Simple Stylings

Home decor and plants have essentially taken over my life during this pandemic. As you may have read in my apartment tour post, I moved to a new place this September in which I approached a more elevated aesthetic compared to my previous home. If you've been a long-time follower, I created this blog to serve as my creative outlet, and DIYs naturally became a huge part of my branding. It's been a while since I showed one of my works, so here's one of my absolute favorites so far. Tune in for a step-by-step guide to upcycling this super old TV console!

How it started vs. how it's going

So it's not quite a step-by-step tutorial with pictures because as I was working on this DIY, I was too excited to document the whole process and ended up not taking as many photos as I should've. I'll still attempt to explain it in as much detail as I can, but it's honestly not a difficult one to recreate if you already have a similar console to renovate.

This is what I was working with – an old, dusty, office console with not much to look at, but my boyfriend was adamant about keeping it because it was still a functional piece that he's had for a long time. I basically dismantled all the parts and just kept the basic structure. I wrapped some plastic around the glass cabinets in this picture because I was about to spray paint it all white. I could've just disassembled them to make my life easier but old me was probably too lazy.

This is the finished product of some white spray paint and wood-style contact paper. A simple paint job already made a drastic difference and livened up the entire piece. I actually kept it like this for a whole year at my previous apartment, but once I moved into my new place and decided to revamp my style, I wanted to take it up a notch by completely transforming the cabinets.

First off, I disassembled the glass cabinets by simply unscrewing them from the metal parts. I took note of the height, width, and depth of the cabinets and searched for unfinished wood slabs of the same depth. The key measurement here is depth when purchasing the slabs because the height and width can easily be cut to size but not the depth. Since I've never worked with wood and didn't have the right tools to properly cut them, I opted for some flimsy plywood from Home Depot. I bought one large piece that was just enough to cut 2 squares so it was quite inexpensive.

Next, I cut out squares that were about 1.5 inches smaller on each side to make windows. I used an X-Acto knife (do not recommend it, I was working with what I already had) but any kind of saw probably would've been more ideal. I'd like to note that the craftsmanship of this piece is a little rough because I've never worked with any type of wood, but once I learn more and have the right tools, I'll definitely redo this.

Moving on to the fun part – the cane webbing that truly transformed this piece. I've never worked with this material before either so it was a bit tricky to handle. It needed to be submerged in water for at least 30 minutes so it would be more pliable (I think?). Once it has dried, I measured it with almost the same dimensions as each cabinet, just a tad bit smaller so the cane wouldn't peak out. Now that all the hard part was done, all I had to do was attach them to the wood with a heavy-duty staple gun. Because of the flimsy material of the plywood, I was especially careful to choose the right setting on the stapler so it wouldn't pierce into the opposite side of the cabinets.

After building the main features, I just added some finishing touches like painting the metal parts white and switching the wheels out for some wooden legs. And just like that, I have an entirely upcycled TV console with a mid-century modern/Scandinavian look that probably cost me less than $50. It's quite a statement piece in my home despite the simplicity in its neutral tones. It's certainly one of my most prized furniture pieces because of the thought and work that was put into it. It's always so satisfying to turn a vision into a reality! I highly encourage you to upcycle old furniture especially considering that the furniture business is one of the most wasteful industries. Either that or purchase high-quality, timeless pieces – but I'd rather choose the affordable route at this time.

I hope this post inspired you to get your creative juices flowing and become more sustainable! Be on the lookout for more home decor and lifestyle bits in the coming year! Happy New Year!