She Quit Nursing After 25 Years to Flip Furniture. Now She Makes Up to $8,000 a Month.

Refurbishing a $20 pair of secondhand nightstands kicked off a side hustle that out-earned her nursing paycheck within six months.

By Jonathan Small | edited by Dan Bova | Oct 21, 2026
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After 25 years as a registered nurse, Cami Lane, 48, found a new career nursing distressed furniture back to health. It all started with a pair of $20 secondhand nightstands she painted, fitted with new hardware and sold for $275, according to PEOPLE.

Lane kept flipping about one piece a week. Within six months, her burgeoning business was earning more than her job, so she quit. Burned out at work, “I kept thinking about the pieces waiting at home,” she says.

Lane works out of her family’s three-car garage and sells mostly on Facebook Marketplace. She says on her best month she earned about $8,400. Black and beige finishes are her go-tos because they sell fast. An Ethan Allen hutch she bought for $100 sold for $1,500, but a $150 dresser that went for $850 paid better per hour of work.

Lane now sells a $37 flipping guide and does brand partnerships, which has let her cut her refinishing time from eight to 10 hours a week.

After 25 years as a registered nurse, Cami Lane, 48, found a new career nursing distressed furniture back to health. It all started with a pair of $20 secondhand nightstands she painted, fitted with new hardware and sold for $275, according to PEOPLE.

Lane kept flipping about one piece a week. Within six months, her burgeoning business was earning more than her job, so she quit. Burned out at work, “I kept thinking about the pieces waiting at home,” she says.

Lane works out of her family’s three-car garage and sells mostly on Facebook Marketplace. She says on her best month she earned about $8,400. Black and beige finishes are her go-tos because they sell fast. An Ethan Allen hutch she bought for $100 sold for $1,500, but a $150 dresser that went for $850 paid better per hour of work.

Lane now sells a $37 flipping guide and does brand partnerships, which has let her cut her refinishing time from eight to 10 hours a week.

Jonathan Small

Entrepreneur Staff
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