Daffodils and Earthworms: cabinet and living room makeover

So for the last year and a half, I have longed for a better solution for our tv situation. For the whole living room arrangement. Let me show you what I mean.

More specifically this....

(Please note, I don't take intentionally bad before pictures, I just never remember until the last minute and then its just not worth it to stage a good before. Also as you can see I had lots of man power to help move everything, so I didn't want to waste time!)

Its just not a pretty site. Also not functional. Maddox could (and loved to) pull everything out at will...which is to say he did so every day. At least once. I also never loved the whole layout with the tv against that little wall. It meant that we were always looking sideways when watching tv, and that just gets old. A pain in the neck - literally. The tv was on a pub table, and obviously at an awkward height.

So all that to say I really wanted some sort of storage cabinet that the tv could sit on and everything else could be inside. Behind closed doors. But the thing is I am cheap. Like really cheap. Like I wanted to spend $20 on one I could paint. Now that isn't very realistic. Unless you have a sister who lived in Fredericksburg that had access to AWESOME thrift stores. A sister who could find such a unit a mere 2 days before moving to Lynchburg...and talk them down to $19. That's the kind of sister I happen to have. Eat your heart out.

Now unfortunately I don't have a before....its a long story and involves the fact that the camera eats batteries in 5 minutes. Anyway, picture yucky old wood colors, but beautiful detailing. Picture sticky worn finish, but solid wood. After a few coats of primer and paint ($2.50 oops paint from Lowes to be exact). That makes it sound like it took 5 minutes to complete. It didn't, it took several days...waiting for it to dry, etc. Anyway, here is the much more impressive after.

Also in the mean time, Steve was offered those two club chairs (above) from his office. Uh yes please. He knows me well. It feels so good to walk in and see a functional, organized area, instead of the messy chaos that was there before.

The remodel/rearranging also called for selling one of the sofas on Craigslist. I wanted to replace it with a loveseat. The same previously referred to sister just happened to no longer need hers and offered it to us to borrow indefinitely. I know, she's a keeper! So it has a happy home now in my living room for a while.

Here's a close up of the cabinet. The color is a creamy yellow (the picture above is more true to its real color). Not a great picture here, but don't you just love the detailing on the doors? I sprayed the hardware Oil Rubbed Bronze. The whole project cost just $36 out of pocket.