Old Dresser Turned TV Console

Check out my sister’s awesome transformation of an old stinky dresser into a TV console.  She chopped off the bottom drawers, added some moulding and turned the top two drawers into hinged doors to house video and gaming equipment.  The remaining drawers hold all the videos and games.  Love the pop of color when the drawers are open!

This project began with my needing an entertainment center for the game room. Since the game room is in the basement I am using lots of  bright colors to make the space fun so I was looking for something funky and bright and cheap.  I started perusing Craigslist and a few local thrift shops, dreaming of finding something with amazing bones for $5 like I have read about so many other people finding. Bad timing or bad luck, all I saw were nasty, cruddy bureaus and dressers that seemed really overpriced (a lot more than $5). Since I already own a nasty, cruddy dresser courtesy of the previous homeowners I thought I would see if I could turn this free bit of trash into a treasure, or at least an interesting and functional piece. For the most part I used scraps of wood and spare parts that I have kicking around my shop. I spent a total of $34 on corner molding detail pieces, bun feet, and paint.

So when I say “trash” I mean 4 layers of chipping peeling paint; 20 years of grime and stink, drawers lined with cracked poorly applied super sticky contact paper, plus a few dead moths and spiders. Oh yeah, it was gross.

First I needed to resize the dresser to an appropriate proportion for TV viewing.  So I cut off the bottom row of drawers and then cut and nailed on a scrap piece of plywood for a new bottom. Next I used some scrap baseboard and mitered it to trim out the sides of the dresser.  I used some 1 x 2 furring strips at the bottom and then I backed the trim off of the front sides about  1/2  inch so I could build up the trim on the sides. Then I used some corner molding pieces to trim the top and bottom of the front sides.

 

I spray painted the drawers a high gloss purple for some added fun and to lock away any remaining stink.

Since I want to use the dresser as an entertainment center I replaced the top two drawers with plywood shelves and then hinged the drawer fronts to hide my electronic components.

I don’t know if I would go so far as to call it a treasure, but for a total cost of $34, it’s not too shabby.

Linked to Funky Junk’s Saturday nite Special