Flip furniture

What is worth the trip

• Solid wood with dovetailed drawers, dust panels between drawers, and a maker's stamp inside the top drawer or on the back. Walnut, teak, oak, cherry.
• Mid-century (1950s–70s) case pieces: dressers, credenzas, nightstands, dining sets. Tapered legs, clean lines, a name on the drawer.
• Anything Herman Miller, Knoll, Eames, Bertoia, Saarinen, Wegner, Danish teak with a Made in Denmark stamp. These are checked against the maker's catalog, not guessed.
• Solid hardwood dining tables with leaves, bookcases, desks with drawers, cedar chests (Lane), rocking chairs, church pews, industrial workbenches.
• Never: particle board, veneer over MDF, anything from a flat-pack box, upholstered pieces you cannot inspect for bed bugs, mattresses, sleeper sofas, water-damaged anything.

Before you drive

• Ask for a photo of the inside of a drawer and the back of the piece: the stamp, the joinery and the construction are there, not in the listing photo.
• Measure: the piece, your vehicle, and the doorway it needs to fit through at the buyer's. Ask the seller for dimensions; measure yourself when you arrive.
• Ask if it was in a smoke-free home and whether it lived in a garage or basement (smell and mold).
• Bring: moving blankets, ratchet straps, a screwdriver set for removing legs and hardware, a flashlight, a friend for anything over 60 lb.

In person

• Every drawer out. Look for dovetails (hand-cut or machine, both fine; stapled or glued is not), the maker's mark, and the smell.
• Wobble test: rock it corner to corner. Loose joints are fixable with glue and clamps; a cracked frame is not.
• Veneer: lift, bubbles, chips at the edges. Small chips fill; lifted veneer over a whole top is a project.
• Upholstery: seams, under the cushions, the frame underneath. Any sign of insects and you walk without touching it.
• Hardware: original pulls add value; replaced ones are fine if they match. Missing ones are $5–15 each to replace.
• Smell: cigarette and mildew do not come out of wood. Sun and time help a little; buyers notice on the first day.

Refinishing that pays

Clean with a mild wood cleaner, then Howard Restor-A-Finish or Danish oil on tired mid-century pieces: one hour, $15, and the difference between $150 and $400. Glue and clamp loose joints. Wax drawer runners. Replace missing hardware. That is the whole list. Stripping and refinishing is twenty hours of work that most buyers will not pay for, and painting a marked mid-century piece halves its value. If it needs more than an afternoon, it was not the right piece.

Selling

Stage it: in a room, styled, in daylight, with a plant or a lamp, and a photo with the drawers open showing the dovetails and the stamp. Title with the maker, the line, the material and the dimensions ("Broyhill Brasilia walnut 9-drawer dresser, 66 in"). Marketplace and OfferUp for local; Chairish for marked pieces that can travel (they take a commission and handle shipping). Offer delivery for $50–100 within the city; half of buyers say yes and it closes the sale. Cash, or the platform's own payment, at pickup.