I love a good Before and After, don’t you?
Months ago, I found these two mid-century wood pieces at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore. (One is sitting on top of the other in the before photos.) I’m not even sure what to call them. Credenza-like in shape but they were double sided built-ins during their former life.
VERY dusty, I nearly walked right on by but I loved the clean lines. I believe they had been at the Restore for quite some time as they had been reduced down to nearly free. I think I paid $20.
Fast-forward 18 months later!
How we did it:
I definitely should have taken photos but hopefully you can follow. We sliced the 2 double-sided cabinets in half length-wise which gave us four single-sided cabinets that are about 13″ deep. We used one for the top and one for the bottom of our media cabinet. The third was cut into smaller sections to create the two pieces that surround the tv. That left the fourth section unused. See below for where it went. We added some 1×2 spacers between the cabinets to give us a height that better fit the TV, and used thin Luan board to finish the vertical areas. All that new wood was finished with gray stain.
We are so happy with the result. Exactly what we need to hold all the TV components, kids games, DVDs, etc. It only sits out from the wall about a foot so it doesn’t take up much space.
When slicing the two credenzas lengthwise we had 4 pieces to work with. After using three for the media cabinet we had one piece leftover. It works great in the adjoining work area to hold the kids school-books and craft supplies.
Angie, what a wonderful transformation on some thrifted cabinets. Beautiful job for the TV wall and I love the map wall too. Just gorgeous! Thanks for sharing! I’d love it if you would add a link back to my party today. Great project!
Wow- an amazing transformation.
It often pays to take a second look.
That is fabbo! I was so afraid I would read down and find you had painted all that teak. Whew! Now I want one…
Wonderful job! You have a great vision. Can’t wait to see more projects. FYI-Southern Hospitality tweeted about the project.
Wow! What an amazing transformation – and so perfect for your needs! Your hard work and creativity really paid off.
Wow! They’re fabulous now! It’s always hard for me to see past the what is to imagine the what can be. I love seeing before and after pictures.
Makes me want to go to my Habitat store right now! Such a beautiful unit, I love that you kept it teak.
Thanks to you all for the great comments! Glad you enjoyed our before and after project. :-)
What a beautiful media unit you all created! I keep holding off on buying one, because I can’t find one that is just right. Maybe we will have to create our “just right” as you did. Thanks for sharing. :)