‘I was so embarrassed’: Single mom who took a dresser from a neighbor’s trash after dark now flips furniture for income that rivals her day job

Faranne Iman has spent the past five years turning unwanted furniture into extra income while holding down a full-time office job. The single mom says the side work sometimes brings in as much as, or more than, her regular paycheck. She keeps both roles for now because the combination gives her more security as she builds toward greater flexibility.

The path started in 2021 when Iman was working traditional daytime hours and had added weekend call-center shifts. She hoped the extra money would help support herself and her young son, Jae, but the arrangement cut into the time she could spend with him. Once her office role shifted to fully remote work during the pandemic, she finally had more hours at home and began looking at projects she had postponed.

A neighbor set a dresser outside for trash collection. Iman waited until dark to retrieve it and brought Jae along to help carry the piece. “I was so embarrassed at the thought of someone seeing me take furniture out of the trash that I waited until it was dark outside and took Jae with me to grab it,” she told PEOPLE. She later said she had no idea the discarded dresser would become the start of something that changed her life.

Building a furniture-flipping routine around a full-time schedule

Iman had almost no prior experience restoring furniture when she began. She worked in a simple garage setup using free paint and a one-dollar brush from a dollar store. She also picked up two free nightstands on Facebook Marketplace and restored them with the dresser. Jae helped on the project and left his own mark on the pieces. She listed the three-piece set for $400 and accepted $350 when a buyer made the offer.

That first payment gave her a confidence boost she said she had not expected. She explained that she was mainly excited about the extra money at the time, yet the sale showed her the work could turn into more than a single project. She launched Furniture by Fara and has continued developing the business alongside her office job.

Over time, she has sharpened her skills and grown more selective about the pieces she takes on. She now schedules the heavier restoration work for weekends and handles smaller steps before or after her daytime hours. Several projects often sit at different stages at once. Jae, who is now 14, stays busy with basketball, track, and math club, so she tries to protect their time together. Another single mom found a former pro’s pitching help for her son. 

The schedule can feel heavy. Iman has said it can be a lot to juggle and that she sometimes feels as if she is constantly working. She reminds herself that she is building something for their future, while also stressing that she never wants the business to come at the expense of being present for her son.

She still keeps her full-time position because the furniture income, though it can match or exceed her office pay, does not yet feel steady enough for her to leave. Both streams together provide a buffer while she works toward a setup that offers more control over her hours. Five years after that nighttime trip to the curb, she still points back to the original dresser and the help her son gave her that evening as the moment the business began.