Utahns cash in on crave for refurbished furniture

Utahns cash in on crave for refurbished furniture

(Scott G Winterton/Deseret News)


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SALT LAKE CITY — It’s on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. It’s on blogs, Etsy and KSL.com.

Refurbished furniture — for which do-it-yourself meets used pallets, frames, desks, dressers, tables, chairs, boxes, headboards — is becoming more than just a hobby, and some Utahns are cashing in on it.

While her husband was deployed with the military in 2009-10, Sausha Khoundet began buying used furniture from Deseret Industries, refurbishing it for her home and then blogging about it.

When she ran out of space to store the furniture, Khoundet began selling it online. The furniture was selling so fast that she eventually decided to quit her job as a clerk at the West Jordan Justice Court and commit to selling her refurbished pieces full time.

“It was a huge decision because I had a good-paying, government job with benefits and a pension and a good retirement," Khoundet said.

She quickly made double what she earned as a court clerk through her refurbishing business. And now that she sells her own line of milk paint, she said she makes four to five times what she made as a clerk.

She also has more than 50 retailers across the world that sell her products, and uses Pinterest, Facebook and Etsy to promote them.

"At first I struggled with (whether to) paint things and pick things that will appeal to the masses, things that will be easy quick fillers," Khoundet said. "And (whether to) paint everything white because it sells really well. But now I've learned that, even though a lot of pieces do take more work, I try to look for things that I like that I would put in my house."

Matt Willahan, right, and his dad Bill at their store All About Pallets in Murray, Friday, June 26, 2015. Photo: Scott G Winterton/Deseret News
Matt Willahan, right, and his dad Bill at their store All About Pallets in Murray, Friday, June 26, 2015. Photo: Scott G Winterton/Deseret News

In Murray, Matt Willahan makes a living refurbishing wood pallets into furniture. Using a chop saw, thickness planner and small table saw, he pulls apart and re-shapes pallets into anything from bar tables to bunk beds for his All About Pallets business.

"I have Popeye's arm (because) of it," Willahan quipped.

Despite experience in construction and taking architect and design classes in high school, Willahan is new to pallet refurbishing.

Three years ago, he was working as a ceramicist, making teeth for a dentist's office, when he was laid off. His girlfriend pointed out a Pinterest board that shows how to make wood furniture out of pallets.

"So I built a big table so we could eat outside," Willahan said.

Soon, neighbors were asking him to make bar tables. Then Willahan began selling his work at farmer's markets, then online. Eventually, Willahan opened a store, then a studio. After two years, Willahan he has made big business out of reusing wood from pallets.

But the wood Willahan uses comes from a variety of sources. When the floor for the Jon M. Huntsman Center was replaced during a remodel, Willahan used the wood to make boxes as mementos for University of Utah fans.

"It's better than making fake teeth," he said.

Some, like South Jordan resident Kelly Vranes, prefer to keep refurbishing a hobby and not a business.

Vranes occasionally sells her refurbished pieces. She even raised several hundred dollars for her daughter's wedding that way. But Vranes said she wouldn't want a full-time refurbishing job.

"I think when it becomes full time, then it's not as enjoyable," she said. "I did do jewelry for a while. I did a lot of beading. When you do it for pay and full-time, it's just not as enjoyable. It's stressful."

Willahan and Khoundet agree that it takes a lot of work running a refurbishing business, but say the finished product makes it all worthwhile. Email: klarsen@deseretnews.com

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