Our newly refinished tv stand

Along with big things like painting the walls, trim, and taking down the popcorn ceilings in our entire house, we also have small projects that we are doing in the meantime.  Now that we have an extra level with another family room, we needed another tv stand.  For the first three weeks we lived here, our flat screen tv sat on the floor.  Not great aesthetically or for a house that has a baby and a toddler. 

I wanted a nice tv stand, not plastic or cheap looking, but also not too expensive either.  As we were driving down the street one weekend, we saw a couple moving out of one of the houses down the street.  They put a tv stand out on the curb with a taped sign that said free.  Without hesitation, I made Josh stop the car and get out and get it.  I know, it sounds weird to take a piece of furniture off the street (I mean, there must have been a reason it was there in the first place right?) but we had done this before.  We refinished an old dresser a few years ago and it is still one of my favorite things in our bedroom.  Josh wasn't really on board but I promised him I could see what we could do with it. 

Paint has become one of my best friends and this situation was no different.  A little bit of time, a lot bit of paint and now we have a nice piece to put in our living room that no one would guess was refinished.

This is what it looked like before.  The top was held on by one screw and moved when touched.  The base really wasn't too bad but the old school oak is really not my style.  (Excuse the small child playing cars on it.)

 

The cabinet pulls didn't match and the top completely fell off when we were moving it.

My wonderful husband added brackets and more screws to hold the top on and then took the doors off and we sanded the entire thing.  Not down to the bare wood, but just enough to rough it up a little and make the spray paint stick better. 

Then we sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.  Four cans of spray paint to do this thing.  We used    Rust-oleum American Accents in satin dark walnut.  We love it.  Just the right amount of gloss and a beautiful rich dark brown color. 

                        We put it all back together, added new hardware to the doors, and now it's pretty.

 

 

 

 

I love seeing it finished and since it is a corner unit, it fits perfectly in the corner of our living room with the flat screen on top.  The best part is knowing that we only spent about $25 for it and to me, it looks like we bought it new. 

 

 

 

(Excuse all the toys... I just can't win.)

 

 

Super easy and reasonably fast.  A perfect weekend project.