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Monday, June 4, 2012

"Get Out of the Way of the TV" Console


 I am a stalker.  Cyber-space stalker, that is.  I am completely infatuated with Ana White and all that she is.  You see, she is a stay at home mom in Alaska (brrrrrrrr) who builds furniture, offers the plans for free (yes I said it, free), and encourages other people to do the same.  She is the b.o.m.b!!  I came across her website when I was looking for furniture plans over a year ago.  Her site is one of the few that offer them for free and they are sooooooooo do-able.  If you a person who desires to build, even on a very small scale, but are afraid to pick up a hammer, please check out her site.  She has a whole section on getting started which will give you peace of mind.  I knew her when she had only 20,000 people liking her on Facebook (only!!) and now she's creeping into the 70,000 range.  You go girl!!

Anyway, I've been in discussions with Ana about building a new TV console (if she knew I stalked her, perhaps she wouldn't be in discussions with me).  You see, my son Jack (who has Down syndrome), stands in front of the TV.  He doesn't understand the, "You'll ruin your eyes", or "You make a better door than a window" remarks.  We stopped fighting it -- you know, picking you battles.  So, we moved the TV to the wall with all the lovely cords falling behind it.  Since the TV is on an exterior wall, we had to keep the cords inside and purchased a cover plate to hide the ugliness.  As I'm a little OCD when things are out of their place, cords are an issue for me.  But I thought problem solved.

But it really wasn't.  Now we had this  TV console that just collected dust (perhaps others could place lovely decor items on top, but Jack would have none of that and just brush them all to the floor).  The whole thing looked out of place to me.  

Sorry for the terrible iPhone photo  :(
Ana is all about building what you need and she didn't already have plans for a tall TV console.  After emailing her a picture of my space, she decided on a corner unit that would stand about 4 feet tall.  There would be space for components and open shelves for home decor.  The best part is TONS of storage underneath.  You can find the plans here.

Hmmm . . . do you think she delivered?  I guess I should give myself a little credit for building the damn thing.



Just grabbed different baskets I had hanging around to organize the junk

I added extra white wash to the door moulding to make them 'pop'
When re-creating this space, I wanted to bring in some personal touches.  With that in mind, I had VintageSkye make some custom door pulls for the new cabinet. 

Edges were sanded down to give it a bit of a shabby feel

Just a close-up of my birdies and the vintage blocks snagged at a flea market

I wish I had taken more pictures of the build, but remembering to grab my camera while running the nailer is just not my forte. 
 
The Kreg Jig is where it's at








Before adding the back

After filling in the holes with wood filler, before sanding
If you notice that the decor surrounding the console is completely different, well this build was the impetus for the change.  (More to come at a later post).  I needed new life breathed into the room and started with this statement piece.  Thank you Ana.  ;)

As for redecorating our living room, I wanted to go with greys and teals.  As for the finishing part of this piece, I found a lovely shade of grey and teal courtesy of Behr paints.  By the way, I went with the Duo paint/primer combo.  Why not save a step?   I knew I wanted the open cabinets to have a different color than the rest of the piece so I applied the teal paint first.  When that was completed, the rest of the unit, including the inside of the cabinet, got a coat of grey.  The grey is a very deep color, and I wanted to highlight the piece with a wash.  So I mixed a little bit of water with a very faint grey paint (practically white) and brushed this mixture sparingly onto the console.  I didn't want the whole thing covered in white, so I was sure to have a rag nearby to wipe excess away.  I made sure to let the white sit in the crevices in the doors.

After I finished, I stepped back and decided I didn't like it.  Yup, didn't like it.  I wanted more dark grey in the picture.  So I dry brushed some on.  Dry brushing is where you dip the brush is a little paint and basically wipe most of it off before you use it.  After playing around with it for, like, FOREVER, I finally pulled the brush from my hand and got out the wax.  I love to use wax on furniture.  Unless it's going to see a lot of moisture, wax will do the job.

I guess I don't have to worry about Jack standing in front of the TV anymore.  Until he turns 16 and is 5' 11".  I might be emailing you back, Ana. 
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19 comments:

  1. Oh, it's beautiful!

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  2. It's amazing! The whole room is gorgeous. I love the finish you did and that you built it yourself! Impressive.

    Your curtains are gorgeous too.

    I check the post below this and I have to tell you what a handsome son you have. He is adorable. Btw, I'm your newest follower. :)

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  3. Thank you so much Miranda. I think in the next few days the plans for the console will be on Ana's site. The curtains are from Target, by the way. Yes, I have to agree with you -- Jack is pretty fetching. ha ha

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  4. Wow, I am very impressed. You did a fantastic job. Love the paint finish, too. Thanks so much for joining Wow.
    You will get a lot more comments if you turn word verification off.

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  5. that looks awesome- love the color inside! and love your curtains, too! :)

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  6. I love, love this! The room looks amazing. We are in the process of attempting to build one of Ana's plans also and I'm in love with the paint color you chose. Would you mind telling me which colors you used for the paint and wash on the outside? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

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    1. Hi Melissa. Thanks so much! I'm waiting to finish all the walls before I do the big reveal. As for the colors, they were all Behr paint as Home Depot is just down the street. The inside of the open cabinets is called Agave. The outside and inside the cabinet doors was coated with Antique Tin, a deep gray. Then I took a very, very light gray (same color as my living room walls but can't find the darned can to give you the color), but you can just take white, and added water. A little dixie cup will do. I would use a ratio of 1 part water to 2-3 parts paint. But play with it to see how you like it. Paint it on but be prepared to wipe it off pretty quickly. You may want to wipe harder in some areas, and leave more white in others. I made sure the white stayed in the corners as I wanted that to pop. The next step was dry-brushing on the original gray again. This added more dimension to the paint. Just make sure you wipe off as much paint, against the can or dabbing on a paper towel, before you brush it on the piece. I like to brush until the edges are smooth. You can play with this stage for hours, so find the look you like and move on. Hope that helped.

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    2. Thank you so much! I just can't get over how much I love the color. I think it will look great with our Chocolate covered sofa if we ever finish building the cabinet, lol. Thanks again :)

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  7. I love the color, too. I am going to paint my shutters a shade of gray, so I'm glad Melissa asked the color name, cause that was gonna be my question! :)

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  8. Yes you should give yourself the credit! I think it looks great and I like your blue and white drapes. Nice!

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  9. This looks amazing! Great job! Fellow newbie from debbidoos party and your newest follower! Morenascorner.blogspot.com

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  10. Awesome job! That looks radically different. Looks great with your curtains too. Thanks for sharing with the newbie party.

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  11. P.S. My boys name is Jack too...what a great name:)!

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  12. Love the color of this - what a great job!!!

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  13. Wax? Not sure what you mean. I would love to know more about how and why you use waz on your furniture.

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  14. I am wondering what materials you used to build your doors? I am building.a variation of this plan and anawhite said 1x3's for the door frame, which I did... but I am curious how you achieved a finished inside edge of your door frames? How thick did your doors end up being? They look rather thick in the picture of the doors opened. Thanks!

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  15. Love the cabinet! I would love to know about the type of rods your curtain panels are hanging from.

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  16. Love it! What a great idea.It looks beautiful.Thanks for this.

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