How many times have you tired of looking for some furniture or detail for your house and you have not found it? Or maybe you found it but it was too expensive, or some detail didn’t fit (size, color, etc.). It happens to me continuously and not only with furniture but also with clothes, textiles, etc. When you have clear ideas, customizing furniture is an inexpensive way to tailor what you have (or can buy) to what you want.
Following this philosophy, I have already customized a few pieces of furniture (bookcases, auxiliary furniture, bedside tables… the list is long), so when I wanted to change the table for the television and I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, I decided to customize the piece of furniture which I finally bought.
The problem
First of all, I quite liked the design of our old TV table, it had some chipping but overall it was in good condition. His main problem was the measurements., long it fit the space I have (120 centimeters) but the depth of 60 centimeters was excessive. When we bought it we had a tube TV and it needed to have those centimeters, but after changing the TV for a flat screen one you can say that I had half a piece of furniture left over.
When space is limited every inch counts and having an extra 8 inches between the TV table and the sofa was going to save me several bruises on my knees, since half the time I went to raise or lower the blinds, I ended up hitting the corner of the table.
The search
Finding a piece of furniture for the TV with a depth of 40 centimeters is easy, finding one that is at most 120 centimeters long (it does not fit more) and that is also good, pretty, cheap and practical, is not so easy anymore.
To begin with, I wanted a piece of furniture with hidden storage space (doors or drawers) in which to store our collection of movies and series, with simple lines and white. Basically something similar to what I already had, but anything I found similar was either too long or cost more than I wanted to pay.
One of the pieces of furniture that was on my list of favorites was the Ikea Besta TV unit, its measurements were perfect (120 cm x 40 cm) and it also had a lot of storage space. I liked its aesthetics but it was excessively simple, it had absolutely nothing. In addition, the price of 108 euros seemed a bit high for what it was (a module with two doors). But as chance would have it, on one of our visits to Ikea, in the opportunities sectionwe found a Besta TV module with high-gloss white doors (they hadn’t even removed the protective plastic) lowered at 75 euros. The reason for the downgrade was because it had a small flaw in one corner, nothing serious that couldn’t be fixed with a bit of carpenter’s glue.
Happier than Easter, we load the furniture in the car and take it home with us. I always recommend going through the opportunities section of the stores or see the products in liquidation since we can find interesting articles.
The solution
I already had my new TV table at home, with the measurements I wanted and an interesting price, but it was still a bland piece of furniture with nothing remarkable. Since we sold the old TV table for 30 euros, I thought I would use that money to customize the table
So seen and done, we went to a DIY center and we bought a pine board which we then cut with the jigsaw to adjust it to the length of the table. I then stained it because I wanted a similar finish to other furniture I have in my living room, and finally I gave it several coats of wax. In the next post I will publish the step by step of staining and waxing the wood (subscribe if you don’t want to miss it, it’s free!). You can see the final result in the following image:
In short, with a piece of furniture purchased in the opportunities section (75 euros), a pine board (14 euros), wood stain (13.70 euros) and colorless wax (3.55 euros) I have obtained a small table for the television that costs less than the Besta module at normal price but with the advantage that it is personalized, it is visually more attractive and it gives the impression of being much more expensive than it really is. If we also take into account that I sold the previous TV table for 30 euros and that I already had the dye and wax at home because I had left over from another job, the real cost of my TV table remains at 59 euros ( furniture + pine board – previous furniture sale) veneer! That’s how I like to buy 🙂
As you see furniture is worth customizing, whether we already have them and want to update them or buy a new one. I have been very satisfied with the final result since I have obtained a small table for the television just as I wanted and at the price I wanted to pay. I have also gained 20 centimeters more space between the table and the sofa (my knees appreciate it a lot).
You know, Search, compare and if you can’t find it… DIY! And if you also liked this post and share it, all the better 🙂
