“I love the idea of reviving old things”: how to open a workshop restoring furniture with Avito

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

We will tell you how to find furniture from the beginning of the last century for a reasonable price.

- a platform where people decide for themselves on what terms to conclude deals. Here you can buy something that is not sold anywhere else, and find a buyer for things that, it would seem, are not needed by anyone.

We have collected stories of people who often use Avito. Lifehacker's videographer told how he buys equipment twice as cheap as the regular price, and a young couple from Voronezh - how selling unnecessary things has turned into a profitable hobby. In this article, Olga Makarova, Commercial Director of Lifehacker, tells how she became a restorer and explains how to search for truly rare things with Avito.

In my free time I am engaged in furniture alteration and painting. When I lived in Ufa, I even had a workshop where I did work to order.

Why I started restoring furniture

I graduated from art school and have always loved drawing, sewing - doing something with my own hands. When I gave birth to a child and was on maternity leave, I realized that I simply could not help but do this, it became impossible to live without creativity.

At that time I had no experience of working with furniture, but I decided to try it all the same. In the end, this is a hobby, there is no risk: even if it doesn't work out - well, that's okay. I started with grandma's chairs. Restored, painted and presented to my brother for a wedding. My brother appreciated that the guests were also delighted, and most importantly, I myself really enjoyed working with furniture. The process was very inspiring.

How buying didn’t help me open a workshop

Once I found a buffet from the beginning of the last century on Avito. It was given away for symbolic money, if only someone would finally take it.

The buffet was in a disgusting state, and I remade it and literally gave it a new life.

After that, I realized that I liked the idea of reviving old things, and decided to open a workshop.

My brother's wife talked with the Ufa crowd of restaurateurs, so they began to turn to me with requests to paint tables in a coffee shop or help with interior decoration.

For one apartment, I designed the entire bedroom: bedside tables, dressing table and cupboards. The hostess gave me a bookcase for alteration, which she got from her grandmother. In terms of beauty, the bookcase was not of particular value, but it was very dear as a memory.

I made it in tune with the rest of the decor to preserve the piece of furniture that looked like a false tooth in this apartment.

I often looked for furniture for remodeling on Avito. From time to time there came across interesting objects of the first half of the XX century. In Moscow and Ufa, such things are quite expensive: everyone has played enough with modern interiors and learned to see value in history. In villages and towns the opposite is true.

If you set up a search for small towns, then unusual furniture can be found for next to nothing.

The workshop worked for two years. At first I did it on my own, but gradually I was recognized in the city, orders became more and more. Probably, it was worth expanding, looking for investors and investing in the development of the business, but then I did not have the opportunity. Firstly, money was needed, and secondly, there was not enough confidence that I would be able to manage it.

Then I moved to Moscow. We had to forget about reworking furniture: the pace of life does not allow us to devote enough energy to this hobby. If you start over, then get down to business seriously: you need a separate room, a paint shop and much more. Restoration has remained my hobby: I have my grandmother's chest of drawers, I want to remake it for myself.

What am I buying now on Avito

I usually look for goods here for which there is no point in overpaying. Recently looked after a picnic basket. This is not the most necessary thing, which is why people often sell baskets that someone once gave them.

A new basket costs some strange money - in the region of 10 thousand rubles. And Avito comes across quite normal thousand for three. You can go to nature several times with her, and then sell it as well.

Some things become even more valuable after changing owners.

For example, the same wooden furniture: if you buy new, it may turn out to be of poor quality, after a few years it will dry out and lose its decent appearance. With furniture that is at least 5 years old, everything that could have happened has already happened. If she still looks normal, she will probably stay that way.

Now I'm looking for a bunk bed for my daughter. Even if someone slept on it for several years, there will be nothing from this bed. But it costs not 15, but 5 thousand, this is a big difference.

How to find interesting things

1. Don't just search around the city. If you want to find something rare - search in the region or even in other cities. Delivery is not a problem, you can order it from anywhere on Avito.
2. Ask questions. If the ad does not contain important details for you, contact the seller and specify the details of interest.
3. Offer your terms. I do not like to haggle, but in cases where the seller deliberately set an overpriced, I offered to pick up the goods quickly for a more adequate amount.
4. Remember that there are many similar offers on Avito. Even unusual things are rarely sold in one copy here. I have not come across products that could not be found analogs.
5. Please evaluate the seller carefully before buying. If he behaves suspiciously, for example, insists on an advance payment, it is better to play it safe and buy from someone else.