Makeshift Entertainment Center

Since the day we moved in, I didn't like the way our tv stand fit in the room.  It was too low, too wide, and too dark.  We bought it at Target when we first moved into our apartment back in the day and used it in our second bedroom/office but its time was coming to an end.

When we bought our house, the previous owner had left several bookshelves in the basement.  Last winter, the hubs and I spent an entire afternoon organizing and styling the bookshelves.  (Yes, I do style bookshelves that are solely used for storage).  I was so proud of our work and how well the basement turned out.  We had an entire area for out of season decor, extra kitchen items, and knickknacks that weren't being used.  It made everything so much easier. 

Then, after a year and a half of looking, we had finally purchased a new rug and chairs for the living room.  We set everything up and I was so excited the room was coming together...until I saw the tv stand again.  I thought to myself how the perfect solution would be some sort of open shelving.  The drawers in the current stand were jam packed with Wii games and various electronics.  We needed space.  With open shelving I could add bins and baskets.  Then it dawned on me.  The basement shelves might work.  

Soooo....we took everything off two of my four perfectly decorated shelves and brought them upstairs to see if they even fit.  They did!  The shelves were unfinished, though, so over the next week or so, my hubby painted them in some leftover white paint we had lying around.  A few weeks later, we finally moved them to the living room and I set to work decorating the shelves.  I shopped the house and pulled baskets I had bought for another organizing project I never got around to.  This was also a great time to go through everything we were storing in the tv stand and get rid of a few things.  I stole the lamp from our guest bedroom and used it on top of the tv stand.  I was so happy when everything came together.  We gained so much more space and were able to display some photo albums and pictures.  Here's how everything turned out.

The best part about this mini makeover was that I didn't buy anything for it.  I used whatever we had, pulled from other rooms, and was able to spread everything out.  Now I just have to figure out how to reorganize that basement!

Be well,