A $5.99 Television Cabinet Makeover - You Will Not Believe the After!

8 Materials
$90
4 Hours
Advanced

Hello! I am so excited to share this upcycle with you today! It is a rather lengthy post, but I wanted to make sure I included all the steps.


One day, I came across this television cabinet in our local thrift store.

Before Television Cabinet

It was priced at $14.99. It had a few flaws and was a bit flimsy. I showed the Hubs and he just shook his head. I could tell he did not want to be bothered with unloading something he thought was a piece of junk in this 90-degree heat. I decided to pass and just let it be.


Two weeks later, we visited this particular thrift store again and to my surprise, the cabinet was still there. The good news was it had been marked down to $5.99! As you can see from the sticker, it had previously been reduced from $14.99 to $9.99. The Hubs knew after looking at the price tag, I was not leaving without it!

We took the ticket to the cashier and proceeded to check out. Apparently, the furniture loader had to leave, which meant there was no one there to help load the piece. The Manager happened to be standing beside the cash register and told the cashier to give us the piece for $3.99 since we had to load it ourselves. I explained that was not necessary, that we were already getting a good deal, but she was adamant. SCORE!


Once we got the piece home and thoroughly inspected it, there was a huge hole on the center piece on top that could not be repaired.

The Hubs suggested that we remove the top piece and I agreed. He first removed the back piece, and then used his circular saw to remove the top piece.


Once finished, we were left with just the bottom piece. My immediate thought was a bench. However, I didn’t want to do the obvious. I wanted to create something that we have never created before.

It sat in my shop for over 2 weeks. I would gaze at it here and there. One Sunday morning, while having coffee, I had an idea! We needed a piece for our kitchen, and I had been searching for a used buffet to redo. My only concern was adding legs to the piece. Would it be sturdy enough? I asked the Hubs if legs could be added to the bottom without any issues. His answer was yes. The buffet plan went into action!


Supply List (Affiliate links included for your convenience, at no extra cost to you):


Dixie Belle Chalk Paint in Cotton


Minwax Stain – English Chestnut


6 - 1x3x8’s - Local Hardware Store


4 Furniture Legs - Lowe's


Dixie Belle Best Dang Wax


2 Wood Appliques


Scrap Wood


Wooster Silver Tip Paintbrush


The first order of business was purchasing legs. Legs are very hard to find here in Southeast Georgia. Normally, if we have a custom job for a client, we order them offline. But I was not ready to spend a fortune on legs. Luckily, we visited Lowe’s and found the 28" Waddell Leg. They were around $10.00 each and super cute.


The legs we purchased from Lowe’s were too tall, so they had to be trimmed. He used his circular saw and cut a portion of the top off. Note: I saved the pieces he cut to use for another project!


He used screws to attach the legs to the bottom of the piece. He then supported the bottom with two pieces of 2x4 on each side, and one completely across the middle.


As you can see from the picture below, there were a few damaged areas on top where the piece we removed was attached.

The Hubs suggested a new wood top. The top was constructed using 1x3x8’s. They were cut to size. Each board was then glued into place using wood glue. He then reinforced the top with nails. He used a scrap piece to cut thin strips to use as trim around the top.

He used some of the scrap wood and cut a piece for the bottom and sides. He applied glue to the back of each piece and attached it to the bottom. He reinforced the trim with brad nails. Here it is with the bottom trim and the legs.

I had a few scrap thin strips of 2x3's the Hubs cut down for my window repurpose project ( you can see here) left over that we used for the back. He cut them to size to fit vertically on the back where the middle opening was. The Hubs then attached the wood strips to the back of the piece.

I purchased two of these amazing wood appliques off Amazon. They are very good quality and I got the set for less than nine bucks. We laid the piece on it's back. I applied wood glue to the back, and adhered it to the door over the carvings. We allowed them to dry overnight.

I removed the two original knobs, because I wanted to use them. I did not want to purchase new hardware. I also did not remove the doors to paint.

The next day I gave the entire piece a good cleaning and then applied my paint.


It took three coats, allowing 2-3 hours drying time in between each coat. I also painted the inside of the middle portion, the legs, and the wood appliques.


After everything was painted, and the paint had dried overnight, I taped off the edges, and stained the top as well as the inside wood.


After allowing the stained portions to dry overnight, I then used a one coat of Dixie Belle's Best Dang Wax to seal the piece.


I am so excited with the way this piece turned out! All the supplies, including the piece, was less than $90 bucks! That’s less than purchasing a used one for $100 or more and then purchasing supplies to redo it. The most important thing is it gave me and the Hubs quality time together. It’s one of our favorite things to do. Work on a piece together. I am super blessed!


The knobs were prefect! I am glad I decided to keep them. And the wood applique added a touch of class :-)

Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Lucie - Oh my sander
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
3 of 29 questions
  • Melody Boling Medlock Melody Boling Medlock on Jan 19, 2021

    I had no idea that particle board could be transformed like this. That opens up a lot of possibilities. What step did you take to get the paint to adhere to the wood grain sticker on the particle board?

  • Melody Boling Medlock Melody Boling Medlock on Jan 19, 2021

    What steps did you have to take in order for the paint to adhere to the original piece? Did you have to sand the sticker portion off of the particle board first?

  • EILEEN HOBKIRK EILEEN HOBKIRK on Jan 22, 2023

    Realy Lovely

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 477 comments
Next