When Lobster and I moved into our little cottage just over a year ago, we had some okay furniture and some not-okay furniture. I guess that’s typical for newlyweds who have only lived in tiny apartments. But as soon as we got our house, I knew I had to do something about the lack of “real” furniture we had going on.

But, like most newlywed, first-time homebuyers, we were on a budget. Also, our house is not the biggest and I wanted to keep the living spaces as open and airy as possible. So I’ve had to get pretty creative with some things.

For instance, when we moved in, we were living with a giant flat-screen t.v. on a tiny little particle board t.v. stand. It was not pretty. In fact, it was so disturbing to me that I decided it was the first thing in our living room that needed to be remedied. I knew I didn’t want a large entertainment center because it was too bulky and it would crowd the living room. But I couldn’t handle a simple table either because I wanted a bit of storage for our favorite DVDs and the all important Blu-Ray player.

So I did some brainstorming and researching and spending an inordinate amount of time on Pinterest and Craigslist….where I found this:

I apologize for the quality of the picture. It came off of Craigslist. Anyhoo, yes, that is an antique buffet table, generally used in dining rooms. But as soon as I saw that baby, the gears in my old noggin starting turning. I was fairly certain I could use this as an entertainment unit if I did a little tweaking.

We drove about an hour and spent $120 ($100 for the buffet and $20 to rent a truck at Lowe’s) and soon we were the proud new owners of an antique buffet. As soon as we got it home, I took out the top dresser and was delighted to find that it was joined at the sides by dovetails. So I grabbed my trusty rubber mallet and I gently hammered the sides of the drawer away from the drawer front. The sides and back of the drawer came off fairly easily and in tact, which was a bonus in case I ever wanted to put the drawer back together again.

Then I laid the bottom of the drawer on the space it had occupied when the drawer was in the unit, acting as a “floor” in that space. My idea was to create from the front drawer panel and “faux” drawer that would tip open and closed instead of opening as a drawer. But first, I had to find hinges that would allow the panel to lay flush against the rest of the unit when closed and lay flat when opened. I literally bought and returned 7 different kinds of hinges until I found a pair that would work.

Finally, I installed the hinges to the lip of the drawer frame on the buffet and to the bottom of the drawer front panel and VOILA, a tip-open faux drawer!

We also had to drill a hole in the back of the buffet so that we could run our wires through to the outlet in the wall. The bottom drawer and the side cabinets hold DVDs, a Wii, CDs, etc. I forgot to take pictures of all this. Bad blogger.

You also might have noticed, I changed out the old, gold hardware with knobs I found at Hobby Lobby for $2 a piece. These may or may not stay, depending on what I do next…

Now my dilemma is…do I paint the buffet? The wood finish on it is nice and it’s in good shape. It matches the other wood in my living room (side tables, coffee table, floor), but I think that might be the problem. It’s all so…woody. I’m toying with the idea of painting the buffet white and distressing or antiquing it, similar to what I did with Eloise, the French chair.

I need your opinion! To paint or not to paint?

Ready…discuss!

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