A New Media Console For My Mom (Antique Buffet Before & After)
My mom now has a new media console in her living room — this antique buffet that I refinished for her this weekend, just in time for their Super Bowl party last night.
It started out looking like this…
And now it looks like this…
The paint color is called Frontier Shadow by Behr. The stain color on the top is Dark Walnut by Rust-Oleum.
(To answer the question I’m sure to get at least 10 times unless I address it 🙂 …no, I didn’t use chalk paint, because I don’t like chalk paint. There are several reasons I don’t like it and don’t use it, which I won’t address in this post. But the most important thing is that the “no sanding required” aspect of chalk paint doesn’t interest me because I simply would never paint an old piece of furniture like this without sanding first. Sanding does a whole lot more than just give the piece some “tooth” to which paint can adhere. It also removed dings and scratches. It removed the hairline cracks that appear in veneer after many years. It smooths the cracks that appear in the wood joints. It removes the mystery residue from spills, splashes, and splatters from years of use. It smooths the rough areas from water damage, like water rings on the top. And on, and on, and on. Sanding, for me, is an absolutely necessary part of taking an old piece and making it look new again.)
Anyway, that’s the short version of the story.
Here’s the longer version…
Eleven years ago, when my dad died after 45 years of marriage to my mom, my mom insisted that she would never marry again. Two years later, we welcomed Jon, my step-father, into our family. 🙂
Jon immediately fit right into our crazy family like a perfectly-fitting puzzle piece, but just like most of us, Jon came with baggage. And Jon’s baggage was in the form of this monstrous 60-inch t.v. 😀
The good thing about Jon is that he was fully on board with my mom and I redecorating the house — something that my dad simply could never get on board with because of how much he hated change.
So my mom and I set about making some much needed changes and updates to the house with new furniture, paint, draperies, lighting, crown moulding, hardwood floors, etc.
The only deal was that the t.v. had to stay, so we had to decide how to deal with it. We finally decided that it would possibly look less monstrous if we had a wall unit built around it. And the wall unit did help to minimize the impact of the t.v. a bit.
But it was still huge.
So secretly, I prayed that the thing would die so that they could get a new flat screen t.v. 😀
Well, that thing simply would NOT die. Something would go out on it, and Jon would have it fixed. Something else would happen, and Jon would have it fixed.
The thing even caught on fire, with flames coming out of the back of it! I thought to myself, “Surely this is it! Surely its life is over!” But Jon had it fixed, and it kept ticking on, like some kind of indestructible Energizer bunny.
But finally….FINALLY…one day about two months ago, I got the news. The monstrous t.v. was finally, officially dead. Nothing would revive it.
I’ll admit, I pumped my fists in the air in victory, and even did a little dance at my kitchen table upon hearing the news. Finally they could get rid of not only the massive t.v., but also the huge cabinet around it, and get something that didn’t take up quite so much space on that wall.
My brother kindly offered up his 42-inch plasma t.v., as well as a t.v. stand that he had sitting in storage.
The t.v. was a good size (although after looking at that 60-inch monstrosity for so many years, this t.v. looked tiny!), but as you can see, the stand wasn’t quite what this room was needing. 🙂 Not only was the style and size all wrong, but it was so low to the floor that they had to move it all the way over to the right side of the wall. With it centered, the t.v. couldn’t be seen from the kitchen if anyone was sitting on the sofa.
So I told my mom that she should be on the lookout for an antique buffet or credenza that could be repurposed into a media console.
Well, it just so happened that my bonus sister (aka, my step-sister) Cathi had a buffet that she wasn’t using, but it was in need of a makeover. It had dings and scratches all over…
…and the top has some extensive damage to the finish.
But overall, it was just what my mom needed.
My sister Cathy and brother-in-law Bill transported it from Cathi’s house in Dallas to my house, and put it in my garage. The plan was that I would refinish it as soon as I could get my garage cleaned out a bit to use as a work room.
But then, at the beginning of last week, my mom called to see what I thought about them using the buffet in its current condition for their Super Bowl party.
I was like, “What?! You can’t use it like that! I need to paint it for you!”
She said that wasn’t necessary, but I insisted that it needed a makeover before their party. So we both finally had time on Friday to meet at Home Depot and pick out a paint color, and then on Saturday we moved it over to my mom’s house and I got started.
I sanded the top down completely because I wanted to stain and polyurethane it.
Unfortunately, the Minwax water-based polyurethane that I used left streaks on the beautiful wood top. I left it for now, because it needed to be dry enough to set the tv on top by 4:00pm on Sunday evening. (I put the last coat on at 8:00am Sunday, and it was completely dry in about two hour.)
But lesson learned. I should have used Rust-Oleum water-based polyurethane rather than Minwax.
At 3:40pm yesterday, the drawers were still drying in the garage, so it was a sprint to the finish line.
We finally got it moved inside, got the hardware and doors installed, and got the t.v and cable box hooked up and ready to go at 4:40, 20 minutes before their guests were to arrive. 😀 (Which is why my pictures are a bit lacking. I was in a hurry trying to get my filthy self out the door before they got there! After crawling around on the garage floor all day, I wasn’t exactly ready to see guests. 😀 )
But we made it just in time, and the t.v. looked 100 times better on the new media console/buffet than it did on the tiny little tv stand.
We still have some work to do. I actually want to mount the t.v. on the wall above the buffet, and then my mom thought of removing the bottom long drawer, and using that space for the cable box, Wii, and other electronic items they have. And I personally think that the doors could be removed, and pretty baskets used in those compartments (since the doors are warped and don’t open and close easily). But for a last minute, two-day makeover, I think it ended up looking pretty good.
And of course, the cords will be taken care of. Fortunately, they were only having close friends over who would understand the last minute rush and wouldn’t judge them on their exposed cords. 😉
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
It looks awesome as usual. 😀
I agree with your mom, remove the long drawers for the cable box
…and wires.
Kristi – AWESOME job! I have a buffet similar to your mom’s in my Seattle house, still waiting for me to refinish it. I love that you left the top unpainted.
Question for you – what do you use to organize your cords? I have cords all over the condo and I just know you’ll have the most clever way of hiding them. Share?
Gini, I actually don’t have a “one size fits all” cords solution. In this particular situation, I’d probably attach the power strip to the wall behind the buffet, or to the back of the buffet, and then use zip ties to gather up the cords so that they don’t hang down below where they can be seen.
On lamps, I often just run the cord down the back of the leg of the table, using some sort of 3M sticky tape to adhere it, and then try to run the cord underneath a rug to the outlet. But of course, you never want to run a cord under the part of the rug where people actually walk.
So really, every situation is different. It just takes a bit of creative thinking, and a variety of 3M products. 😀
Amazon sells these awesome wall outlets that have a ‘cup’ shape cut into them where you can run the wires INTO the walls, and have it flat if you need/want to hang the TV up.
We used these when we hung it over our mantle and it came out great! The TV is small enough where if you hang it up, you can frame it out like a picture too,,,we want to eventually do this.
If taking out the drawers — I would remove the top middle drawer for a shelf to hold the cable box and keep the long bottom one for DVD storage or whatever,,,,
Great Job on the refinishing ( and the remodel of the Momma & Bonus Dad’s house!) What a makeover!
Please provide a link to the cup shape outlets. I’d love to see them.
I did a search on Amazon.com and came up with a whole bunch of ideas – who knew? Here’s the link for ‘recessed cord outlets’ – hope it helps.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=wall%20outlet%20hides%20cords
Hi! This looks great!! I am wondering (if i am seeing th ecolor correctly on my monitor) You say the color is Frontier Shadow by Behr. …… Does that have a green tint to it? It seems to, but i couldn’t quite tell if it did, or was more of a taupe color. 🙂 thanks, and GREAT job!
Yes, it’s actually really super dark brownish green. But it’s definitely green.
You are right…what a difference it makes having the tv on that buffet! Looks awesome! Love the color!
Beautiful! I wouldn’t change a thing! I am using a similar buffet that I painted a light gray-green color, but now I’m seriously thinking of stripping and staining the top like yours. BTW, what is the paint color you used?
I really like that you take an old piece and make it look new again, rather than taking a piece and making it look even older and more beat up. Don’t even get me started on the “distressing” craze! I see so many “afters” that look much worse than the “befores” and it makes me want to scream!
Keep up the great work!
Oops! Just saw the color name!
I’m very much over the whole “antiquing and distressing” thing myself. If I’m going to go to the trouble of painting a big piece of furniture, I want it to look as nice and new as possible when I’m finished. 🙂 And distressed furniture doesn’t fit with all styles, in my opinion. My mom’s home is very traditional and refined, and I think that a distressed piece of furniture would look out of place there.
What amazing children your parents have!! One gave them a tv, one a buffet, and one a custom refinishing job!! Looks so good! Have you ever used Minwax Tung Oil Finish over stained wood? It has become my absolute favorite wood top coat. Really easy to apply, always looks great, and it’s virtually indestructible. Try it, you’ll love it!
I’ve never tried Minwax tung oil finish, but I have used Waterlox. Never on a piece of furniture, though. I’ve used it on my hardwood floors. But just yesterday, my mom and I were talking about trying it on her breakfast table, which is desperately needing a good refinishing. I’m thinking about using it on my dining table as well.
Kristi, I used Formby’s Tung Oil on my antique oak dining chairs more than 20 years and the finish is still as beautiful now as it was then. It goes on with a lint-free cloth, and dries to a beautiful satin shine (you can get it in Gloss finish too). FYI.
Question, the grain on the wood in the top in the original picture runs the length of the piece. On the finished piece the grain runs the depth of the piece?
PS: It looks awesome!
I have the same question about the wood grain – did you add new vaneer to the top? Also the back of the top has a piece added that is not in the before – did you have a paticular reason for the “lip”? I enjoy and learn so much from your thought processes. I go thru the same thing with anything I do – I try to look “down the road” to anticipate what might come up. You did your usual fabulous work on the buffet. I know your parents are so pround of it.
I just answered the wood grain question below. Great eye for detail! 🙂
As far as the “lip” on back…
The original buffet had an attached wood framed mirror that was only about eight inches tall and ran the entire length of the buffet. Since this was going to be used as a media console, we figured that having a mirror on back, that would reflect the back of the t.v., probably wasn’t the greatest idea, so I left it off. (It had been removed for transport from Dallas to Waco, so I just never reattached it, which is why it’s not in the “before” pictures.)
But with the mirror off, that left a 3/4-inch space between the back edge of the top and the back of the buffet that needed to be filled. I never could have gotten any wood to match lying flat, so I just used a 1″ x 2″ piece of lumber to create a lip to fill in that gap on back. I used a jigsaw to round the top corners, and then stained it the same color as the buffet top.
I’m curious as well. I only noticed the second time through and it looks great, but I want the rest of the story! 😉
Oh my, y’all have the eyes of a hawk! 😀 Good eye for detail.
I didn’t replace the top, but as I was sanding the top, I noticed that I was actually sanding off the absolute thinnest piece of veneer I had ever seen. It was certainly no thicker than 1/32 of an inch. And once that top veneer was off, there was some beautiful wood underneath. The grain on the veneer was going the length of the buffet, and the grain on the wood underneath the veneer ran the depth of the top. That’s kind of unconventional, but it was such pretty wood that I decided to go ahead with my plan to stain and polyurethane.
Thanks – I knew there was a story there!!
I’m so glad you posted this. I am thinking of redoing an old dresser but wanted to leave the top wood. This is GREAT inspiration! What type of paint did you use? Just latex? What finish? Semi-gloss?
Love this! I love the two tone so much!! Great job!!
Question, the grain on the wood in the top in the original picture runs the length of the piece. On the finished piece the grain runs the depth of the piece? Also the finished piece has a board across the back that was not there in the original pict. Is this a new top?
PS: It looks awesome!
I just wanted to give you a fist bump because I too, do not care for Chalk Paint! Love that the fireplace got painted, too. Your mom’s home is beautiful, including the re-purposed buffet.
I love your new painted fireplace! I have an old brick fireplace and would love to have your look. Please tell how you made that transformation, starting from cleaning it to finishing it.
Dawn
The console is stunning!! Beautiful!
I love seeing all of your projects. You do such a great job on them!
I also am working on a large antique buffet that belonged to my grandmother. My plan is to re-stain the top and veneer inlays on the doors and drawers but paint the rest.
In a quick pinch of time or permanently you can put two small screws on the back of the buffet to hang the power strip (they have holes on the back for this exact purpose) then use twist ties or rubber bands to shorten the cords where they will not be seen.
Keep posting! I love seeing your work!
Very nice, can’t believe you did all that in just a couple of days. Great job on the update on your Mom’s home too. It looks like a totally different house.
It would be cool to recess the cords from the back in the top drawer. Maybe make an access panel and leave the power strip inside the console. Its really nice looking I love the way it turned out!!
Kristi – You can use an IR Extender to control the cable box inside the drawer. You wouldn’t even have to remove the drawer front.
That’s what I was thinking. I remember YHL doing that with their dresser turned media stand. Great looking piece in an impressively short amount of time! Phew! Wish I could accomplish that with the dining set that’s been in my garage for oh… 9 months now.
Definitely want to see follow up on this project! While not as big as Jon’s, we have an old school TV that we’d like to upgrade when it dies…and will be looking to repurpose something. So quite interested in how your project ends up. 🙂
If we’re voting…I’d go with the doors coming off and being used for components. Or even retrofit with a screen of some kind so the components still work but still have a “closed” look.
Wow! Another beautiful piece! I was excited to look at your site today and see how it turned out. It didn’t disappoint.
What exactly do you do with all those cords? I have the same problem and would love a solution.
Usually some zip ties and/or a variety of 3M adhesive products can help get cords under control.
I love my new buffet!!! THANK YOU, KRISTI!!! My only regret is that I didn’t get a picture of you using the electric sander with your left hand and holding your iPhone in your right hand while reading comments on your blog. You are definitely a multitasker. 🙂
I am a faithful reader of Kristi’s blog, and I think your daughter is great, too! Would have loved seeing her doing the multitasking! I have a child that is very good to me also. Aren’t we blessed!
Great piece. I am interested in refinishing a buffet and server that was my mothers. Any bit of help doing so is helpful. Did you also paint the inside or leave natural?
We have a console almost exactly like that – my husband took off the 2nd drawer’s front and secured it to the bottom of it’s drawer with a piano hinge – now our components are hidden behind the drawer but we can still open it when we need to. Wii/Playstation is behind door on right – he even installed a surge protector plug strip inside the right side to minimize ugly cords.
Looks great. One quick question, though, how do you stain the underside of the top of the piece? Do you flip the piece over and stain that first? Does it try to drip down and around onto the top? Do you have to tape it off? Then, do you flip the piece back upright to stain the top of the top? I tried to find the answer on your site so I checked your DIY Basics and some of your staining projects but couldn’t find what I was looking for.
What a aweet thing you’ve done for your mom! Everyone should have a daughter like you. 🙂
You have a way with colors … it’s poetry in paint. I really love that green/dark wood combo, works so well with the black, modern lines of the TV, plus, your buffet is perfectly sized !
I LOVE what you and your mom did with her living area. Beautiful and inviting! The buffet turned out great as well. Very inspiring. I have an old buffet that desperately needs to be painted or refinished and I love the idea of refinishing the top and painting the lower portion. I’ve been procrastinating for years on a slew of household projects but your blog has given me the kick in the pants I needed to get started! I have so enjoyed your blog since I subscribed a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for sharing!
I love it. Using the area where the bottom drawer is for accessories is a good idea. I have a smaller buffet that had two drawers at the top and I removed the drawers and put 3/16 particle board, painted black, in place to hold my accessories.
I love the way this project turned out! I agree with you and your Mom that you could do interesting things with the drawers. What kind of sander do you use? Is there one grade of sandpaper that works best for your projects? I’m a complete newbie to refinishing furniture.
Janet, this particular sander is a 6-inch variable speed random orbital sander made by Ridgid. I like that it’s variable speed, and I also like that it uses 6-inch sanding discs so that it covers more area, but quite honestly, this is way too much sander for me. It’s really heavy, hurts my wrists, and requires two hands to control it.
I actually prefer a smaller sander. For years and years, I used a 5-inch Ryobi random orbital sander, and I loved it. I’m going to buy another one for regular use, and just use this big one for big jobs. The smaller 5-inch sander is much lighter weight and can easily be used with one hand.
As far as sandpaper, when I’m sanding something like this buffet top, I generally start with 120-grit sanding discs, and work up to 150-grit and then 220-grit.
On the rest of it, I sanded by hand, and I started with 100-grit, and worked up to 220-grit.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a detailed answer! I’m going to save this info to help me do future projects.
Off the subject, love the buffet tho, I am looking at the chairs, sort of paisley in the one finished picture on the right in the living room. I keep looking for that type, with the skirt – I like skirts on chairs and can’t find any. Do you have the company name or know where they came from?
Thanks
Judy, Kristi found these listed on Craig’s List for $30 each. The man came down to $25 before we even mentioned the price. They are very sturdy but kind of a bright blue. Kristi and I chose new fabric and had them reupholstered. There was nothing to indicate where the chairs were made.
Thanks so much for the followup. I will just keep looking.
Everything you do, always works out so well. Sometimes we need to do it, look at it and make whatever changes we think it needs to look it’s best. I love receiving your emails, I get very inspired by you. I hope you realize how talented you are and how much you give to all of us who subscribe to your blog. Keep happy!!
Just love how you use real-life situations where money, time, other people’s feelings are taken into account with ingenuity and LOTS of hard, but quick work. Never stop decorating!
Very attractive refinishing job, Kristi. And I am in total agreement with you about the sanding, and for all the reasons you stated. I can think of no good reason NOT to sand. I’m glad to find another knowledgeable person who doesn’t like chalk paint—can’t wait to hear YOUR reasons!
I have a question about lamp cords: If a sofa is not on the wall but more in the middle of the carpet, and you need lamps by it, how do you run, and protect, cords from them to the receptacles on the wall?
Thanks for your input.
Jeanne, you have me stumped! I actually don’t know! I’m trying to think if I’ve ever had that situation, and I can’t think of any time where I’ve had that, so I’m not sure how I would handle it. Surely there has to be a product that you can purchase for home use to protect the cord and make it safe so that people won’t trip over it. But I honestly don’t know.
Love it! I’d take out the second drawer in the middle for the cable box, drill a hole in the back and tuck the wires in the back so they’re not seen. As usual you’ve done an outstanding job! And you decorated your mom’s house beautifully too, it’s gorgeous!
You did great, again. So happy that the monster tv finally died. I don’t understand why anyone would put that in their home. This new look is so much more inviting. So happy the children could pitch in and help out your parents. I’m sure they are more proud of it than anything they could have bought.
I think it’s a man thing, Genelle. 😉 I’ve never met a woman who would choose one of those t.v.’s, and I’ve never met a man who didn’t want a monster t.v. 😀
It looks great but don’t remove the drawer for the electronics. Can you add a shelve at the bottom for those? Removing the drawer would look a little weird I think
My in-laws have one of those monster tvs and I pray all the time that it will die a quick and painful death. No such luck, so far.
I love the redo on the credenza and it looks great with the tv on it. More to scale of this tv. My suggestion (like you asked.) for the cords and other assorted items would be to make that middle drawer into a drop down front with holes drilled into the back of it for cords. If the side doors don’t fit, I agree that baskets would look great in that space and they could put DVDs and other assorted items in there.
Very nice. What a great daughter/step-daughter!
Another beautiful project! You continue to amaze!
The console fits perfectly with the decor of the room; very stylish. I also enjoyed seeing and hearing the story behind the before and after of the room showing the original re-do of your moms house. It looks like a new house! I’m so glad you could have your mom as a client and spend time together re-decorating on the re-do of their house and spend time together yesterday finishing that that beautiful piece of art, so special. My mom passed away a few years ago. My dad also didn’t plan on remarrying but with my siblings and I supporting him he remarried this fall to a wonderful Christian woman. They are re-decorating our family home- now their house together. I really do like all of the updates they have done. Like your moms house it was time to re-fresh. A DIY blog I really like called Teal&lime (with the new beautiful teal in your living room I wanted to share this blog with you but never got around to comment) shows on her home tour how in her master bedroom she blended the big black rectangle of the tv with art work around it. I wonder if something like this would work for the wall behind your moms new beautiful custom console and tv.
Great job on the buffet. Kristi, and I love that you gave the full story about your Mom’s home makeover (with photos). I kept a large, old buffet in my garage for several years, intending to fix it up some day. It had come from my in-law’s home when we cleared it out. Finally decided I would never get the job done and turned the piece over to my step-daughter who is an accomplished cabinet maker. So far, the piece still sits, untouched. After seeing what you did, I am wondering if she might give it back to me! We will soon be doing a remodel — I hope the photo of the painted brick fireplace will help convince my husband to o.k. the same thing for ours. I’m really detesting those bricks!
What finish of paint do you use? Flat, satin, semi-gloss? If you answered this and I missed it, I am sorry! It buffet is beautiful!
Nope, I left that out. 🙂
I used satin finish on this. Satin is my go-to sheen for furniture and cabinets. Flat is too porous, and will soak up anything that’s spilled or splattered on it, and semi-gloss is too shiny for my taste.
Wow, I love it! I adore the color and the top wood stain both…it is perfect!
Once again, the speed with which you initiate and finish a project is amazing. The buffet is a beautiful addition to your Mom’s lovely home. I really like another poster’s comment about using a piano hinge to open the bottom drawer for access to electronics, as well as your idea of removing the doors and using pretty baskets in those areas. Please post another pic when you get it completed!
Beautiful! You can use a PowerBridge TSPBIW-6-WH Total Solution Flat Panel In-Wall Power and Cable Management Kit from Amazon to hide the wires once you mount the TV on the wall. Worked for me. 🙂
Lucky mom! Can I adopt you into my family so I can get help with decorating?
I do like chalkboard paint for one thing: An actual chalkboard! It was unbelievably hard to find one that would fit where I wanted one in the kitchen, so I ended up making one out of chalkboard paint and an old cheese board. But for the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone would think you should have used chalkboard paint on that buffet?
Not chalkboard paint, but chalk paint. A popular brand is Annie Sloan.
Beautiful work!! It looks amazing!! I also love how you use your talents to bless others!! Thank you so much for creating this site and sharing your awesome work, the process, with your personality and faith mixed in. With all the bad things going on in this world, it’s encouraging to find likeminded people!!
I m addicted to decorating to, love the look of your console, keep bringing us those great ideas, thanks!
I like what you did and I like the color but I am wondering why you stained the top. I’ve never seen it done before.
I really love the way that stained wood and painted wood look together, plus I find that a stained/polyurethaned top is much tougher than a painted top. So generally if it’s a surface like a table, a coffee table, or a buffet that will actually be used, then I prefer a stained top so that it won’t get damaged as easily. And I really love stained wood. 🙂 If it’s beautiful wood that can be sanded down to bare wood quite easily, I have a hard time painting it.
I’ve always loved a two-tone look like this. Did my coffee table like this. Beautiful job as always Kristi.
You can actually find lots of furniture items like that on Pinterest:
http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=painted%20dresser%20stained%20top
The buffet turned out beautiful. I myself do not like chalk paint. This was a beautiful revival.
I luv it! I also love reading your blog/post. You are too funny but mostly REAL! Have a blessed evening. Look forward to seeing what you do next!
First, let me come to the defense of the t.v. My husband bought me a 52″ after years of 29″. I love my t.v. even if it’s a big black blight on my decor! A daily reminder of his sacrifice of his wife to her lover, the boob tube! 😀
That being said, I’m ready to change out room hogging cabinet for something like your buffet. Very inspiring. I could sell cabinet on Craigslist but I’m nervous. How has your experience been? ?
I agree with you about the tv!! I was so taken aback when reading this by the way Kristi was so obsessed with getting rid of the tv that belong to someone else. it is not her house…and to talk that way about someone else’s choices I found a lot of disrespectful to her mom and stepfather.
Kristi was not disrespectful at all. You would just have to know what kind of relationship we have. Jon loves Kristi and her sense of humor. They have a wonderful relationship and joke back and forth about things like that. And, actually, for the past year Jon had been wishing the TV would go out so he could get a new flat screen. You should have seen the grin on his face when it did. We all, including Kristi, practically had a celebration. I can assure you that Kristi would not have said anything about the monster TV if she had thought it would hurt Jon’s feelings at all. In our family we joke around a lot and we laugh a lot. He got a kick out of her blog post. All is well here!
It looks great. I’m so impressed with your skills and vision on the plethora of projects you tackle in your home! Can I ask you a question about water-based poly? I cleaned and sanded and painted a dining table with Sherwin Williams matte paint and then decided to use water-based poly to seal. I covered with 3 coats of brush on, and have to stop and regroup now because I can take my fingernail and scrape the poly off in pieces. It’s been 6 weeks since I did the poly and it’s still just scraping off if I try to run something rough against it. Any ideas of why that’s happening? I can scrape down to the paint, but I definitely cannot use this table in my kitchen the way it is– thanks for any input you might have!!
Hi!
Love the makeover! I have a cedar chest that looks very similar that I might try this on. Just another thought. Instead of removing the bottom drawer why not try putting hinges on the bottom? (Like a piano bench hinge.) When it use it lays open so the remotes work but when the TV is off you can close it and it hides all the electronic stuff.
Love the whole story and can totally relate. My Mom, upon dying, told my dad who she wanted him to remarry. Luckily, she was brilliant, and he fell in love with this woman and married her 8 months after my mom died. Transitioning, this late in life has been a challenge but really much more of a blessing.
I love hearing the compromises and the real life drama of trying to put two families together. The buffet is really beautiful, but the family store is even more so.
Love you!
This looks great and what a nice story too. I love upcycling old or unsuitable pieces like this.
http://myinteriorslife.com
Hello,
Just a thought, what if you hinged the face of the bottom drawer so when using the components it could be flipped down and when not the components are hidden behind the hinged drawer front.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this idea 🙂
How did the grain on the top change direction?
I haven’t read all the comments so hopefully someone else hasn’t said this but for the boxes… I saw over on younghouselove that there is a small receiver you can put on the tv that is connected to the cable box so that the box can be completely hidden in a drawer. Also for tv hanging look into moving your outlet and connectors up on the wall. We did this so that all the cord are hidden in the wall between the tv and the console table.
Question, why does it look like the grain in the wood on top of the buffet looks like it changed from going the length of the buffet to the width?
I love it. I have a buffet from a garage sale that is very similar to your’s that I have had for years except the long drawer is on top. This past November I cut the legs off (I didn’t need a tall piece) and removed the long drawer, drilled holes in the back (three the size of door knobs evenly spaced ) and placed a piece of flooring for my shelf where the drawer was. My U-Verse box, WII, dvd and dvr/vcr player all fit perfectly on the shelf and the cords all go thru the wholes I drilled. And because I cut off the legs the cords do not show behind it. All I need to do now is paint! I love the idea of the dark stain on top. I plan to paint it a medium gray to go with my room.
How many coats of stain did you use on the top? I am currently staining the top of an oak (solid wood) dresser and it isn’t coming out as dark as yours. After 3 coats, I’m still not satisfied. I’m not sure if I’m not leaving the stain on long enough or if the wood just isn’t absorbing as much as I hoped. Thanks for your feedback!
Hey there this is kind of of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML.
I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding expertise so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Here is my weblog … Brave Frontier Hack – Htk.tlu.ee –
There are plenty of consoles like that to find in second hand stores (recycling stores), (well, here in Holland) so many opportunities to put the hands out of the sleeves
That’s again amazing
It looks like new
Wow
No wonder you are addicted to decoration ! If I had the talent I would be addicted too !:-)
Wondering why the Minwax isn’t giving the results that Rustoleum would?
In my opinion, Minwax water-based polyurethane is an awful product. Rust-Oleum is far batter, but the best is General Finishes High Performance Topcoat. Once I discovered that brand and used their water-based topcoat, I’ve never gone back to another brand.