I'm Leif Abel, the Founder of ReVision Restoration, which was birthed out of my love for restoring collectible design through my collectible furniture brand - ReVision Furniture.
To date, I've restored and sold over $600,000 in high-end furniture and have restored thousands of pieces through both my business and commissioned work for others.
Years ago, I had very little tools to my name and had a 10X12 ft. mud room to work in.
But I felt called to leave my full-time sales job at the time. So I went all-in.
While exploring various endeavors as an entrepreneur, I decided to try my hand at flipping a couple of pieces of used furniture.
I grew up working with my hands and learned how to take things apart and put them back together.
But by no means was I a "natural" at this new skill of furniture refinishing.
It started out extremely slow, I made little-to-no-money buying all kinds of vintage furniture, putting whatever refinishing knowledge I had at the time to the test.
I constantly was bumping into freshly applied coats of finish while scooting around pieces in my tiny mud room.
It wasn't easy...
But, as I was passing by my first year on this new journey, I began falling more in love with the history of the pieces and furniture design in general.
Scandinavian furniture along with many other pieces from the Mid-Century Modern design era began really speaking to me.
I started to realize just how vital mastering the refinishing process would be if I wanted to bring these beautiful pieces back to their former glory the right way.
I also was met with the reality that if I wanted to make a go at this full time, then I would need to figure out some serious business strategy in order to turn my new found passion into a profitable business.
I made 2 overarching decisions over the course of my 2nd year which were vital in making the rest of my journey possible:
1. I started befriending some master refinishers in my town and learning as much as possible from them to expedite my learning journey.
2. I started getting serious about business strategy, talking to mentors and began creating some of my own approaches in regards to reselling through various experiments.
These overarching decisions combined with implementing some key tactics have enabled my furniture business to generate well over a half of a Million dollars over the past 7 years.
This all has led me to becoming an expert in the field of furniture restoration and also has enabled me to establish a premium vintage furniture brand amassing 5 Star Reviews all over the internet.
Looking back, if I would have had the current version of myself to learn from, it would have saved me years of headaches and lots of money by knowing which moves are the right ones to make.
As I began networking more over the past few years with many other vintage dealers and restorers, I began noticing a common theme amongst many of my conversations:
Everyone felt kind of alone on this journey.
So I decided in 2023 that I would create a hub where we can come together from all stages of the restoration and reselling journey, collaborate and learn from the best practices that have produced proven results.
That's when ReVision Restoration was born.
Thank you for taking a moment to read about some of my story and why I chose to create this educational platform and awesome community of restoration enthusiasts.
If you'd like to tap into my knowledge and wisdom from years of experience, join my community and let's connect inside! CLICK HERE TO JOIN
-Leif