Flipping furniture: what is the minimum toolkit to start?
I want to try buying beat-up dressers and flipping them. Right now I own a screwdriver and optimism. What tools do I actually need versus nice-to-have? Trying to keep startup costs under $150.
3 answers
- Random orbital sander
One $60-70 sander replaces 90% of hand sanding and decides whether your finish looks pro or amateur. Everything else - brushes, rags, wood filler - is cheap. Buy the sander new with a dust bag, get everything else at the dollar store.
- Chalk paint and good brushes
A $35 quart of chalk paint covers a whole dresser with no sanding or primer, and a $12 brush set lasts months if you actually clean it. Sanding is for perfectionists; paint is what buyers see. Total startup under $60 and you can flip something this weekend.
- Drill/driver combo kit
I bought a 12V drill/driver kit for $79 on sale and it handles disassembly, reassembly, and hardware swaps - the stuff that eats all your time. Screws strip constantly on old furniture, and doing it by hand will make you quit the hobby within a month.