Terrifically Thrifted

✨The roadside dresser reveal ✨
Swipe to see the glow up of this Tarva dresser. With a little love she went from dumped on the side of the road to golden beauty! I think the hardest part about this was deciding on the stain color because it can really change the entire vibe of the dresser. I'm so happy I went with provincial!

I'm so glad to have been given the opportunity to divert this dresser from the landfill. Take this as your sign, to never pass up a Tarva dresser on the side of the road.

Follow for more furniture flips and DIYs!

Products used:
- provincial stain
Wood conditioner-
K***s and pulls -
Rub n Buff - gold leaf color
Textured wall paper from
matte polyurethane

Still so in love with this piece I finished back in November!

Are you ready to bring in the new year (and my third trimester) with a furniture restoration I did in Australia??

I visited and stayed with my sister and brother in law in the land down under! They had this solid wood patio table they used to host bbq parties. During my stay they mentioned how the top of the table has seen better days. My husband replied.... "Well if only there was someone here who knew how to refinish furniture.... 👀👀👀👀"
And with that I grabbed some tools, sun screen and a belly band and got to working! What a fun project! Can't wait to show you guys the end result.

Swipe to see some behind the scene shots and to see the "before" picture.

Here's a close up look at some of my favorite details of this piece.
Cane webbing ♥️
Light Wood grain textures♥️
Matte black legs♥️
Warm original interior finish♥️
So happy how this turned out! I have lots of left over cane webbing and I am excited to work with this material again!
Do you have any suggestions on smaller projects to use cane webbing with? Let me know! I'm obsessed.

After several months of slowly chipping away at this arched cabinet... I'm so happy and proud to have stuck with it to make my vision come to life!! Swipe through the pictures to see what I started with.
Summary of the process --> strip yellow finish off entire outer body, hand sand and power sand smooth, apply a white wash, apply matte polyurethane, attach cane to doors, add furniture legs, cry a little bit, annnnddd done. All while making a baby in my uterus 💪🙃💀

I definitely considered giving up many times, especially as I tried to work on this during my first trimester of pregnancy. I had to battle through nasea, physical exhaustion and mental exhaustion from work stress. The main thing that I kept telling myself was that I just have to keep taking baby steps towards my goal. Eventually it'll amount to a finished project! I'm so happy I stuck with it. Whenever I look at this cabinet I am so proud to know I put my heart and soul into it. I know it ain't the fanciest or most technical furniture flip that anyone's ever done, but it sure as heck challenged me and for that I'm super grateful to have pushed through.

I also have to thank my refinishing/creative community who cheered me on the entire way! Whether it was sending me hearts or messages cheering me on in my stories (thank you so much to my friends near and far), or letting me bombard your inbox on really basic beginner questions on wood working stuff (shoutout to the wizard .makeovers) or to my husband who tells me I'm a boss ass bi**h when I need to hear it. I really genuinely appreciate having a supportive community to push me on. Thank you thank you!

to this dresser I refinished in a deep green. I love how it paired with the stain of the drawers!
These pictures were taken by my friend .on.the.beat. I love how he used my wedding dress and a spare Chinese new year paper lantern to stage the picture. It could be from a scene in a Hong kong drama. Imagine this plot -female heroine is set to have an arranged marriage in her small village. The day of her wedding she decides to leave her husband to be at the alter (and leaves her wedding dress at home). She doesn't want to get married and be a house wife and stay in her village. So she hitch hikes and makes her way to the big city...Hong Kong! Will she get caught? Can she handle the hustle and bustle of a big city? Follow along as she goes onto a journey of self discovery.
Would you watch my pretend Hong Kong drama??

You will move mountains ⛰️🏔️

This ikea change table was given a makeover! I used the color sage advice from country chic paint. This is my favorite green to use from them!
I lined the front and back of the drawers with textured wall paper (inspired by and her past work). Then I painted the drawers a creamy white called vanilla frosting.
I loved how this turned out and appreciated how it was a relatively simple flip, especially because my day job has been crazy busy😴😴

This baby change table was passed along to me by , an amazing female role model to me. She is the one behind .is.our.real.life and the podcast . Thank you for supporting me!

I'd also like to end this post with a huge shoutout to mom's everywhere. I appreciate and acknowledge your strength and selflessness to take care of the next generation. ♥️

...And what an adventure it has been!
Just over 1.5 years ago I started refinishing furniture for fun in the covid lockdowns for people in my neighborhood. I did this completely out of my own pocket, as long as someone could provide me a piece of furniture to refinish. I wanted to do this to help spread some joy in such a dark time and to also learn something new.
Then later on in that year God reminded me of the promise I made to my mom when I was a teen. That I PROMISE to make enough money to take her back to Hong Kong one day for a vacation. Well I had forgotten this promise until randomly last June/July. Our family was going through some rough patches. When I had remembered this promise to my mom during this time, I thought heeeyyyy I can still achieve this! I can just start a small business and bumble my way through it. And I also thought, instead of Hong Kong, I want to take her to Japan to see my sister who lives there.
And that's where we are today! It's been slow going as I am balancing a pretty demanding day job. But I don't let that stop me! My mom and dad didn't raise a quitter.
With a little bit of faith, consistency and DIY supplies, I trust that 2022 is the year.

Thanks for following along on my journey! I often feel bad I can't crank them out as fast as other furniture flipper accounts. But slowly learning to manage my own expectations and appreciate the encouragement you all give me♥️

I call this glow up from bad spray tan to neutral farmhouse♥️
Swipe for the before!
I used a new color to me! This is painted in vanilla frosting from . The color is such a gorgeous warm, cream off-white. I thought it would pair nicely with a warmer stain. Originally I was going to give the stain a white wash to make everything a little lighter but I love the contrast. I developed this design in collaboration with my client!
These night stands are solid! Made of pine and I picked them up from a kind lady in my neighborhood from
I can't wait for these to go to my client ♥️
If you have dated furniture you'd like a glow up on, feel free to reach out and I'd love to work with you!

Hey guys! It's been a while since I worked on a new project. I've been in my home city for about 10 days visiting family and even my sister came to town! We've had a grande time. In summary its been lots of family visits, eating, nature walks and trolling our parents. But My trip comes to an end soon!
As much as I love visiting my home city and being in the mountains again, I also really miss my husband 💁‍♂️and dog 🐶 . So I may be sad my trip is coming to an end but I'm excited to go back soon and see my other family! And of course itching to get back to working on the next project! Can't wait to show you guys!

I got the gardening bug! Anybody got some good tips for this beginner? I don't know why I'm suddenly drawn to it this year and not previous years ... But I wanna build a compost bin in my backyard and eventually get some raised garden beds going! I just am so enticed by the idea of adding biodiversity to the backyard and creating my own nutrient rich compost.
I think this weekend I'm going to try and make a super simple compost bin. Do you want me to share with you my whole process? I guarantee you, I'm no pro but I do have Pinterest, a few hand tools and a willingness to try. So if you are down, I'm down!

Welcome to the first piece in the Terri and Tina Collection (TTC)!

This perfect little table can be used for an entryway table, side table or plant stand for those people who are obsessed with plants (✋hi that's me!).
I sanded the top down and stained to show off the natural wood grain
The undersides were restored to the original finish.
Body was painted In a light green.
And everything was sealed using h**p oil.
Swipe to see the before!

This piece is available. $125
Huge thank you to for letting me try her brushes and paint in her inventory in her shop. Feel free to message her to supply your DIY needs!

Check out what she did with a similar side table! I love how hers turned out!

Latest project and the first of many Collabs between .with.terri and !
Tina had two of these side tables in her inventory and we decided to each take one and refinish with our own style! We worked on them together on Saturday in Tina's workshop and then this week we will finish them on our own.
Stay tuned, we'll be revealing what we did!
We hope to keep doing something like this throughout the summer and call it the "Tina and Terri Collection"! So if you like this sort of content let us know in the comments what we should tackle next!

Swipe for before-->>

Happy earth day!
I love upcycling and diverting items from the landfill! But I thought I'd share why and how I discovered my interest in upcycling, reusing and repurpusing. Through my line of work (as an environmental scientist) I've been to a decent amount of active and inactive landfills! Some in Canada and some in India. Through my work experience, I've seen the crazy amounts of garbage landfills have to manage and I've worked with trying to manage the environmental impact landfills have on the surrounding ecosystem. It's easy as consumers to think that the garbage we create gets picked up and disappears with no consequences. But it goes somewhere and let me tell you when I see landfills frequently throughout my line of work, it makes me reconsider and think about sustainability.
This is why I like to redesign old furniture into something more modern and find it a home for somebody else so it can be kept from the landfill for at least a little while longer.
I know I'm only one person, and in my lifetime I don't know if I'll even make a difference in reducing waste. But I hope to at least contribute to a more sustainable future through my art and hopefully showing more people old stuff is pretty rad. 🤘thanks for reading my little personal story!

Hoppe you have a great earth day!

☀️🌷Sneak peak of latest finished project that's giving me all the spring vibes!

Hey friends! I've been quiet around here as I caught the COVID. It was pretty rough for a few days (sitting and eating congee was so tiring I needed to nap after) but I'm on the upswing now. Taking the time to rest and reflect has been good for me! I think I was working myself to the ground, pulling OT hours at work, while trying to finish a custom furniture flip for a friend and just life... It was bound to happen that I get sick...
Anyways, listen to your body friends! It's always a good idea. Hope to chat soon!

Flipology With Terri

This is my new name! I really wanted a name that included something science-y to pay homage to my science background/ career and something to represent my furniture flipping/ DIYing hobby. After much deliberation and second guessing I decided on Flipology with Terri! There’s already a flipology account (unrelated to furniture) on Instagram so I added “with Terri” to make it unique and I kind of love it!

I honestly really disliked my original Instagram handle because it just doesn’t roll off the tongue like flipology does (try saying terrifically thrifted three times fast). And I felt it didn’t really represent me, other than the fact that it’s a play on words with my name Terri.

I had the help of Tina from XX who was gracious enough to help me brain storm and create my new logo to go with the name! What do you think? I love what she did! It’s so cute! I love the little beaker-vases she added, it was a nice nerdy touch! She’s also another local Ottawa furniture painter, who does some amazing pieces. Go check out her work!

Ever since I started this account about a year ago, I don’t think there’s one day that goes by without me dreaming and scheming about how I can improve my creative and artistic skills. I love how I have become more comfortable with putting myself out there and give less craps about how people perceive me. As I’ve experimented with putting myself out there, I learned one very important truth. Most people aren’t actually judging me on what I do or post because we are all so busy and preoccupied with our own lives and worries to really care or judge others. So now I just post what makes me happy and represents my truest self!

Here’s to a new chapter! Let’s discover flipology together!

Tell me what you think of the logo or the new name down below!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Loving allll the shades of green this year. Can't wait to work with these colors again!!

~Available~This vanity was a great project! Swipe over to see what I started with. I sanded the top down with a belt sander and orbital sander, then I sanded the drawers down. I then stained the top, white washed it, hated it and changed my mind and stained it back😓😭. Painted the body of the dresser in the color Licorice by and sealed the body with CCP natural wax. Drawers are lined with gold geometric Wall paper and k***s were replaced with vintage brass k***s.
The mirror was painted gold and I added wooden appliques to give it a bit of a Victorian era.

I think this would look great in a guest room! Or could be used as just a very elegant desk without the mirror.

Happy to say this dresser is sold to a first time mama to be! This guy is going to be used in her nursery and I can't wait to see pictures from my clients home! I love to be able to provide people alternative sustainable options to furnish their homes. It's honestly a win-win. I get to be creative, and clients can have a unique piece of refinished furniture. Thanks for your support Becca!

Latest project! Available for purchase $425, feel free to DM me for more details or request more pictures.

Seriously obsessed with how these drawers are turning out! It was a bit of a struggle to get them here because I was battling red tannins from the wood peeping out (or as I like to call them red blotches of death). But glaze in Tiger's Eye, saved the day! The original color of the drawers is the bottom most one, a dark purple/burgundy color. Then the second from the bottom drawer was my experimental one to figure out what the heck I was going to do. The top three drawers are what color the tigers glaze looks on this type of wood. I. am. in. love.
I'll be sharing a reel on my process and struggles! So stay tuned!

Each piece of furniture I get to work on is an adventure for me! This is because often times these items are in pretty rough shape and require some creative problem solving to fix them up. But thanks to the furniture flipping community here in Instagram and YouTube, I have been able to learn and level up my skills so that these pieces don't need to end up in the landfill! I know it's kind of a weird thing to get excited over but being able to redirect furniture from the dump to a new home gets me all fired up! And it's cool there's a whole community of people with the same fire and drive!
If you know of any cool accounts that is doing some great work in furniture refinishing comment the account down below! I'd love to discover more people and help others discover them! Let's build a community where we uplift each other ❤️

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