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Remodeling Kitchen Cabinets into a TV Stand

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I thank everyone who took the time to read my latest blogs on Redecorating, Home remodeling and the Room design. Let me say I don't consider myself to be an expert but with many projects now under my belt I have found some creative ways to save some time and definitely save money. In one of my recent blogs we showed some pictures of the new "Man Cave" here on the farm. I have received a lot of questions on how we did the large television stand and I wanted to share a tip with you. With armoires no longer fitting the popular big screen TV's and storage always being at a premium, we came up with a simple and quite affordable solution.

If you look closely at the photos you may notice that the base for my entertainment system is actually kitchen cabinets. I purchased them unfinished and with a couple coats of cherry stain and another couple coats of Polyurethane I was able to build my own TV/Storage center for a fraction of what a pre -built system would have cost. And this way I got a much larger display base for even less money. Cabinets come in all different sizes, so for the niche area were my bar is I was able to find pre-made unfinished cabinets that fit perfectly. You can also get matching trim pieces that will fill in any gaps and it gives a nice "built in look" to the overall project.

The entertainment center is comprised of two floor cabinets that would usually reside underneath a kitchen sink. Make sure you use "floor" cabinets and not "wall" cabinets because that way you have a kick board already on the bottom. The counter tops were made from 3/4 inch particle board which is readily available at any home center. By cutting 4 inch strips of particle board and gluing and clamping them to the outer edge of my larger sheets of particle board I was able to get the appropriate thickness of 1 and 1/ inches for the counter tops.

The final finish for your counter tops is up to you. A good sealer and paint will work or if you are handy with contact cement than Formica will also work. I chose to use large sheets of copper that we had left over from another project and I burnished it to look older and more rustic. If you’re looking for an industrial look, than roofing tin works nicely too. By spraying contact cement on both the counter top and the material you will be adding as your surface material, allow both sides to dry. Placing wooden dowels on your particle board so the top surface does not make contact with the particle board (Once contact cement surfaces touch each other they stick ..very well). Pull out one dowel at a time at one edge and press firmly with a kitchen rolling pin. Then remove one dowel at a time and keep pressing and rolling for the entire length. A little cutting and gluing and rolling on the edges and your countertops are done.