Need help. First timer here. Suggestions please?

Looks like a good one to me! Are wanting to repair the top or take it off? It appears you could just screw it back down.

Are you wanting to stain it or paint it? Either way it looks like a nice piece of wood. Lightly sand and restain, I prefer stain and sealer in one buy Minwax. Or stain and rub tung oil for a more subtle finish.

Or sand lightly and paint.

If want a more rustic look a brown briwax would look great basically a one step process

Have fun

There is no good or bad beginner project. Just jump in. It could make a great project for both of you.

This is the perfect piece to start with as it looks like it has good bones! A lot of what you do to it depends upon whether you like the wood look (stain) or want to make it match the room colours (paint). The doors are cool, you could change them up slightly by adding a piece of trim vertically in the middle and make them into 'barn doors' with different hardware. Simply changing the door pulls will make a huge difference as well. Good luck!

It already looks like what you want to turn it into. So hang the TV about 3 inches over the top.

Tighten the screws.

Replace the multicolored knobs. Go with black.

Hmmm ... I thought something more brassy or shiny but I'm really digging the look of the rustic black. I'll see how it looks. Thanks forbthe suggestion

I’d resecure the top, remove doors for a later project, pop off what is likely a flimsy particle board piece just nailed to the back, remove Hardware and sand the crud out of it. Paint to your decor but a matte black or robin egg blue chalk paint would look good...mount tv above and leave room for your sound bar. Bam!