A Home for the Big Screen

My husband has wanted a big screen tv since the day we were married (only 12 years ago).  We have passed on it and put it off for more pressing expenses.  When Costco had a killer deal on one early this spring my husband quickly went to buy one. Only to find that they were completely sold out!  He got a raincheck and called weekly to see if they had any more in.  I thought our bank account was safe until more than a month later we got a call saying that they had just enough tvs in, for the customers who had rainchecks.  Shucks...   He picked it up and we immediately needed a new entertainment center, unless we were going to keep it on the coffee table.  :)


Searching the classifieds and blogs for ideas I stumbled upon this dresser...  and yes, this is the picture from the ad, sorry. She was just what I wanted and perfect for paint!

I have seen so many dresser turned entertainment centers in the blogosphere and internet and wanted to create my own.   This one is from Sausha's Show & Tell Blog.

I also liked the dividers in between the tv equipment in this Pottery Barn Entertainment Center...

I don't have pictures of the entire process since this is before I started blogging, but I will try to explain the process.  The day our dresser came home I started sanding the top, because I wanted to stain it.  I learned my first valuable lesson here.  I used a 80 grit sandpaper to try to get the shiny finish off and went too deep on one spot and revealed particle board, ugh... Since there is no truly stainable wood filler we ended up leaving that spot and just putting stain on the entire top.  You can't tell unless you look closely at it.  I also stack books on top ;) We then applied several coats of Tung Oil, over the course of several days.

We taped off the top removed all of the drawers and started to paint.  First with a coat of spray on primer, next came the open shelf inside the dresser.

When we removed the backing from the rear of the dresser and noticed that there were thin wooden pieces that went from top to bottom.  My husband trimmed these down with a jigsaw so that we could insert our shelf. 

You can see the back of the dresser and cut pieces here.

 He then measured the inside and cut a wood sheet to fit inside.

He also cut three small pieces of trim to line the front of the shelf.

We installed the shelf inside the dresser with nails and then painted the back so that it would be the same as the rest of the Entertainment Center nailed on the trim, filled holes and painted using 4-5 cans of Rustoleums Antique White Spray Paint. And finally installed the new hardware I found on eBay!

Here is the result!

We love it!  And it is amazing how quickly you can finish a project when your husband is really motivated! 

Thanks for visiting!

Linking to:

Funky Junk Interiors

DIY By Design

Sew Dang Cute Crafts

Primitive & Proper

Shabby Creek Cottage

 Miss Mustard Seed