Meet the new TV stand: part 1

Liz was looking to update our 'TV Stand' and wanted to get something mid-century modern. I didn't really have a problem with the as-is stand we got from IKEA, pictured left, but what did I know. So we went antiquing for a credenza that we (meaning I) could convert into a TV stand. We saw expensive-as-hell super-nice ones that we'd still have to disassemble in one fashion or another - then we saw a $98 'needs a bit of love' taller credenza that was hard to pass up. We saw it, hmm and hawed over it, walked around the place one more time, made sure this is what we wanted and discussed what we might be able to do with it. Sanding, painting was decided upon. We bought it, left the shop and headed out to Home Depot.

At 'da depot' we picked up a Roybi detail sander a couple cans of paint, primer and all the trimmings that comes along with painting. Note to reader: when painting wood, always get a foam roller. I had asked the "bro" at the counter witch roller to buy for painting a piece of furniture. "Oh the foam ones are great b/c they don't leave behind hairs. But the 'pros,' they use these." Of course he points to the fluffy pink rollers. I think to myself "well, it to look like a pro, not some jack ass slapping up some primer and garbage on there. So of course we buy the fluffy pink guys. Last, we pick up a hook for my stuff so it's not laying around anymore. Every thing has it's place.

A day later, we brought the big bastard home, skuffed up our floor a touch and put it on extra flor tiles we had. There it sat for a couple more days. Finally I got up the guff to sand.

It took about an afternoon and a half to sand. I'm no expert by any means. I love watching 'This Old House' and 'Yankee Workshop,' but translating that into real life isn't always 1:1. I tried sanding just by hand but I was going no where fast. There are also tiny nooks that were a real pain in the ass to get to. I read a bit online, watched a couple videos, re-read those articles and watched a video three of four times and decided I didn't want to go out and buy a sanding sponge. I thought the next best thing would be something I devised - a metal scrapper wrapped in 120 grit paper. It did it's job, well enough. The larger surfaces I used the detail sander.

Stay tuned for part 2 - the chilling conclusion to our story.