mid-century modern fab

On Monday we posted about using podcasts as motivation to get your least favorite chores done.  Well, I have found that creativity is another major part of enhancing my day to day life.  And it is even more rewarding when Kristian and I can be creative together.

When we first got married part of our let's-run-to-ikea-and-buy-as-much-furniture-as-we-can-for-$400 trip was this bookshelf which we used as such for many years.

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Several years later when we had a large wall to fill, Kristian decided to paint it, turn it on it's side, and use some left over wood for legs.  And a table to help fill the wall was born.

Then around Thanksgiving of last year we joined the rest of the modern world and purchased a flat screen t.v. which necessitated a place to put it aka ikea hack numero dos.  So here are the steps we took to make that happen.

1. Hairpin legs.  They are sold online at around $12 each which was a bit more than we wanted to pay.  So one Saturday afternoon, with both of our children in tow, Kristian decided to check out D.I. (the Utah version of Goodwill) to see if there happened to be any legs already attached to something that we could use.  I could. not. believe. it. when he come home with these legs that were indeed attached to a table that cost him $4.  $1 per leg?  Yes please.

2. The best part of a nice media console?  Being able to hide the unsightly corded parts.  So naturally I wanted to add doors.  Kristian and I picked out these sleek and streamlined handles to compliment the hairpin legs, as well as these piano hinges which I loved so much, I wanted them on the outside.

3. We picked out some solid pine which Kristian cut to size for the doors and he stained it chocolate brown with some stain he got for free a while back, don't they just pop?! [His Mom always says he was born under a lucky star, I believe it was a lucky DIY star!]  He removed the piece in the center [shown below] and placed magnetic closures so that the doors will closed nice as well as make them kid-proof and prevent them from pushing all the way through.

4.  We had also purchased enough pine to stain and place on the top.  We couldn't decide if we liked it or not so Kristian just placed it on top and we thought about it for a few days.  We decided the contrast of the dark wood on top against the white table made the whole piece, so he made it official and he screwed the top on with a screw in each corner.

As mentioned, I love that there are doors so that the less aesthetic, but necessary parts of our media console can be hidden.  But I also love that there are 2 open shelves to add some personality.

In the reflection of the t.v. you can see some of the snow that fell today.  OMG when will this winter madness stop!

Sure there are a lot of amazing pieces of furniture to use as an entertainment center out there, but when you make your own you can customize it exactly the way you like, and it doesn't cost you thousands of dollars.  This piece came in around $80 as we already owned the bookshelf-turned-table, as well as the stain.  Booyah!  Thanks to my handy and born-under-a-lucky-star husband we have an amazing, one of a kind, modern place to house our source of entertainment to use while relaxing as a family.  Our living room is finally starting to come together in a mid-century modern vibe.