Don’t get rid of that BEAST of an Entertainment Center you’ve been holding onto since the 90s just yet! Give it a severe DIY AMBUSH furniture MAKEOVER and transform it into the happiest and prettiest Customized Wall Storage Organization Unit for your Craft Room, Sewing Room, Creative Space or wherever! These old oak entertainment centers are ALL over in thrift stores, yard/garage sales, classified ads and on sites like Craigslist for FREE to super duper cheap! Go snag one and make it all new and ALL YOU following this simple do it yourself woodworking project tutorial!
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So I was minding my own biz, just a browsing Craigslist for funzies when I saw “FREE TO A GOOD HOME” with a picture of this BEAST of an old ginormous 90s era Oak Entertainment Center. Normally I would just pass it right on by with a reminiscent chuckle. Because: Ugly. But then I got to thinking….
Just a week ago THIS was my “office/craft/guest” room you guys…….. It tends to make you dwell on any and all ways you can think of to make it less sad/depressing/brown:
I actually had a bunch more photos and decorations etc. on the walls but realized I better take a before pic before I got it all cleared out. I love comparing BEFORE and AFTER pictures like nobody’s biz! Speaking of….
So I emailed the irresponsible furniture parents who no longer loved this bad boy and said “Mkay, drop the thing off”:
And turned it into THIS in a matter of days. The only reason it took DAYS (multiple) is due to drying times of paint and/or wood fillers, FYI:
So make someone’s day by offering to take one of these monstrosities off of their hands, grab these simple supplies you probably have on hand, and let’s DO THIS!
- Staple Remover and Staple Gun
- Wood Glue
- Sandpaper – You can use either sheets or sanding blocks by hand or I used this Electric Sander
- Wood Filler (make sure it’s sandable and paintable!)
- Hammer and finishing nails
- New lumber in width of your choice!
- Hand saw or if you have them, power saw/wood cutting tools – I used my portable table saw. THIS is the one I have and love!
- Furniture Paint in your choice of color/tint & brushes or paint sprayer (THIS is the paint sprayer I used!) If you get really good furniture paint – you can roll it or brush it on and the brush marks won’t show. The one I used is oil based and self leveling!
I really thought about just adding a bunch of filler to these rounded dips… that I can’t stand:
I kept looking at it and looking at it wishing the rounded corners away…(not very effective, btw) ..then VOILA! I was walking around and around it and noticed that the BACKS were flat as could be! So I could just flip the entire thing around and use the BACK as the FRONT and add a whole new flat face/front to it. YAY!!!
So I ganked those suckers OFF! I started pulling the staples out one by one:
Then realized the whole thing was on there so flimsy that I could pretty much just PULL it all off at once!
If you ever have a SERIOUS staple pulling job to do – I HIGHLY suggest getting a heavy duty staple remover/lifter like THIS one though:
They work like MAGIC on staples that are really in there good. So check out how nice and flat the NEW “front” we have to work with is now!
I cut all my lumber {I went with 1 1/2″ wide cheap as can be lumber btw} to size and added a generous full length line of wood glue to the backs of each one before fastening them on by hammering in some finishing nails:
I started with the bases so I could measure and work upwards, but you do you!
I framed in a couple of the compartments for cabinet doors in case I wanted to add them later and created a few NEW shelves for even more storage!
The cabinets already had all of the little holes drilled for the shelves to be adjustable so I just got some extra shelf pins to hold my NEW shelves!
Then you want to make sure to use your wood filler and FILL everywhere the wood meets wood. Every single crevice! You’ll probably see ones you didn’t even notice after your first coat of paint. No worries, you can add it between coats – it just adds to your waiting/drying time. Which sucks. Just glob this stuff on with your finger and squish it in all of the cracks really good:
After you’ve got it all in there it will be a ginormous mess and look really hideous. Don’t fret! You just wipe the excess off with a damp cloth and it will look PERFECT! Then you SHOULD wait a full 24 hours before sanding and painting…that’s srsly the worst part.
Now PAINT those beauties! I sprayed them with my paint sprayer, but you could roll or brush them. If you get the more spendy furniture paint, your brush strokes won’t show at all – the oil based ones are self leveling:
I set up all of the shelves on THESE magical inventions. PAINTER’S PYRAMIDS! They barely touch ANY of your project and allow you to paint 3 sides at once and it dries tons faster!
While those were outside drying overnight I worked on the new inside “backs” to my cabinets. I wanted mine bead board and PINK! So I measured the backs of each opening and cut them to size and PAINTED those suckers:
You just need material that’s super thin so pick whatever you like. Keep in mind, if you go thicker your cabinets will weigh a TON! After they dried and the cabinets dried I just grabbed my hand staple gun and stapled them on the backs!
This is before all of the adjustable shelves were dry so you can see how the backs look in there all pretty:
I just LOVE how this unit turned out, you guys!!!
Even though I framed in the bottom cabinet openings to add doors, I’m not sure I will now. I kinda like the open look and the thought of just adding cute bins, etc! But we’ll see…..
I srsly just go in there now and look at it and smile. Now to FILL IT all up with the goodies I have in boxes and stuff all crammed everywhere during the renovation!
Can you believe the difference in the BEFORE and AFTER here?
I’m still working on a few (hundred) more elements for this FUN new space! I’ll update you between crazies and hopefully it will inspire you to think outside the box and flip something around {ltrly}, too! I’d love to see your creations, so please email me pictures. Happy creating, friend!
** Make sure to PIN THIS IMAGE where it’s handy while you scour the classifieds, yard sales and thrift stores for your goodies to makeover! **
Make sure to sign up for our email notification list so you don’t miss out on the follow up posts of more FUN stuff I’m making for this craft/guest/sewing room!
Here’s the start to the Upholstered Diamond Tufted Headboard I’m making since it IS technically my guest room…. Come learn how I figured out how to make the PERFECT upholstery fabric covered BUTTONS that will NEVER come apart! Just CLICK HERE or on the image below to grab tons of hard earned painful wisdom I dropped super hard:
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