I only had a day to upcycle this baby so I went for it anyways! Here’s what I did:

  1. First I removed the old rattan at the bottom, because it was too destroyed to recover it, and by removing it, it made the chair a little less clunky.

  2. Next, I sanded down the whole chair because all the old paint was peeling off and it needed to be redone. After it was sanded, I spray painted it in a primer/paint to give it a durable finish that would last longer!

  3. The cushion was too far gone to restore, so I ripped it out and made a seat bottom in replacement. I used some scrap vegan leather to match that paint colour, but it seemed to be a bit empty and had some left over so I whipped up a small neck pillow as well.

  4. After this, I styled the chair and posted it receiving $50 that is going towards the Red Door Family Shelter!

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Which item would you snag from Facebook Marketplace if you saw these while scrolling? Go watch the full video and comment who you think won!!

Watch the full transformation on YouTube here:

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Thrift Upcycle Inspired by Crate & Barrel

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Upgrading A Vintage Marketplace Find Into An Industrial Door For My Dining Room