When the pandemic hit, we suddenly found ourselves spending nearly all our time at home. Our daughter wasn’t school-age yet, and both of us had shifted to working from home full-time.
The timing couldn’t have been crazier — the lockdown started just three months after we’d moved into our North Georgia house. We were still trying to make it feel like home when we realized that our quick setup wasn’t exactly toddler-friendly.
At first, we had a six-cube shelf holding the receiver, with two extra cubes on the sides for the speakers. It worked… until our daughter started riding her tricycle around the living room. Let’s just say it didn’t feel very safe! So, we decided to build a custom cabinet to keep everything organized and sturdy.
We picked up some edge-glued panels from Lowe’s and spent a few days measuring, cutting, and assembling — and finally, tada! It was done. We were exhausted, so we went for a quick white-wash finish. We weren’t thrilled with how it turned out, but the cabinet was so functional that we never got around to repainting it.
Two years ago, when we moved into our current home, we gave the cabinet a small upgrade by adding eight 4-inch Modern Diamond Triangle metal legs from Amazon. That gave it a cleaner, more modern look and helped it fit the space better.
Fast forward to now — we decided it was time for a full makeover. After about three hours of sanding the sides and top, we stained those parts with Golden Oak Satin Semi-Transparent Water-Based Interior Wood Stain and Poly to warm up the wood tone. Then we painted the rest with two cans of BEHR Premium Classic Noir Chalk Paint and sealed everything with Rust-Oleum Chalked Matte Clear Topcoat.
The cabinet feels brand new — modern, balanced, and solid. What do you think of the transformation and the new finish?
