Pier One TV Cabinet Makeover

How many of us have an old TV cabinet that is big and bulky and no longer serves the purpose of holding the big and bulky TV from back in the day? I am willing to bet a lot of us do! Let’s make them useful again!

big and bulky

We’ve all seen these huge cabinets in the thrift stores, right? You know the ones, they were big and bulky, really deep and had an extra-large space above a shelf to hold a big and bulky TV.

I knew you would remember!

We loved them when we bought them. They would hold the TV and the cable box or DVD player on the bottom shelf! An adjustable backboard to accommodate any depth of TV and even a place for all the cords!

And you could shut the doors and hide the big black box that entertains so many of us each evening! What more could a girl ask for??

TV Cabinet repurposed

But now we all have flat-screen TVs that hang on the wall. So what should we do with all the bulky TV cabinets in this country??

Make them over of course into a piece of furniture that is useful and pretty for our homes! Don’t just throw them out and buy new – reinvent what you already have!

Start by removing the back piece. The holes and perforations are no longer needed.

Hubby used a utility knife to start the cut. Once the opening was big enough, he pulled out a small hand saw called a pull saw. It is super easy to use especially on thin wood like the luan that was on the back of this TV cabinet.

I sanded the rough edge that was left and then filled the gaps with Bondo. When it was dry, I gave it another good sanding! The new backing would look much nicer than the Luan!

I also sanded the whole piece and then thoroughly cleaned it so that it would be ready for paint.

spray the legs first!

But first, those legs. They were chipped and scratched and just needed a fresh coat of paint.

Rust-oleum Metallic Paint and Primer in Flat Soft Iron is one of my faves. The color is perfect and the texture adds a hammered look to the metal legs of this TV cabinet.

It is important to do this step BEFORE painting the rest of the cabinet. It is much easier to protect the legs with a newspaper skirt than it is to protect the wood of the upper section of the TV cabinet.

additional shelving

Hey, I know that fella! He is the other half of this little reinventing gig and believe me, I would not accomplish what I do without him!!

He measured the existing shelf so that he could cut a new shelf. You can see how big the original opening was! Big enough for a bulky TV but certainly not practical for storage!

You can also see the spots where I filled with Bonda and then sanded– just look above his right hand!

He also measured and cut smaller pieces of lumber as shelf holders. One on each side and one on the back.

I don’t have an image of how he attached them but I can say he used a Kreg Pocket Jig to attach the shelf holder to the front and back of the TV cabinet. If you do a similar project, I suggest you attach to the thicker pieces of wood on the front and back of the cabinet. Do NOT attach the shelf holders to the thin panels on the sides of the cabinet. The sides are not strong enough to support the shelf and whatever is on that shelf!

See how the shelf sits on the pieces of lumber? He also screwed the shelf into the holder from the underside so the screw heads won’t show on the top.

better storage solution

Now that is a much better storage solution than the big opening that had been there!

While he attached the new shelf, I primed the new backboard and the cabinet. We chose beadboard for the backing because it is decorative and strong. It needs primer and I applied two coats for the best blocking and coverage.

primer, primer

I used Zinsser Shellac Based Primer. The primer will prevent any knots from coming through the final coat of paint.

I also applied two coats to the whole piece, inside and out. This will help with the final coat of milk paint.

yay for repeat clients!

Our client wanted the cabinet to match the farmhouse dining table and benches she purchased from us. We like repeat customers!

That’s it for today! But I couldn’t wait to show you a little snippet of the finished project! I will post all of the pretty after pics the next time so stay tuned!

tv cabinet makeover

So how about you–do you have a big, bulky TV cabinet that no longer holds your TV?? How about you turn it into useful storage for your home!

I would love to hear about it! Find me on the socials on Instagram and Facebook. I love to pin projects too – follow along on Pinterest! Pin any of these images for your own inspiration!