A month and a couple ruined shirts later, my DIY entertainment center is done!! Yay! More details can be found in my update post here, but basically we moved into this house about 9 years ago. The original owners built it with custom maple cabinets. They are really nice, but I really love a more clean look. So finally I got up enough courage to paint them.
The entertainment center was nice, but the space inside for a television was very small, and the room is so big that we really needed a bigger tv. So we decided to rip out the center section of the unit to accommodate a larger television. Our friend and DIY neighbor Brent helped us figure out a way to make hollow back on the back of the unit
{here it is half way done}
We installed a fake back, with room for all of the cables and to help hold up the upper portion of the cabinets. The right panel opens up.
Then we installed beadboard over the back with a panel that opens so we can have access to those cables.
We made a new shelf that goes all the way across the unit — so we can put the AV components on it. And my father-in-law came up with a way to hold up the shelf with a bolt that goes through a hollow wood dowel. It works great!!
When it came to painting, I used a great ebook — Altar’d by Mandi and Colby Morris. It has tons of great painting tips and tricks. Including what kind of paintbrushes to buy and techniques. I went with an oil-based paint and primer which will hold up better than water-based paint.
All in all, I love my new entertainment unit. It’s cleaner looking and I think the beadboard really adds a lot of character to the piece.
Plus, I think the Pottery Barn White really brightens up the room. I was considering adding a glaze over the top, but I think I prefer the clean white look of the paint against the tan walls.
I also found some beautiful knobs at Anthropologie — for half off!!
{Do you see the Girl Scout cookies on the coffee table?? LOL!}
And next up — my Family Frame Wall and cabinets!! I decided that I needed a more neutral background to take pictures of my projects. So I am planning on painting this little nook — Martha Stewart Arrowroot. With maybe a slight glaze over the top.
And next up — my Family Frame Wall and cabinets!! I decided that I needed a more neutral background to take pictures of my projects. So I am planning on painting this little nook — Martha Stewart Arrowroot. With maybe a slight glaze over the top.
And then — on to the kitchen!!!!
I plan to paint the cabinets Pottery Barn Marscopone and the island Martha Stewart Arrowroot with a slight glaze.
I hope I can get through the project. The cabinet doors on the entertainment unit almost put me over the edge!!!
And because I had an extra 30 minutes last night, I made a little
“Lucky” St. Patty’s Day pillow.
I’ll be sharing that with you tonight since there’s only 2 days until St. Patrick’s Day – LOL!
Have a wonderful day!
xoxoI am linking to these lovely parties:
This post sponsored by 
Jen! What an amazing project!!
How did I miss this one? I am so glad you linked it up to my party.
The white looks so fresh and crisp, and of course I love the beadboard.
I bet you are really enjoying it.
Thanks so much for coming to my party!
Hope you have a great weekend.
xoxo
Traci
Its amazing what a coat of paint can do to not only the look of that item, but the look of a whole room! Brave, but turned out great!
Stopping by to say hi from Wednesday blog hop
Wow that is amazing and such a good job. I need more hours in my day.
http://thisnthatboutiqueblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ThisanThatBoutique
I love white cabinetry. Can't wait to paint my kitchen white! Love the knobs!
Fabulous as usual Jen!
Those knobs are gorgeous! Excellent job! 🙂
Sarah
Fabulous job Jen!!
This turned out AMAZING!!! from one handy girl to another!!!
~Heidi
http://www.homebyheidi.blogspot.com
Tip Junkie sent me!
This is so perfect. I was just thinking that I had no idea what I would do with our entertainment center when our big TV dies (it's a custom build for the TV). I am so inspired now! Thanks!!!
http://kandidkatie.blogspot.com/
Jen you did a fantastic job! Wow, what a transformation! I love the solution to hiding all the cords…genious. I've been painting a lot lately too…so much more to do. I can't wait to see your kitchen!
Hope you have a great week!
This looks soooo good! Great Job!
Amazing Jen!! I love the knobs, so cute 🙂 I do have a question, I have a small entry way table that is a half circle shape that I want to lighten up. The leg part is metal or iron like? Do you think that would paint ok??
Your transformation looks amazing Jen. What a difference!!!
The entertainment center looks fantastic. I love how it turned out. I love the false wall to hide all the wires. I need something like that. I hate all the wires. So hard to keep them neat and hidden.
Ruth
Holy cow!! That's a gorgeous transformation!!!
Now I'm all inspired. Our ent. unit is all open and it drives my crazy seeing all the components and accessories. And with a 15 year old you can imagine how tidy it looks all the time. Not.
I dragged hubby over to see it last night. You've lit a fire under us!!
(Well. Under me anyway. 😉 I'll keep working on him. haha.
Thanks for sharing it!!!
This is fabulous! Looks great and I love the hollow back feature for hiding the cords. Always so hard to figure out what to do with the darn cords! THanks for the inspiration!
ps, i love the picture of the entertainment center that shows the rest of the room too. looking good!
Brilliant!
I have to repost this to my blog's facebook page…..this is great inspiration for so many people. I love repurposing furniture!!
Kelly~Foxy Inspriations
Jen–It looks so good! I love how fresh and clean it makes the entire room! Yay!!
My dear…you are a genius!!
kisses
heather
WOW! It looks amazing! I love the photo that shows the whole side of the room. It's nice to see the placement of everything and your cute girls too. 🙂 Just thinking of painting all of your cabinets makes me twitch. Eek. haha!
Wow, Jen! I thought is was a nice built in before! The white is so crisp…lovin' it!
Another amazing project!
Have a great day!
Jenn
WOW! It looks so good!!!!
I love how it lightens the WHOLE room up!!! 🙂
You're my hero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ha!
Love ya!
~Shell
I love that you did this yourself. This is where I would hire it out. You really are super mom. !!
Wow, Jen, it looks fabulous! Love the clean white finish. Well done!
The kitchen will look AMAZING when you finish. the projects you complete in your "free"time amaze me-constantly, Well done, Jen. Well done (claps).
Wow it looks great – such a pretty house. Can't wait to see the cabinets in the kitchen!!
This is LOVELY, it looks well worth the time you put into it!
The door to the back of the unit is so handy. I hate crawling behind our TV to mess with the mess of cables.
LOVE this! I have a bunch of pieces waiting for a remodel and you have inspired me to get started on them!
Gorgeous… looks fabulous!! white and beadboard are just my style as well!!
WOWEEEE! That looks SOO pretty Jen!! I love the white! And your paint color in the family room looks just like ours! Which by the way I still haven't decided on a new color yet. Ha! I know that was a lot of hard work so big kuddos to you. And it cracks me up that you had 30 minutes to spare so you made a pillow! You're so creative!!
It looks so good!
That is gorgeous!!! 😀
Amazing! I absolutely LOVE it!!!
I love it! It looks like a whole new piece. Good luck with your kitchen, you have WAY more patience than I do!
Jen-
Your new entertainment center turned out just beautiful!! I love the hardware you found! I painted all of my kitchen cabinets back in December, and although it was a lot of work…the results were totally worth it! Good luck on your new project! Can't wait to see it when its finished!
Wow! That looks amazing! You are truly talented! I love seeing your projects!
Hello White Entertainment Center…
You are DELIGHTFUL! And can you even believe you get to live at Jen's house? And have that awesome turquoise jewelry on you? You are a lucky, lucky piece of wood.
Will you tell Jen that now that she's done with you, she can come to lunch with me? And also, will you tell her that if she let's me come help with the kitchen cabinets, then she can come help me with mine after that?
Thanks so much,
Lara
Wow I love it!!! I found your blog a few days ago following someone elses from SITS. So glad I found!! Love all the DIY projects! 🙂
WOW!!
1. where did the knobs come from? I don't remember reading about that.
2. Did I say WOW?
3. Love that thought in the kitchen. Gives me ideas.
Cherie
That looks fantastic, Jen!
Just found your site. Wow: Such a great job. My wife and I tried to do a little modification to our kitchen cabinetry. Although we are happy with how it turned out, yours turned out better from what I can see in the pictures. It's all in the finishing, and I think tools make the difference between a really god job and just an ok job. Does your neighbor have all the right tools?
It looks wonderful. A warning: I don't recommend painting the fireplace to match!
Perfecting Parenthood
I like the white MUCH better! And the tv looks like it fits nicely now!!! FYI.. Love that rustic star up above!! 🙂
Love it! You did a great job.
Gorgeous! That's a huge task, and it looks amazing. Can't wait to see the upcoming projects!
Wow, it looks awesome! I can't wait to see your family picture wall!
It looks STUNNING, Jen! You'd think you guys picked it right off a showroom floor like that. You did a great job. I love those beautiful Anthro knobs! Don't you love a bargain? 🙂
It turned out great, Jen! I love it white! Very clever tips for accessing the wires that are usually the ban of our existence when it comes to entertainment centers.
Jen, I looks AMAZING! Great job!
It looks amazing! I love the white! Those knobs are adorable too. I am in the process of painting my kitchen cabinets. It isn't as bad as I thought. But then again, my kitchen is smaller than yours 🙂
Such an awesome makeover Jen! I love the clean look of the white and those handles are awesome! I can't wait to see all the other transformations you are working on!
I love it white. It makes such a great statement. Those knobs look perfect on it. I don't know how you do it all, but you're such an inspiration.
AMAZING!!!!!! I know it was ALOT of work from your posts, but the end result is BEAUTIFUL. You must must LOVE sitting and watching TV even more now. Congrats!!!!!!!
Love it!!! Those Anthropologie knob are great too!!!
This turned out really beautiful. I too am a big fan of the clean look of white vs. wood finish…unfortunately most of my furniture is dark wood….I think you have given me inspiration to tackle the painting though!!
Will you do a tutorial on the pillow? That is adorable too.
katieshowto.blogspot.com
this looks fabulous, jen!! wow! i love the white. but isn't painting cabinets a pain!?! but oh, so worth it! good luck in the kitchen…i recommend lots of lattes!!
I love it! it looks fantastic!! btw i LOVE your stone fireplace as well 🙂
What a great makeover, Jen! It looks so clean and modern. I love the turquoise knobs and the false beadbaord backing. That backing was a great idea!! It looks like it was definitely a project worth your time and effort!
Hi jen, I keep being sent to your blog from others and have enjoyed a number of your projects. The cabinet in white looks great! Then I saw that you had 11111 followers and i decided I had to mess up your number. So I became 11112!!!!!
it looks wonderful!!! i love the knobs you chose- and that picture which shows it all with your girls sitting there, um hello catalog shot!
It came out so good! I love the beadboard on the back to hide the cords…such a great idea!
It looks amazing!! Great job!
And I hear you on painting cabinets–I painted my kitchen cabinets this summer–and it was brutal. The only thing I'm thankful for is that we did it before we moved it–we just bought this house, and have pretty much gutted the main floor. I imagine painting them while you live in the house will be not-so-fun. But the end result is soo worth it!
So beautiful! I love how you made adjustments for the bigger tv and to hide the wires. Genius!
What a transformation! It looks beautiful!
Jenn that is just totally awesome. What a great job you all did on it. And I absolutely love the knobs you used. I am going to show this to my hubbie. Maybe he can figure out how to hide all our cords like that. He has them neatly bundles but where our center is you walk by the end to get into the kitchen so youcan see all the cords laying behind it.
Hidden would be wonderful.
Love the pillow too. Will look forward to your post about it.
Great transformation, the entertainment center looks fantastic. Isn't is amazing what paint can do?
Jen, your entertainment center turned out so nice! The white is so bright and cheery.
great job! what a difference! 🙂
What a change! Love the solutions to the larger tv issue and all those blasted cords and cables. And I adore the knobs. 🙂 Kudos!
Jen, it is beautiful white! I agree, don't add glaze.
Good luck with the kitchen cabinets. Painting ours was a big job – but so worth it. Stick with it.
Jen, it looks amazing! What a great transformation. Can't wait to see the kitchen.
LOVE this! I've been searching high and low for the perfect entertainment center for us…may have to suck it up and do it myself. 😉
looks fab!
Aloha,
Charlie
It looks so so good! I can't wait to see the kitchen done! If you need help painting cabinets me and my Purdy paintbrush are totally available!
Wow! It looks amazing! Nice work!
P.S. everything looks great, and those knobs are killin' me. 🙂
Looks FABULOUS~~ Our nightstands are done but need to work on dresser, and the glass should be ready soon too…
Oh my gosh you're super mom. Goodness the amount you accomplish in a day is astounding.