One last chance

Other than the set of wine glasses my mother bought me and the random salt and pepper shaker my dad insisted I needed in my first "big girl" apartment, this entertainment center has lived with me longer than anything else in my home. I may still have a picture frame or two from college but as far as big things go, this is the oldest. Here's the back story...

I moved to Raleigh from Wilmington after college and moved in with my two best friends in the world. There's a lot I could say about our times living together, but I'll keep this post to the furniture. Stories about the 3 of us could fill up the entire world wide web. 

We each had our own responsibilities in our new apartment. Holly bought this entertainment center from Target. It matched, it held our tv and it was in our budget - cheap. I love Target as much as the next person and will be the first to admit when I'm wearing their clothes or have their furniture. But, lets be real... Target furniture isn't what your grandma gave you. And the fact that it's now made it through 4 moves is a testament to my frugal-ness and the power of wood glue. 

I really need something different, but I'm not happy with the TV I have at the moment and so I'm not about to go out and buy a new entertainment center until I have a new TV. And, unless you've been under a rock you understand that TV today aren't cheap either. Plus, I'd rather have the new camera than a TV for $1k plus. And so, I decided that my Target entertainment center that I inherited when Holly found the man of her dreams and left me, might be good for one last move and one last spin at my new place... at least for a little while. (I promise, when I leave here it will not be loaded on the moving truck, but rather lovingly placed inside the community dumpster). 

So, I got to thinking that maybe instead of living with it as is I would give it a face lift and try painting it. I wasn't sure how it was going to look or what color I'd go with so I played around with a very sophisticated software program called - Microsoft Paint. 

Here was my pre-paint mock up. 

Hahaha... It makes me laugh to even look at the picture. But, what it did do was confirm for me that I wasn't too off base thinking the grey might work. And so I got to work. 

I lugged the piece outside and took off the door knobs. I started with a grey primer that I found at the Seaboard Ace Hardware near my office. That store is so cute, if you think hardware stores are cute. Not to mention there was an extremely helpful man at the paint counter who answered all of my weird questions about primers, sanding paper and steel wool. I was in the middle of about 10 different projects that week and I was feeling like the amateur I am. I'm not an official spokesperson or getting paid by them, but I think they're awesome. 

Back to the grey primer...

And back to why I need to be a better blogger. I can't remember the type of primer I used or how much it was. All I know was that it was grey and it covered that brown wood "stuff" remarkably. 

After the primer I went after it with some Krylon light grey glossy paint. The picture below looks blue but I promise old faithful is a beautiful grey color. (Which doesn't clash with that green lamp like that blue does) I love the new look and the fact that I spent a whopping $10 on changing the look. I'm still on the lookout for some new door knobs but other than that I'm all set. It's made a huge different in the look of the furniture in my living room.