We’re all over the house lately. Last weekend we worked on the bathroom. Ben took a few days off last week to start the slow process of tearing cedar shakes off the roof in preparation for new asphalt shingles. Local weather forecasters gave an 80 percent chance of rain on Saturday morning, so Ben chose to work inside. {Have you ever noticed weather forecasting is the only profession you can be wrong 90 percent of the time and not get fired? It didn’t start raining until five in the afternoon.} Not wanting him to get burned out with a single project, I told him to work on anything he wanted. Of course, his man-stincts (man instincts) kicked in and he started our entertainment center. In most American homes, the entertainment center is the center of attention. Am I right?
After building a few bookshelves, entertainment centers, and cabinets, we’ve figured out the quickest, easiest, squarest (totally a word) way to build. Following that same process, Ben and Handy Sammy cut pieces of cabinet plywood to size and assembled three 33 inch wide by 30 inch tall by 24 inch deep boxes.
Yes, that is one huge entertainment center. We considered a smaller size, but the living room can handle it, and we spend plenty of time here. For everything to look built-in and sit flush with the wall, Ben pried the baseboard off the wall. Then he started with the toe kick frames. Two by four boards on edge are strong and a perfect height.
Though built-in furniture lends itself to being permanent, we didn’t want to damage the floors if we decided to pull this out down the road. Instead, Ben used long screws to hold the toe kick frames tightly against the wall, securing to studs.
Before going any further, Ben ran wiring from an outlet to add another behind the TV. Just after this, he decided to add spacers between each box to beef up the frame he’ll add.
The spacers aren’t anything intricate, just pieces of 1/2 inch thick scrap MDF strips at the front and back.
Before attaching the cabinets to the base, Ben screwed the boxes together. This helps keep the entire piece level, rather than adjusting the individual pieces.
My biggest concern with a large cabinet is walking space. We’ve still got about 4 feet between the stairs and the edge of the cabinet. Plenty of room to move.
That’s where we’re at now. Bubinga left over from our kitchen remodel will go on top with open shelving above and on either side of the TV. In the future, we might get a bigger TV, so we’re leaving a 64-ish inch opening. Drawers below is a new thing for us. But it seems just as functional as a cabinet.
While looking for paint color inspiration, I found this pretty media center; similar to our plan.
I mentioned before that this thing is a beast, but pictures can show that better. The five foot wide bookshelf turned media cabinet looked tiny.
Now the TV looks little. Ha. And that red has to go. One step at a time.
If only I could decide on a paint color. White is always an option, but I don’t know if I’m sold on it. We loved the wood paired with warm gray, but I’m fairly certain I’ve settled on Wood Smoke for the walls. South facing windows let in a lot of natural light, but I don’t know I’d like a black entertainment center. Wood is out of the question because we’re using MDF. Then again, I could paint it white and paint the backs of the shelves a poppy color. Yellow maybe? Green? We’ll carry the room crown molding over the top and I don’t want that to look strange against a color.
Do you have any color suggestions? Have you painted the back of a shelf for color in a safer place?
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