I’m back with an update to how our living room makeover is going. To be honest, the exhaustion has set in, and I am living on caffeine and dreams right now. But we have made serious progress and I am thrilled (thrilled!) to show you the biggest DIY project we have ever done! That’s right, the entertainment center makeover is finished! This monster is over 12 ft long and put all of our woodworking, building, painting, and designing skills to the test.
But first, let’s take you back and see what it looked like:
I could just die laughing looking at that. I knew it was always temporary, but, wow, that is bad. Along with our beautiful craigslist entertainment setup, the center console section was left behind at an old apartment so we used it to hold up the tv until we could either find or build something more suitable. We decided to build. We are kind of stubborn like that. The main reason was that a certain love-of-my-life, who I can’t say no to, had his heart set on one day getting a really big tv. The center console needed to be at least 65 inches wide in order to accommodate that. Finding something that would hit all of our needs was impossible.
So, hubby started building while I started working on the rest of the hooker entertainment center. First, he put together the basic foundation for the center console.
I have mentioned that we had problems matching the original trim, so took off the chair rail and added a new one. Those bookend shelves are unbelievably heavy. Hubby guessed maybe 300-400lbs each. Therefore, there was not moving them to the workshop, and I had to turn to a zero VOC paint in order to paint them right in the living room.
For this piece, Fusion Mineral sent me several products to get the job done. After sanding and scuffing up the finish, I did use a quality primer
. Although Fusion Mineral Paint is touted to have amazing grip, this piece was far too large for me to screw up. Also, it was fairly difficult to sand many areas like the millwork and trim. Because I was going dark to antique white, I used concealer (now discontinued), and 2 coats of Fusion Mineral Paint in Champlain. Although I usually use a sprayer furniture, I wanted a hand-painted, lightly distressed style. It felt right with this piece since it has beautiful handles and pockmarked purposely for additional character. You can buy and learn more about Fusion Mineral HERE.
And here it is today!
That center console just looks like it belongs there, doesn’t it? I set this up just to take pictures, but we have to break it back down and move it to the kitchen while the floors are being installed. I can’t wait to put our treasures back on those shelves. After the rest the room is done, I am considering adding a bit of glazing to create shadows in the millwork, but that is a project for another day.
I love the finish on this piece. Although the entire facing was painted with a ¾in angled craft brush, I used a Microfiber Roller for the flat sides. I tried a dense foam roller at first, and that was a mistake. But the microfiber roller gave a beautiful finish. It is a smooth finish matte paint, but this it isn’t completely flat like a chalky finish paint. For the distressing, I just handpicked a few spots and door corners to let the old stain color show through. I am firmly in the less-is-more style when it comes to distressing.
These handles were the hardest part of the entire process. We were unsure how to remove them and worried we would harm them in the process. Therefore, I spent hours with a tee-tiny brush hand-painting around and in between them. Though it was a lot of work, they stand out beautifully now.
At the time this was our largest DIY project ever. We had never built furniture. But that’s the whole point of this, we aren’t professionals. We just try really hard, and if we can do it, you can too. Challenging yourself just enough when you have a goal makes it all the more satisfying! Sure, it’s hard work, but think of all the years of smiles and pride coming your way when you complete that challenge.
I would love to hear what you think. Especially all of my friends who thought I was crazy for painting it. You know who you are (and I really do appreciate your honesty).
You Can See Our (Almost Finished) Living Room Makeover in this post.
Looking for more furniture makeover ideas? You can find some other great ideas here:
- 10 AMAZINGLY CREATIVE PAINTED FURNITURE IDEAS
- HOW TO PAINT FURNITURE WHITE
- CREATING A RAW WOOD STYLE IN FURNITURE
- HOW TO SPRAY PAINT OUTDOOR FURNITURE
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Erica says
Wow! You did a fantastic job, beautiful work.
Joe says
Looks awesome , we are going to buy the same unit second hand and plan on refinishing it ourselves. How did you make the doors on the center console? Where did you get the door hinges? And why didn’t you extend the base molding across your center console?
Great work!
Rachel says
When we built/modified this particular entertainment center, we upgraded to a 75-inch tv. My husband loves his big TVs, haha. The top of the center piece is extended as far as it can go. The bottom molding piece wasn’t as long, so our solution was to cut it in half and style it as you see now. The hinges and door pulls on the center piece are from Lowes.
I designed the doors to mimic the other doors on the piece, and my husband and I built them. I just designed another set for a different set of cabinets and hope to show those in better detail. I hope this makes sense, as it is hard to describe without step by step photos. For the new doors, we used a piece of birch plywood (you can see it on the one photo where the center doors are open). Then we glued/brad nailed a 1/2 thick board on top around the outside. Using a router table, I created the exact same curved edge that is present in the rest of doors. Then we put a piece of stock molding (from lowes’ – it is similar to what is on the other doors) around the inside of the board. It honestly looks pretty darn close and hard to tell that the center piece of the console was built afterward. I hope that help and makes sense.
Joe says
Thanks so much for your detailed response and everything made absolute sense. And yes the center unit you made looks like it was part of the original unit.
I just have a few more questions. 1.) I assume your birch base for the doors was only a quarter or 3/8 thick? 2.) what router bit did you use for the wood you used for your door trim . Was that wood just pine? 3.) did you apply veneer edging Tape to the edges of the ply wood you cut for the top and shelves . Just wondering I’d you needed the tape to create a smooth finish? 4.) can you share a you higher resolution picture of the unit ?
Thanks for sharing what you did , it really is inspiring. Great use of furniture that may have gone into the trash.
Rachel says
1. That’s probably about right, between 1/4-3/8. I’m currently on travel so I don’t have it to look at unfortunately. 2. We used a roundover bit similar to this one. We sank it a little bit deeper to get the inner straight edge and then the round outside edge. I am not sure exactly of the wood species used there, but I generally use poplar or better. Poplar is smoother, but only a little harder than pine. Poplar is fine for something that isn’t going to be banged a lot. 3. Since this is painted, I filled the edges rather than using veneer tape. I was going to add tape to the front of the inside shelves, but never got around to it. I do still own the unit so if you would like, I can send a closeup of any area you are interested in. For many technical reasons, I can’t load huge photo files to the website. Unfortunately, I won’t be returning home until next month though.
Barb says
Hi ..I have a large entertainment centre very much like yours. I have been thinking about painting it and after seeing how awesome yours looks , I`m going to do it.What a great transformation. You did an amazing job as well as your husband.
Amelina says
I absolutely love this idea. I’ve had my entertainment center for over 10 years and needed to change it up. I told my fiancé that I wanted to paint it white and he thought I was crazy. I showed him your pics and he was able to understand my vision. Thank you so much for sharing.
Pam Conn says
How did you extend the top. It looks like the same piece but I can see it is larger? Looking to do the same to my entertainment center but husband thinks I’m crazy.
Rachel says
The top piece is original. It was just a piece of plywood that covered the tv area and lays on top of each bookcase.
Angela, Blue i Style says
I am so impressed! That is crazy good building and painting, and so worth all of your hard work!
Shannon Rogers says
Do you have details on how to build the center piece? I have a large entertainment center with the 2 bookshelves on each side and the top that lays over each book shelf. My only problem is that it didn’t come with a center piece. Over the years, we have used different center tv stands and none of them look good. I finally found one that I can live with but it doesn’t look like it belongs. I would love to build one that actually looks like it is part of the entertainment center.
Rachel says
I do not since we designed it specifically to fit this piece. Using trim to match the doors and wraps around the outside bookshelves with new trim was how we got the new piece to match. It is extremely expensive to try to match the trim that was existing, so we chose to replace it instead with chair railing from lowes.
katyashadeofteal says
It looks so great! You guys did such a good job, can’t wait to see the rest of the room!
refashionablylate says
Wow what a transformation! It looks amazing!
Rachel says
Thank you! It was a lot of work but it is definitely worth it. I am so excited to decorate for Christmas now.
melaniealexander says
Looks fantastic! That was a major project, I am sure you are glad it’s finished. Great job!!
Rachel says
Thank you! I am very glad it’s finished. Home stretch now.
The Red Painted Cottage says
What an amazing transformation! I’ve never used Fusion Mineral paint, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. Looking forward to seeing the reveal.
April R - Uncookie Cutter says
whoa!!!! What a change! It’s looking fabulous! Pinning!