We were given a big set of children's bedroom furniture by my wife's parents, but we didn't know quite what to do with the hutch. However, it didn't take long to realize that, refinished, it would make a great replacement for our TV stand/equipment rack, which was severely overcrowded. Note the DVD player wedged above the VCR, and the DVD player and Playstation sitting on the carpet. In addition, the rat's nest of wires was less than attractive.
After taking a few measurements, we concluded that the old hutch would be the perfect size for a new rack. The problem with many TV stands is that they aren't deep enough for receivers or any serious electronics. They're really only sized for VCRs and DVD players. Widely spaced shelves are nice, too. We had to remove a shelf from our old TV stand just to fit the receiver in.
I had to cut a second shelf for the rack (we only had one, originally). This step was very easy, we just cut the shelf with a circular saw, used a router to round the front edge, and sanded it down. By the way, the random orbit sander was invaluable for this project, both for sanding the wood down originally and for doing a light sand between coats of paint.
My wife did most of the painting. We tried to choose a paint color that matched the color in the room. Of course, the only color in the room is on the rug and futon. So, we tried to match those, while keeping a neutral-ish color, so as not to be distracting when you're watching a movie.
Here's the finished product!
We've got lots more room now for all the toys. The only drawback is that we've got to have the rack open whenever we're using anything, so the electronics don't overheat. Maybe I'll do something about that in the future, but for now, it's not that big of a deal.
03-08-07, 10:22 AM
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