Easy Entertainment Center Makeover

It’s amazing how we took a dated piece of furniture that no longer matched our decor and turned it into an Easy Entertainment Center Makeover!

Do you ever look at a piece of furniture and just think….meh?

Years ago, we bought an entertainment center that fit our decor and our style, but as time goes by and styles change, my beautiful piece was not-so-pretty anymore.

This is how I took my lackluster console and transformed it with this easy Entertainment Center Makeover.

Last week, I had just popped some popcorn and we had started to sit down for some family TV time. I just couldn’t relax – I sat staring at my out of place TV console absolutely hating it.

It was such a distraction that I couldn’t enjoy our family film. In true take-charge fashion, within 10 minutes I put my bossy pants on, and set Trent to work stripping the top while the kids watched their movie.

It wasn’t that the piece was that ugly, but it was showing wear and tear, didn’t match the rest of my decor, and one of the glass panels had fallen out of the door months ago.

Plus, I was so sick of seeing all our components and LED lights.

In my mad rush to get the stripper and drop cloth, I neglected to get my camera, so the only pics I have are from the next morning while the polyurethane was drying.

This whole project took one night and was so easy peasy. Here’s how I did it – affiliate links are provided for your convenience. Read my full disclosure here.

We used Citristrip to strip the stained top. What I LOVE about this, is that we were all in the same room with the kids watching their program.

No fumes, no horrid smell, just typical safety wear with gloves and lenses. Stripping took 30 minutes.  We cleaned up the top with low odor Mineral Spirits and steel wool to get ready to poly coat.

What we discovered after stripping the top is that the large section in the middle was MDF, which was expertly hidden under that dark mahogany stain, but you know what? I kinda dig it!

I also loved the color of the bare wood, so we didn’t stain the top, but just put a few coats of wipe-on polyurethane on it in satin finish.

While the polyurethane was drying, I started painting the bottom with a white chalk paint. I only applied one coat because I like an aged, layered and mottled effect, like on my Farmhouse Dining Room Table.

The drawers came with weathered edges and worm holes into the wood, so I made sure to reveal those spots from the manufacturer before the paint dried. I forgot to mention that we also had to strip each wooden knob – we just followed the same process for the top.

Since this is a ‘high traffic’ piece of furniture that gets wear and tear from my boys, I applied a coat of poly to the chalk paint to prevent any scuffs and scrapes.

My solution for the doors is simple with 2 elements.

Cardboard.

Burlap.

Oh,and I guess a third – packing tape. After removing the other glass panel, I used it as a template to trace out 4 sheets of cardboard. Next, I cut them out with an Xacto knife. I wrapped 2 with burlap and secured it with tape on the back. Then I sandwiched the taped side between the other piece of cardboard.  So very simple and it’s a tight fit staying in place each time the doors are opened.

Here is our easy Entertainment Center makeover Reveal!

My oh my! So much brighter than the off white with the dark mahogany top.

No more door with a missing glass pane.

No more blinking led lights!

I also came up with a neat solution to hide our bass subwoofer. You can’t even see it in between those crates can you? Air still travels around allowing all the bass-i-ness to boom and rattle the floor. Best of all, you don’t see that ugly black box!

What a difference 2 hours makes to create a beautiful and easy entertainment center makeover!

While I may receive a small compensation, all prices remain the same for you!