Entertainment Center Conversion : Whether You Buy New Or Convert the Old, Your Entertainment Center is a Key Design Element
Does your Entertainment Center look like this?
Or how about this?
If so, it might be time to bring yours up to date! Entertainment Center conversion my be the approach that you need or you may need to replace it all together! TV Stands can really change to the look of a great room, family room or den. Make sure you keep yours looking current.
Here’s what our Entertainment Center conversion involved. Here’s what it originally looked like:
While not completely hideous, it did have the older hardware, short stature, medium oak finish, glass doors and rounded moldings that were so popular in the early 90s. We wanted our great room to have a whole new look so we knew we had to start with the Entertainment Center.
This is a picture of the project during the renovation stage, where my husband added 8″ of crown molding to the top and 6″ of base and base molding to the bottom.
After that, my husband stained the new wood to match the old wood. He then stained the unit with black polyurethane (Miniwax Polyshades), sanding the whole thing with very fine sandpaper between each step and wiping it down with a microfiber rag. Then he distressed the unit by fine sanding some edges such that the underlying stain shone through. He then applied two coats of clear polyurethane (sanded and wiping between steps). Finally, he installed the doors (which he earlier cut in half so they would close in a new way), shelving, and new hardware. Here’s the finished unit (not pushed together completely). We still need to move it back into the great room but now my beast of a husband is going to start renovating that!
He estimates he put in about 80 hours for the transformation. Given your own hourly wage and skill level , you may or may not consider such a labor intensive renovation. You may decide to just buy a new Entertainment Center. I know this is what I would have done without my wonderful husband’s skills.
When purchasing a new entertainment center, there are many considerations that you must take into account, such as:
- Style of Furntiture:–Formal, modern, mission, country
- Function: What will it hold?
- Size: Small, medium or BIG BEAR size
- Where will it go in the room: Corner TV Stand, Wall TV Stand
- What color of finish: Stained, wood, painted,
- Construction: All wood, wood+particle board, metal
- Cost: How much are you willing to pay to optimize all the factors above?
Does your Entertainment Center need Updating? Tell me your story below.
See our related article: DIY Project: Convert Your Old Entertainment Center
Ours is from the 80’s so I am not sure it can be updated…you are lucky to have such a handy hubby.
Mine does great out side and in the garden, but not so well with a hammer and nails.
I think ours will soon be a storage unit in the garage and we will get something new…
wow– love the renovations. I read about all these DIY home projects and want my husband to do them but he’s so lazy. (sigh). My entertainment center is really small stand- very simple.
Nope – we sold ours a few years ago so we don’t have anything. 🙂
I have a seriously old & ugly entertainment center that is remarkably similar to the 2nd picture shown! I honestly don’t think that there is ANY renovation that could help it (short of complete demolition)! LOL!
Firewood!!?? HAHAHA Welcome Dara! The Chief Blonde
I forgot to answer the question – how much would I pay – I don’t know – I can’t even begin to figure it out.
I loved the black. It looks so much more modern. Beautiful job!
But I have clumpsy hands and no imagination so I could never do that.
Now that is impressive! my entertainment is 14′ wide with tv stand in middle, 2 shelving units on either side with doors underneath and two shelf bridge over tv. sounds strange but birch wood with hand made knobs! took about 4 months to make cuz, WE AIN’T HANDY, and had to keep recutting!! cost more than we wanted but IT OURS!! Enjoy your new unit, its gorgeous
I think if it were me, I would chuck the old entertainment center, but a flat screen with a wall mount and have it installed on the wall.
My entertainment center could use a little updating, but its only about 5 yrs old, so it doesnt need much…maybe a paint job.
theblackat at hotmail dot com
it does need updating. i would update it by getting a flat screen & hanging it on the wall and selling my entertainment center
WOW — your entertainment center looks great!
I would love to have an entertainment center. Mine consists of a TV stand with glass shelves for my DVD player and DVR.
It would be great to have one of those that take up the whole wall,has book shelves, and storage for DVD’s/CD’s.
Get one at Salvation army…they go really cheap there. The Chief BLonde
We don’t have an entertainment center, just a tv stand which is fine. Your hubby did an awesome job on yours though!
We no longer have an entertainment center but have a tv table with our flatscreen attached to it. I do miss the space that the entertainment center had, but not the space it took up in our living room
Would $500 cover it, I wonder?
We actually just redid our entertainment center so we could fit our new tv in – it looks good but not as good as this one!
I just bought one at a garage sale that I would love to refinish in cherry! Too big though!
Your husband did a great job! My husband also redid our existing entertainment center to accommodate the huge flat screen TV he wanted. We couldn’t afford both the TV and a new entertainment center! He also did a wonderful job and I am so thankful for his skills as a master carpenter. Saves us so much money! He also built our house!
Colleen, That’s awesome. I’ll bet he’s a lot quicker than my husband who was just doing it on the side. But I am pleased with the final result even though it took a little while!
I forgot to answer the question! Mine doesn’t need updating, but I’m passing this on via email to friends!
That is amazing!!! Very impressive! sammiejanL40 at aol dot com
Wow, this looks GREAT!!! Fantastic job!! 🙂
iheartmygluegun.com
Janet, SO glad you stopped in to take a look at it. I enjoyed your mirror project as well. The Chief Blonde