Meet Maggie McGaugh. A self-confessed trash hoarder, she now makes an impressive living flipping furniture. “After having my son, I found myself with free time and a desire to make money and be creative,” explains Maggie. What started as an experiment grew into a fully-fledged career with Maggie bringing home $3,000+ (£2.2k) a month and gaining more than one million followers on TikTok. Click or scroll to discover her secret...

The 26-year-old lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband Matt, toddler Harrison and their goldendoodle, Olivia. Furniture flipping means Maggie gets to be a stay-at-home mum to her son, fitting in projects around his nap times. 

Her journey has caught the attention of the media and even led to her appearance on the Today Show where she talked about her business. As well as her flips, she runs e-courses teaching people how to flip furniture for profit, as well as a social media e-course. 

But how do you end up running a successful flipping business? For Maggie, it started with a shopping trip and a $3 (£2.20) purchase. “I found a wooden breadbox at a thrift store and gave it a makeover,” she explains. “It took forever, but I was hooked. My friends on social media were obsessed with seeing the process.”

Maggie upskilled quickly, swapping smaller homeware flips for bigger projects like this dining set. Is she ever tempted to keep pieces for herself? She’s only human! After picking this set up for $100 (£73) – amazingly, her most expensive purchase to date – she couldn’t resist keeping it for herself. The makeover was inspired by a Pottery Barn set and Maggie says it gets daily use and plenty of compliments. We don’t blame her for keeping it – perks of the job and all that.

Before furniture flipping, Maggie used her marketing degree to work as a wholesale director, social media strategist, business owner and photographer as well as spending some time as a full-time stay-at-home mum. Her social media background in particular has proved a huge help in launching this business. 

“I would never have made it without social media. Just a few viral videos took me from 3,000 Instagram followers to now nearly 450k. And from zero TikTok followers to now over one million,” she says. “My growth has made it possible for me to teach others, sell my furniture quickly, work with brands, sell products and more.”

Along with her social media and marketing clout, Maggie was always interested in DIY but spent a lot of time doubting her skills. “Turns out, creativity and skills come with practice. It's not natural for everyone, myself included. I'm just so glad I pushed myself,” she says. 

For Maggie, a lot of the enjoyment comes from taking literal trash and making it useful again. “I love being able to make ugly things pretty while making money,” she explains. “It's also a pleasure teaching people how to do this worldwide. I never imagined I could have a career while also hanging out with my son and husband every single day.”

Take this piece, which Maggie picked up for $30 (£22k) at an estate sale, to most people it looks beyond repair. But Maggie decided to give it a fresh life by cleaning, sanding, priming and finally painting it a vibrant shade of emerald green. 

Looking at Maggie’s flips, you might think she’d had expert training or taken classes, but she’s totally self-taught. While working on this vanity, she was delighted to discover real wood underneath the veneer. That makes this $5 (£3.70) estate sale bargain even more of a steal. 

Maggie discovers more and more with every flip and that’s the way she likes to learn. “I occasionally Googled things, but found that everyone had different opinions. I preferred to figure things out as I went,” she explains. “That's my philosophy to this day and why I created an e-course, to help those who were just as overwhelmed as I was.”

Maggie doesn’t rely on the same processes over and over again; creativity is a key part of her work. Who says you have to keep wallpaper as lining? We love this refreshing, playful update that would look perfect in a nursery. 

Maggie's creativity knows know limits, as evidenced by this fabulously quirky flip. This retro set wouldn’t have much use as a TV these days, but it does make a very fetching bed for your favourite four-legged friend. With a bit of creative flair and lots of practice, your imagination is the only limit when it comes to flipping unwanted furniture. 

You can maximise your profits by keeping costs as low as possible and looking for bargains wherever you go. Case in point: Maggie found this sad looking dresser for free on the side of the road and she transformed it with paint she found for $1 (73p) at a yard sale. 

It’s not always a walk in the park though. “I am constantly having problems with flips! They may have spider eggs, chipped wood, missing handles, bleed through etc.,” she says. “But every issue is a learning and teaching opportunity for myself and my audience.”

And, let’s be honest, the satisfaction when you end up with a piece that looks this good at the end must be beyond satisfying. But how does she know what will work? “A lot of it is trial and error and learning over time what sells well and performs well on social media”. Feeling inspired? Maggie also sells a range of wallpaper, handles and accessories on her website to get the look yourself.

When it comes to getting it right, Maggie spends time studying the style of the piece before she sets to work. “For instance, certain design styles are curvy and may look better as boho or farmhouse. If the piece has more straight edges, it may be best as mid-century modern,” she says. Sometimes it’s worth a gamble though, Maggie challenged herself to paint this piece in a random colour from the ‘oops’ section of Home Depot. What a result!

When it comes to taking big chances, try out your new ideas on ultra-cheap or ideally free pieces. A friend gave Maggie this vanity for free and to the untrained eye, it might look ready to be consigned to the trash....

But with a bit paper, paint and creativity, it’s ready for a new life as a thoroughly modern-looking dressing table. If you’re keen to try your hand at flipping furniture, Maggie advises starting small. Try a bread bin before you try and tackle a full-sized piece of furniture. Another concern holding lots of would-be flippers face is the worry they aren’t creative enough. “Creativity grows over time! Use a piece of furniture you already own or find free. Sand, clean, and paint! With every flip, you can try new colours techniques, and steps,” she says. 

While Maggie has made around $3,000 (£2.2k) on busy flipping months, these days most of her money comes from being an influencer. “Which is why I now have a DIY Influencer Academy e-course to teach others how to make six-figures doing this,” she explains. Despite other commitments, Maggie tries to flip between two and six pieces of furniture a week.

So, what does a typical day look like for this furniture flipper on a mission to help others transform their lives and livelihoods? After waking up around 7am, Maggie cooks breakfast and plays with Harrison. She’ll catch up on emails and then either take her son to day-care twice a week or work during his nap times.

“Once he wakes up, I cook lunch and get back to work while my husband helps out, or while Harrison comes outside with me. After flipping for a few hours or so, we all play together outside or load up the truck to look for furniture on the side of the road,” she says.

Once she’s done flipping for the day, the family have dinner and do Harrison’s bedtime. “Once he's down, I clean the house, respond to social media messages, and read a book in the bubble bath. Then, I spend time with my husband and catch up on our favourite shows.” In between all of this she also manages her website, e-courses, social medias, brand filming and furniture selling. Phew!

It helps that Maggie is encouraged by her family. “My family are all incredibly supportive of my flipping journey. We all ride together to find furniture on the side of the road. My husband helps me watch my son while working. Although I have to deal with a lot of discouragement on the internet, it has never come from any of my family or friends,” she explains. Maggie even combines date nights with trash-finding missions!

All of that helps when it comes to tough flips like this piece, which Maggie found in the trash. Instead of letting the thick paint and primer, hassle of handmaking a stencil and anxiety of trying a new style discourage her, she ploughed on and ended up turning this piece of rubbish into a unique chest of drawers for someone’s home.

The future looks bright for Maggie and her family and while she’s currently focused on flipping and launching her courses, she has bold ambitions for the future. “I eventually want to own Airbnbs or rentals across the country that are furnished with my flips,” she shares. 

“But, for now, I am thrilled to be able to continue teaching others through my e-courses, sharing content across my platforms, and working with amazing brands to make it all possible,” she says. But that’s not all. “I've also spoken to quite a few TV show producers, but I'm not in a rush to commit to something that big,” she says. Maggie McGaugh’s Furniture Flips… now there’s an idea for HGTV…

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