TV Cabinet Refurb

I have been thinking about having my dad build me a cabinet for my tv to sit on. I have had something in mind and wasn't finding it at the store (nor was I too excited about spending a couple hundred dollars on something that wasn't really what I wanted). But, having already made some drawings and measurements I was prepared when lightning struck at a spur-of-the-moment stop at the Welfare Square D.I. Sitting in the back in the "as is" furniture section was the top part of a hutch. It had great doors with really cool glass and it was just the right width, but a bit tall. No worries. I grabbed that hutch and took it home for a real bargain knowing I could make it work. I sketched and looked at it more closely and decided I could just cut off the bottom 12 inches and it would be perfect.



I used my skill saw and a straight edge (which I made by attaching a long straight board to the back of the cabinet with a couple of small nails) to cut off the bottom the hutch (being careful to make sure that the cabinet would still have enough height for the cabinet doors to still fit). I sanded the new edges and added some of those furniture glides that you nail into the bottom of the furniture.

Next, I selected a great green color (Bulfrog Green by Dutchboy) and got to work taping off the glass in the doors and painting over the grey/green paint.



I decided I wanted to give glazing a try and this seemed like the perfect project to start on. I used FolkArts Glazing Gel, which I got at JoAnn's for under $2 and mixed it with a Dark Umber craft paint. I first tried mixing it half and half, but that turned out darker than I wanted. I ended up using about 2 parts glaze to 1 part paint. I used an old t-shirt to dip into the mixture and smooth it over the painted surface. It worked great. As long as i slid it on smoothly and didn't rub it too hard, it left a darker stain and took the bright shiny new look off the green paint.










I had to take a break during the week from my cabinet, but on Saturday I got to work again finishing up the glazing. I decided that it definately needed a coat of clear polyurethane since I wanted it to be a nice hard, scrubable surface to set the TV on.

One coat of poly on the doors, 2 on the top of the cabinet and and hour to dry. Next thing you know, I'm hauling that bad boy down to the basement! It looks great. In the close up you get a sense of the wavy glass that came in the doors! So much fun :)








Now all I need is the new TV--just waiting for a great Black Friday deal!