Being Booga

Furnishing a New Place or Wanting Something New? If you have no money set aside in the budget, you will have to use your wits in order to create something great. The magic happens when you see the “potential” of something and can see it though. Here’s an entertainment credenza I “made”.

First, I checked my Pottery Barn catalog for ideas. I really like the black painted look that’s popular right now. Their entertainment credenza, pictured above, was listed for $799.00.

I checked Craigslist “Free” and saw an ad for free office furniture. Turns out they had several of them they were giving away - so I went to their warehouse and picked one up.

Craigslist Free Old Office Credenza: FREE - I went to Home Depot and purchased a 2 quarts of paint - Kilz Sealer (actually I think I got a cheaper brand) - and a good quality Gloss Paint (Black) - I also bought 2 sponge tip “brushes”. I spent a total of $11.00 for Paint / Sealer & Supplies

And Voila - A nice looking entertainment credenza inspired by an $800 Pottery Barn one. It’s not as strong or sturdy OR as “perfect”. No. The key with this is to appreciate how it looks - and treat it with loving care (don’t move too often or load it down too much) . If it gets a nick or scrape, it’s easy to touch it up since I have the paint. It only took a total of 2 days to do this project - I let it dry well between layers.

My entertainment credenza doesn’t look exactly the same as the Pottery Barn one - it’s a little different. But it’s black (hip) it’s the same shape and height and has drawers instead of doors.

Here it is:

I removed the front panel doors and chose to leave the inside part there wood-grain. The drawers are good from file storage - they are complete with hanging file rails! I really appreciate the fact that this piece is super-versatile, it can be used in a dining room as a “sideboard”, in a bedroom as a dresser / valet or like I’m using it, as an entertainment credenza.

Originally I thought I’d replace the drawer handles for an updated look. After I painted it, though I decided I liked the old brass ones so I kept them. Replacing the handles would have cost an additional $10.00.

What do you think?

I saw a similar blog post somewhere that was all about using the Pottery Barn catalog for inspiration but finding a very frugal alternative solution to decorating. If anyone can remind me of that blog post, can you send it along to me? This post was a blog-post-response and I’d love to give them credit and a link.

EDIT: Amelia over at http://www.theamelia.com reminded me where I’d seen a similar post about using the catalog for inspiration then finding a cheaper alternative. It was over at FrugalHacks.Com

Thanks!

Craigslist has launched a blog! Another blog to add to my daily to-read list. One thing to note, the blog is at .ORG (not .com) - also they don’t have an RSS feed yet.