Consoled

If you've been reading my little ole blog for awhile now, you may remember this chaos of yore:

Uuhhh...I absolutely shudder!  That was our tv console, and while Josh and I had both been big fans of its openness when we purchased, it soon became clear that we had way too many wires for this thing.  Enter in a toddler who likes to explore and pull, and the thing was not only an eyesore but a danger as well.  

A couple of Saturdays ago, we stopped into our local CHKD (Children's Hospital) thrift store after lunch just to kill some time.  I have made countless trips to thrift stores over the years hoping to score a major bargain like the ones I often read about on my favorite blogs, and I never have any luck.  But I guess thrift store finds are like boyfriends...you know you only meet one when you're not looking....because Josh and I both spotted a seemingly lame 4 drawer dresser.  But I immediately knew this guy had major potential as our new tv console once it was 1. painted and 2. had the top 2 drawers removed.  So, for $40 (!), we bought it and brought it home.  Here it is with all 4 drawers removed just begging to be painted:

As for painting the thing, the hardest part was in choosing a color!  I considered white, but thought that would be too much with our white carpet it would rest on.  I also considered a fun, bright color like a green. But all of the other furniture in our living room is espresso wood, and in the end, I thought it would be best for this piece to blend in with its neighbors instead of totally stick out.  Oh, and in case you're wondering, I didn't really consider staining it...I have stained a couple times before and with very little success (I think I'm too impatient with the sanding process).  So, in the end I chose Espresso paint and primer in one by Behr and got to work.

Step 1 was sanding the bad boy down completely.  Again, the advantage of painting over staining, at least to me, is that with painting, the sanding does not need to be nearly as thorough, just more of a roughing up.  Once it was sanded, I wiped it down and got to work painting.  I used a roller for the sides and top, and a brush for the drawers and front pieces.  It took 3 coats of paint to get the coverage I was looking for.  Once the paint was dry, I applied two coats of poly (sanding it down lightly before each coat).  Don't worry...I most certainly wore my trusty mask and the piece was outside on our completely ventilated, screened-in porch when applying the poly; those fumes are no joke!  Then, we left it there to dry.  

And now, here is our improved tv console at home in the living room:

And a close-up:

Do you see any wires?  Um, yeah, me neither...because they are all gloriously hidden behind the console!!!  And we also now have a couple of drawers to use for much-needed storage.  Josh has also pointed out that another plus is that we now have room for a bigger tv...something which is way down on my list of priorities!  I'm kind of way more excited that the extra few inches of real estate up there give me another space to decorate!

In the end, I would say this piece was totally worth the $55 we spent on it ($40 for the actual furniture + $15 for some paint).  What do you all think?  Anyone else scored a thrift store find and redone it?  It's totally an addicting process if you ask me!