Entertainment Center

We got the entertainment center all moved in and are in the process of accessorizing it - which is a challenge for me so if anyone wants to give me a hand or some advice - I'd appreciate it!  If we had left the center oak I wouldn't have any problems but not sure how to accessorize it now that it's painted!

These are two of my cute little "helpers"

This is how they helped.....

Yeah, not so much huh?  We had left the backer panels outside overnight since we had checked the weather...  It was supposed to be nice - shouldn't be a problem....  The next morning I didn't give it a thought as I let the dogs out - it should be dry, right?  Apparently there had been a heavy dew and it had "lifted" the paint - I found this out as I let the dogs in and noticed the black paw prints on my freshly cleaned carpet!  I didn't stop to get pictures and as it is we are still working on getting a few of the prints off the carpet!

Anyhoo, this is what we started out with - I took this picture AFTER we removed all the doors and hardware.  We were just going to leave it oak but when I took handles off of the upper doors we found out that they had sprayed the stain and varnish on OVER the "face plates" that were behind the knobs!  Since we couldn't find a stain that would match (because of the age) we decided the next option was to paint it black!

(Notice the computer piece in the background - still trying to decide to leave it as is or paint it black as well....  oh, and the table/chairs FINALLY made it down to my brothers place in Gulfport!  We are slowly but surely getting our garage back - maybe I'll be able to park in it again soon!)

This is the finished piece (well almost! - still looking for the aforementioned helpers/ideas on finishing it up!)

 This is my main "helper"! - doesn't he look thrilled with me and this project! (I LOVE YOU HONEY!)

 He was such a trooper - we took off all the doors and the backer boards, he hoisted, removed hinges, filled holes in the doors, sanded, primed, painted (with a little help from the sprayer!), hoisted again, made a shelf to lift the TV and make room for the DVD & DVR, reinstalled the doors, made a sliding shelf (for the printer that is hiding behind the lower left door), he installed the new handles and then he set up all the electronics - THANK YOU HONEY!

I must also thank our other two "helpers" - Drew & Katie!  They helped me remove the old handles, the old hinges, the 6 sliding DVD/CD shelves/brackets, they sanded, wiped, hoisted, moved, reinstalled the lights in the long upper cabinets, installed the new handles, helped with setting up the electronics and Katie spray painted the locks for the DVD/CD cabinets from gold to satin nickel to match the handles.

All in all I am super HAPPY with the results - still have a few touch-ups to do and that accessorizing to figure out and we are considering "rebuilding" the DVD shelves (which were actually meant to hold cassette tapes and VCR tapes in the plastic cases) but they work for now so.....

Now onto the next projects - finishing pulling my notes together for the food dehydrating class I am teaching at the stake preparedness fair this weekend (YIKES - that's in 3 days!), pulling stuff together for the neighborhood yard sale that is 2 weeks away, getting the garage back in order and then pulling together the information for the once a month cooking class that I am teaching soon.... oh and then there are the crochet, sewing and quilting things that are calling to me from the other room!!!!!