Craigslist Re-vamp Complete!

Remember our Craigslist find that we picked up with plans to turn it into a TV stand? Well weeks later, it is done! I'll give you a play by play, because it was our first time and maybe you can learn what to do or NOT do :)

1. Buy something on Craigslist that you like and consider yourself to be totally fabulous because you can fit it into the back of your hatchback. No suv for this girl :)

2. Try not to fight with your husband as you both try to get it down the narrow stairs to the basement. Attempt to convince him to do all of the painting right in the dining room. Get denied. (thank god, in retrospect!).

3. We took off the hardware did a light sand of the sideboard.  We also drilled holes in the back of some of the cabinets to allow the cords to reach the electronics.

4. Prime! We primed it with Zinniser Bullseye 1-2-3. It took two coats and we probably should have used a third. I don't know why but it seemed like a colour kept leaking through, especially in the areas where the wood wasn't finished (like the inside of the cupboards.

4. Paint! We used leftover matte cloud white on it. Ideally I think a semi gloss would have worked better, but this is what we had so we went for it.

5. Come home after a night out with colleagues to find that your husband has decided to "distress" the sideboard. Have minor hissy fit.  Realize that after sanding, 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint, you don't want to redo it. Distressed it is!

6. We then verathaned using a water based verathane that dries clear. We sanded between each coat, and J sanded with wet sandpaper after the last coat which made it really smooth.

7. Go to Lee Valley to pick out new hardware. Realize that measuring for hardware is annoying and leave husband to go it alone so that another hissy fit can be avoided.

8. Bring the sideboard upstairs and spend oh, a MILLION hours setting up the electronic equipment to work!

9. Sit back and watch the Bachelor on your new tv stand!!

Here is how the electronics fit in:

Eventually we are going to get one of those special remotes that go through wood and walls etc, but for now we can just leave the door open a crack and the remotes work.

The chairs that are in the room are not staying - they are just there until we find replacements.

Anyways - hope you like it!!