Make It March: Repurposed TV Unit

I have been scouring Pinterest to find inspiration for hallway storage. I really wanted some sort of bench where I could sit to put my boots on, and of course somewhere to store all our shoes.

 

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I found this TV unit on Preloved and could immediately see its potential; it would just need a coat of paint, a seat pad, and ideally some drawers in the top shelf.

 

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We are in the process of redecorating our hallway. The front door has just been painted in a beautiful shade of grey and ultimately we are planning to paint the walls in a very pale grey as well. These choices dictated the colour palate for my upcycle.

I used Rust-Oleum Chalky Finish Furniture Paint. Chalk paint adheres to most wood surfaces with very little preparation so it lends itself well to upcycling projects. All I had to do was wipe the whole unit down with sugar soap and it was ready to paint.

 

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Using Anthracite grey for the main body of the unit meant I only needed 2 coats to get an even coverage because of the strong colour.

 

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To mix things up a bit I decided to paint the top in Chalk White. I found the white paint to be stickier and a bit harder to apply than the grey paint and in the end I needed 3 coats, with a light sanding between the second and third to remove the brush marks.

 

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Initially the white looked a little too perfect for my taste so I sanded the edges and corners to reveal just a touch of the original wood and give it a slightly distressed effect. I didn’t do this with the grey as I like the effect of the strong block of colour.

 

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Finally, I applied a coat of Rust-Oleum Finishing Wax with a paint brush. After 10 minutes I buffed it with a soft cloth to remove the excess wax and to give the whole piece a delicate sheen. The wax will protect the paint from scuffs.

 

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To define it as a bench rather than a TV stand, I covered a seat pad that I bought from Dunelm. They come at a standard length of 1 metre but, luckily, the off-cut from the back was the right width to add on to make the pad fit the bench.

The material is from John Lewis and I think it complements the paint perfectly. (The cat seems to agree!)

 

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I’ve sourced some wicker baskets on eBay to use as drawers on the top shelf, which will give us somewhere to hide away that inevitable hallway clutter and make the bench even more useful.

It’s just what I was looking for, and because I made it myself, it’s unique.

 

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I received the paint and finishing wax from Rust-Oleum as part of their Make It March challenge.

3 Comments On This Topic
  1. Carol Johnson
    7 years ago

    Wow !! what a difference it looks great

    • Becci Johnson
      7 years ago

      Thanks Carol. It’s amazing what a lick of paint can do!

  2. Claire
    7 years ago

    Wow I love it!

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