In 2002, he built this custom entertainment center for our new-at-the-time TV. He made it out of birch plywood that he bought at an estate sale for literally pennies on the dollar. When we replaced our dead TV, he went for the maximum size he could squeeze into our family room, and none of the ready-made entertainment centers worked.
He trimmed the plywood with solid oak and finished it with satin-finish Varathane.Then, in 2008, he bought a new flat-screen TV. Suffice it to say, he doesn't exactly buy into my "don't upgrade technology until you have to" mentality (see yesterday's post). He pined for a HD TV for ages. I, being the frugal spouse, told him the TV could not come out of our family budget, so he faithfully saved his personal spending money, and earned extra money doing handyman work for his parents, and bought the TV of his dreams. He built a new entertainment center out of the old one (recognize the doors on the bottom)?
He added a few new pieces of wood for supports, but those came right out of his wood collection in the garage. He even had enough Varathane to refinish it.
It's very pretty, and very functional. My favorite part is that we have now gotten two very nice pieces of furniture out of one set of materials.Now, I am not advocating that you all fill your garage with woodworking tools and equipment, but I am saying that it can be fun and very economical to take things from your home that you no longer need, or that no longer work for their intended purposes, and find newn ways to use them, remodel them, or upgrade them. I'd love to hear about any recycling or reinvention projects that you've taken on.
