This goes there, That goes here, Where does that go?

As room needs change, which they will over the years, and furniture moves are needed, especially in my house, (I am not afraid to move the furniture!) I walk around and consider what I have and if it can be re-purposed in a different way. This process certainly saves money, but it also lets me use my creative juices and have fun in the problem solving process.

So here’s the dilemma, our old TV and sound system recently died. The TV cabinet was a lovely deep armoire with pocket doors, very convenient for the aged, very deep television that sat in it.

The doors have faux leather panels with nailhead trim on them. Very handsome.

And here you can see how the pocket doors slide in on either side of the TV, perfect plan for those big, two foot deep, old style televisions.  However, not so perfect for the flat screen style of TV that’s replacing this old fella. So this armoire needs to get out, (I think my youngest son who has helped me install the new TV will have a home for it). The sound system that’s in the bottom section and those big speakers on either side of the armoire need to go as well.

As I started to shop for a ‘new’ piece to store the new sound system and set the new TV on, I considered the width of the new TV. (I don’t mean the advertised width, which is actually the diagonal size of the screen, but the physical width of the television is what I’m after) That width is 44”, so the piece of furniture needed to be at a minimum that wide, but for sure a little wider will look better to visually anchor the TV, so the set doesn’t look ‘top-heavy’. And also it needed to be a good height for viewing, as the TV will sit on top of it. And a final consideration was, it ideally would have doors to keep the receiver and DVD player hidden from view and grandchildren’s little fingers.

After looking at new furniture stores, but not wanting to spend an arm and a leg, and really wanting a vintage piece in the living room, I decided to look at an antique shop. (I checked out Craig’s list, but came up empty, and since our son was here and going to have 1 day to help us install everything, we really needed to find something now.)

I was hoping to find an antique buffet that would work, but that wasn’t as easy as I thought. Most were just barely long enough.

Finally, I did find a beautiful ‘empire’ style mahogany buffet or sideboard style of furniture with a lovely mirror on the back, that could be removed, and it was the minimal length I needed. I loved the style of the piece, it was the same cost of one of the new ones we looked at that was mostly constructed out of particle wood and was basically ugly, so compared to that, this was a great deal. We bought it, brought it home, and as it was sitting in the house waiting to be moved to the new location, we started to brainstorm.

This is the vintage buffet that was in the dining room, not the one I just bought at the antique store, but this one I got last summer at a garage sale. (I’ll write a different post about that experience) But this piece is about 10” longer than the buffet with the mirror.

I kept looking at that lovely mirror that was going to be ‘wasted’ on the antique one I just bought, if it was used to keep the TV on. Then we, (my daughter-in-law is a very creative and willing to consider all the possibilities type of person) had the idea to take the existing buffet that was in the dining room to use for the TV and replace that one with the new antique buffet I just bought and keep the mirror on it.

So the ‘dance of the buffets and armoire’ began. To the shed storage area with the old armoire, then to the living room with the buffet from the dining room, and finally to the dining room with the newly purchased antique buffet in its place. Here are the finished results:

This is the newly purchased buffet replacing the other one in the dining room, (oh and the other picture that was above the other buffet no longer fit because of the higher mirror, so I switched it with the one over the sofa.) The other accessories from the previous buffet here work great on this buffet too.

And here is the finished, (except the cord controls aren’t up yet) view of the buffet moved into the living room. This piece of furniture is from the 1920’s and has some distressing to it, so to remove the back for ventilation and drill the TV stand screw into the top wasn’t stressful, like it would have been with a beautiful buffet in nearly perfect condition.

I changed the 3 prints that previously hung in a ‘stacked’ position on the wall to the right of the armoire, to this pattern above the TV. I like how it softens the harsh ‘tech’ feel of the electronics and warms the space around the TV.

Once the final decision was made, and everything moved into place, it was realized that this was the perfect answer to the ‘furniture shuffle’.
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