Craigslist Buffet Turned Media Cabinet
I don't know about you, but I haven't found a lot of media cabinets out there in the shopping world that I like. As an aside....When did we stop calling them entertainment centers anyway?? I've had a few entertainment/media cabinets in my life over the years and I haven't really liked any of them. I did buy one from Crate and Barrel about 4 years ago that I liked, but I found later I liked it better as a stand alone cabinet.
While looking on Pinterest I saw lots of people using old dressers and buffets as media cabinets/centers. I liked that idea! I liked the fact it was unique and no one else would have the same cabinet done the exact same way. I started my search for a dresser or buffet and looked for a couple of months. I finally came across BOTH on Craigslist. You might recall I've mentioned the 1810 farm house I bought a few things from? They had both items I was looking for and both were in need of some repair. I brought them both home and worked on other projects while I decided what I was going to do with them. Then one day it hit me...I wanted to use the buffet in our family room for a media cabinet! Brilliant idea Melody!!! Well....when I told my Hubby about this he did not think it was such a brilliant idea. He thought it was an awful idea actually. Like most men he had to ruin it with talk of "Where do the components go?" and "There's no glass doors so how do we use the remote." I didn't think these were important....what about how pretty it would look?? HA HA HA......I was determined to make this work so I proceeded despite his misgivings :-)
Here is the buffet before.....
You can see on the right hand door there is a light piece of wood. The small trim piece was missing there and on the left hand door there was an even bigger piece missing. In this picture you can see my solution. I went to Home Depot and found some very small round dowel and it happened to be perfect. I used some wood glue and cut it to length and ouila! It was fixed!
Like just about everything I buy, this piece needed a lot of TLC. There were lots of places the veneer had peeled off near the bottom and the legs were a mess with dings and knicks, but that's what I love about this old stuff!
This piece was also incredibly dirty! It took lots of shop vac time and Murphy's Oil soap to clean this puppy!
Here is an up-close picture of my repair...not perfect, but I knew it would look great once it was filled and painted!
The bigger section of repair was a bit trickier and needed a lot more glue and patience.
After the repairs and cleaning were done I sanded the top down and the wood was so pretty underneath. I did my usual and stained the top. Then I painted the sides with my new favorite chalk paint recipe. The color is by Olympic and it's called Heirloom Lace. It's a slightly creamy white. I did the 1/2 C Plaster of Paris and 1/2C hot water dissolved then added that into 1 1/2C of flat, latex paint. It went on great without sanding or priming!
This is with one coat of paint.
SEE?? You can't even tell where I fixed the door trim!!
On this one too!!!
Here it is in it's new home...minus the TV and the components. I have to put in a funny little story here. So, remember Hubby said he didn't want to do this, right? Well, we move this cabinet in and move the old one out and he says, "Where are the components going?" I showed him the door and he laughed saying, "The Direct TV PVR is not going to fit in there...See it won't work." Hmmmmm, don't tell me something isn't going to work when I know it will. Guess what?? It fit just fine thank you very much. :-) All I need to find is a basket or box that it can sit on because right now the PVR is in the cabinet sitting on a plastic bin. Not so pretty when the door is open :-) Yes, the door has to be open to turn the PVR on, but it's fine and it works great1
I love the shape of this buffet!! It has so much character and I'm happy that the original hardware was in great shape. It just needed some spray paint love.
Now I don't enjoy tooting my own horn, but....Isn't that SOOOO much better than.....
THIS???? The TV is 50 inches and all I saw when I looked at the old media center was....TV, TV, TV. The scale was all off. Now the TV sits on top of a beautiful and unique piece of antique furniture. I don't look at it and go, "WOW, that's a big TV!"
I used only a coat of clear wax on top of the homemade chalk paint. Then I took my orbital sander to it to add some extra character and charm.
I know, I know I say this all the time, but I'm in loooooovvvveeee with this one!!!
Also love the hardware!
Still can't see my fixes too!!
And will you just look at those legs? TONS of character from years and years of use. You can't recreate this kind of beauty!
Yep, I'm thrilled with how this turned out. I knew when I saw this buffet that it would make a beautiful media cabinet. Now all our family room is waiting for is the Hubby's new couch he treated himself to from Restoration Hardware. It's coming today and we're all excited for out new arrival!! I will make sure to post some pictures of it soon.
Have you used a piece of furniture as a media center??? If you have I'd love to see pictures or hear about what you did! If you send pictures I might have to share them on the blog. Email them to me at mypassionfordecor@gmail.com
Happy Friday Everyone!! Enjoy your weekend and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there. If your Mom is no longer with you, like mine, take this time to remember all the wonderful memories you made together. If you haven't given your Mom a hug in a while, make sure you do and cherish every moment you have together.
LINKING TO:
http://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/
www.bedifferentactnormal.com Show and Tell Saturday
http://lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com/
www.houseofhepworths.com Hooking Up with HoH
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com/
http://craftomaniac.blogspot.com
www.homemakeronadime.com
http://www.craftyconfessions.com/
http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com
www.homemakeronadime.com
http://www.craftyconfessions.com/
http://delightfulorder.blogspot.com