Young House Love

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Thrift Store Find: A Dresser We’ll Make Into A Media Cabinet

We’ve been on the hunt for a new media console for our living room since, well, as long as we’ve lived here almost. That “hunt” is mostly defined by periodic stops through our favorite furniture-rich thrift stores to see if anything grabbed us. We were probably a couple of months from giving up entirely. But then I got this text from Sherry.

TVConsole 1 Text

Sherry had run into Diversity Thrift while I stayed in the car with Clara. This is how discouraged this hunt had become… I didn’t even get out of the car anymore. Here’s the pic Sherry sent me, which was enough for me to get my butt out of the driver’s seat and check out Mia in person.

TVConsole 2 Image From Phone

She fit the criteria we were looking for in a new unit – which mostly consisted of “just be bigger than our current piddly little guy” – which you can see below from this post about our new TV (which further dwarfed it). A bonus would be more storage. Six drawers or more were on our wish list.

TV 6 After From Ottoman

So we brought Mia home. We were eager to put her directly into the living room, but she had some wobby leg issues (as we were warned on the $59 price tag). As in, every leg was wobbly. Which probably explains why a handsome clean-lined dresser like this sat at the thrift store for over a month (the tag indicated that it had originally been $79, but after going unsold for a month it was dropped down to $59).

Wobbly legs can definitely be a deterrent because they go to the heart of that item of furniture. You know, it’s not something that a little paint or some stain can fix. It’s filed under “structural integrity.” But Sherry and I examined all the drawers (which slid easily and were made solidly) and checked the rest of it for any functional damage and found none. So we decided not to let those wobbly legs scare us off…

TVConsole Loose 1 On Side

I hadn’t ever fixed wobbly legs before, so I was going into it a bit blind. But I figured I could just identify what was loose and hopefully tighten it. For instance, this center brace shimmied back and forth waaaay too easily.

TVConsole Loose 2 Removing Middle

In fully removing it (which I did before reattaching it) I discovered an old screw on the side that was supposed to hold that leg in tight. So with a quick replacement screw, I was already making progress.

TVConsole Loose 3 New Screw

When I reattached the brace with more new screws, the center section got significantly better.

TVConsole Loose 4 More New

And having discovered the secret leg-screw (wait, that sounds wrong) I was on my way to tightening all of the wobbly legs. But In some cases I found that merely replacing the screws and getting them in there nice and tightly wasn’t enough to stop the wobble completely (although it was a huge step in the right direction). So thanks to some Googling, I read about the suggestion to add some wood glue around the joint. I used the end of a paperclip to really work the glue into the seam as well as possible. Then I used a moistened rag to wipe off the excess glue around the outside so it didn’t look all messy like it does in this picture (this was taken pre-wipe):

TVConsole Loose 5 Glue

Once all of the legs were glued and screwed (again, my wording is less than stellar here) Sherry helped me turn the piece upright and – resisting the temptation to test its wobbliness – we let the glue dry for a good 24 hours. The next day we went in and gave it a gentle shake.

It was AWESOME. No more shaking or shimmying at all.

Unfortunately Mia, even with her new solid legs, isn’t quite ready to come inside to the living room. She needs a good cleaning – and possibly some refinishing or painting, depending on how well the cleaning goes – before we let her in. You can see her bumps and bruises pretty well in this photo taken back in the thrift store…

TVConsole 2 Image From Phone

… so we’ll be back with the updated & cleaned up Mia after we’re done scrubbing her down, bringing her into the living room, and getting the TV all set up (we anchor it to the wall to keep things kid-safe). Sherry’s actually scrubbing away on it right now so as soon as she finished up, takes pics, and writes the post we’ll be back with that info. In the meantime, how do you guys find furniture? Does one of you run in while someone else stays in the car? Are the photos texted back and forth? Do you accidentally end up naming things thanks to text typos? We can’t be the only ones…

Psst- Clara shared a few more holiday-fun-ish details with her penpal in Germany over on Young House Life.

Comments

  2. Angie Johnson says

    Awesome find and I LOVE the dresser underneath that one as well! Looks like a great store! Just wanted to share with you a blog I learned of yesterday about tv’s and dressers and the importance of tethering your furniture to the wall (a stud in the wall and NOT just the drywall!) This poor lady’s daughter was killed by her dresser falling on top of her :( Take a look at the pic of the dresser.. you wouldn’t in a million years predict this horrible incident to happen. Thought you would be a great source to spread this message :)

    Keep up the great work guys….you inspire me daily! Xo

    http://lovelightlaughterandchocolate.blogspot.ca/2012/12/be-with-me-just-for-today.html?m=1

    And Megan’s Hope Facebook page.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh no, that’s terrible! What a tragedy. So so so sad. Thanks for spreading the word Angie! We tether our TVs and dressers/mirrors (we have blogged about that a few times and have links on our projects page). It’s a great reminder that even smaller items that don’t look like they could tip should be secured!

      xo
      s

    • heather says

      I had a tall dresser fall on me when I was about 4-5 years old. I screamed, my brother came in, ran downstairs and told my Mom and she and him pushed it off of me. Thankfully I didn’t sustain any injuries. I don’t even remember what made it tip (whether I climbed to get something in the closet where it was, or if I just opened the top drawer and because I was shorter, pulled it down on top of me – I think it was the latter).

      Thanks for the (sad) reminder that we need to tether these things down. I never thought of it actually being fatal I guess since I was okay after but goodness gracious. So so so so sad. Note to self: tether furniture when we have kids.

  3. Beth says

    Love it! Just a heads up…my sister picked up a dresser JUST like this one recently for her TV/DVD’s/storage and because it only has one leg in the middle, it started bowing like crazy once she put stuff in the drawers! They had to add some support beams on the bottom and another leg to straighten everything back out. Hopefully that doesn’t happen to you, but heads up just incase!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks so much for the tip! Ours has a support beam on the bottom along with the leg, but it’s good to know that another leg can help along with more boards! Great tip :)

      xo
      s

  4. Emily says

    My sister and I had an end table (a resin cast shark swimming through coral with a glass top, no less) named Bemis. Yes, like, as in the toilet seat company.

    We are so weird and the above confession just proved it . . .

    Reply

  5. Anna says

    In our household, it’s mostly me who does the thrift store scouring for furniture, with mixed results. But our problem is always how to transport a big piece of furniture home because we only have two tiny Hondas!

    Reply

  7. julie s says

    i inherited a MCM 9-drawer just like this from my grandpa two years ago….i use it as a TV console and it is great! looks awesome & great storage.

    mine needs a little TLC – cannot wait to hear YHL tips on this one!!!

    Reply

  8. Katie says

    I gotta love that you were watching Cougar Town at the time you took the pic of your soon-to-be-old media console. It’s one of my favorite shows and this is one of my favorite blogs. You guys are after my own heart! :) Can’t wait to see how you guys refinish the cabinet – awesome find!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, you guys are so funny. I’m trying to pull together a DIY bangs post for ya (we leave for a bunch of tour stops tomorrow so here’s hoping I can squeeze it in before we go).

      xo
      s

  11. Cherie says

    Ooh, Mia is going to be so pretty! We have a 9-drawer dresser as our media cabinet, too. I removed the mirror and the door that covered the 3 middle drawers. Then I painted it teal, updated the hardware with some new ones that mimicked the angles in the trim, and added some pretty paper to line the drawers. The dvd player and Roku sit on the shelf left when I pulled out the top middle drawer and the dvds go in the drawers below. The other drawers leave lots of room for blankets, toddler toys, remotes, etc. Cute, unique, and functional – love it. Can’t wait to see what you do with Mia.

    Reply

  12. bex says

    SO excited to see what you guys do with this piece! I have a dresser just like it (no handles, but otherwise almost identical – even down to the color) that I’ve been wracking my brain/ignoring for four years. We use it as a sideboard in our dining room. We’ve though of everything from painting it bright yellow to re-staining it. Can’t wait to see what you guys settle on!

    Reply

  13. Laura says

    UGH I am utterly green with envy right now, we have been looking for a new dresser via Craigslist and thrift stores for MONTHS, and that is EXACTLY what we need! And for $59?!?! Ugh I can’t even look at you right now…

    Reply

  14. Lauren says

    My husband (a total techie) used some sort of infrared sensor (purchased on amazon I believe) that attaches to the front of the tv (it’s tiny and black…not an eyesore at all) and allows you to remotely control all of your cable boxes, etc. For instance, all of our boxes (cable, roku, wii) are in drawers of a buffet/dresser ten feet away from where the tv is mounted, and we don’t have to open drawers or expose the boxes in any way to control them. My husband also dropped and guided all the wires through the wall and out behind the dresser so it’s the cleanest mounted tv you’ve ever seen!
    Sounds like the sensor might work perfect for you guys and for this piece! It’s not expensive either. Can’t wait to see the finished product!

    Reply

  15. Aimée says

    Mia looks lovely – what a find!
    If I lived anywhere near you I’d be heading over immediately to check out the unit Mia was standing on…from the corner we can see in the picture he looks pretty interesting too!

    Reply

  16. caitlin says

    1. i love cougar town was on tv in your current photo!

    2. how do you secure your tv to the wall when it is on a stand? i want to secure ours to the wall but haven’t figured out how to do it yet. we don’t have kids but when a few little friends come for visits we want to be as safe as possible! thanks for the tip!

    Reply

  18. Lauren says

    We finally just bought a new media console (and upgraded our TV while we were at it). It unfortunately cost way more than $59, but it looks like something you would find in Pottery Barn but for a fraction of the cost, so I’m going to pretend it’s a deal :)

    Can’t wait to see how you modify the console to house a DVD player, etc!

    Reply

  20. Shirley says

    Cant wait to see it painted or stained! Love the legs. Have been searching for something similar for ages, and nothing less than $100. :( Planned on going to thrift store today, and maybe check out some floor models at C&B (they had amazing deals last year, my friend scored a dining table at 80% off!)

    Reply

  24. Darnetha says

    I usually run in a store while Dr.J and the kids stay in the car and complain about me going in yet another store! Love them! You guys find such great stuff, in my area you don’t find things like that and if you do it is way over priced. I think the thrift stores around here read blogs and are upping their prices. Conspiracy theory!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I definitely have noticed some prices that creep up, but it seems like sometimes they overlook the awesomeness of something sometimes (or it’s damaged, like with wobbly legs) so you can still get a deal.

      xo
      s

  25. The Girl @ POS says

    Great find! I am a serial furniture refinisher (it is addicting!) and I find all of my pieces at garage sales, Craigslist, thrift stores, my local ReStore, etc. It is nice to know that other people name their furniture too ;) Can’t wait to see Mia a/k/a M.I.A. in action!

    Reply

  29. Christina @ Homemade Ocean says

    Oh la la….what a steal!!!

    I love love love that you guys do stuff as a family all the time. People always laugh at Tim and I because we go grocery shopping together. Can we help it if we actually enjoy being around each other?

    Do you think being a one car family has aided in the whole “let’s take family trips to the store” thing. Or am I totally wrong and you all never go anywhere together and this was just a fluke ;)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, I think the one car thing has a lot to do with it. Sometimes John runs out for small errands, sometimes he takes Clara with him to entertain her, and sometimes we all go, like on thrifting expeditions! We grocery shop together around 50% of the time too! It’s a family affair. Haha.

      xo
      s

  30. Casey @ Waffling says

    I see you commented that you put in “Wife” for emergencies…but I also read somewhere that it is not a good practice. If someone robbed john of his cell and wallet, the thief could text you saying he forgot his PIN number. You, thinking it was John, would text it back!!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Ooh good tip. I think if John texted me for his pin number I’d write ??? back because I don’t know it! Haha. But great reminder not to text sensitive info back and forth anyway.

      xo
      s

  33. Jenn says

    Nice find! It terms of refinishing (if needed) it would look awesome with some color block action. Drawers one color, cabinet another. Can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!

    Also, depending on the type of remote you have (we have RF – radio frequency), you wouldn’t have to modify the drawers at all to accomodate the components. It would work through the drawer fronts.

    Reply

  35. erin says

    OMG I pretty much bought the SAME dresser this weekend at Goodwill and was going to revive it replace my current dresser. BUT, you have inspired me to use it under my tv since mine is also currently residing on a tiny baby stand. Seriously. Tiny. Baby. This is why I love you guys! Also, I love the book!!

    Reply

  37. Kelly M says

    Oh I so wish our thrift stores had stuff like that at a reasonable price. That would be $200 at our Sally Ann, no joke. Nice score on yours though, I bet it’s going to look super duper fantastic.

    Reply

  39. Lacey says

    Was going to comment on the Wife-Sherry thing too, but looks like about 30 people beat me to the punch! I think this is an example of what you posted last week on how having fun/keeping it personal, etc. is clearly popular with us since you often get more comments on that stuff than the design content! Seriously awesome design content though- posts like these make me so hopeful I’ll find my own Mia! :)

    Reply

  40. Amber says

    Nice find! Where I am, most of the thrift or second hand stores put ridiculous prices on their used furniture, like $125 for a tiny end table. A lot of the local craigslist prices make me laugh too. This week I was hunting for a 24″-30″ bathroom vanity that wouldn’t break the bank and wasn’t made of particle board and even looked for small dressers that might fit the size. After about 6 different stores, I came up empty, but surprise surprise, the local mill store actually had a solid maple vanity with decorative feet for $200. And I mean all solid maple, no plywood. Now I just have to stain and poly it. By the way, the cabinet companies wanted anywhere from $400-800 for the same size vanity with a 6 week wait. Mill store had theirs in stock. A little hunting does a lot of good! (:

    Reply

  41. DawnSC says

    Great find, can’t wait to see it finished! I have my husband in as ICE Husband too. :) We don’t name furniture but we name other random objects, although not usually due to typos (e.g., Energetic Susan replaced Lazy Susan – poor Susan, why does she have a bad reputation?). Our latest name = pacifiers are now named “Clays” or “Hanks” in our house. I was reading a book that mentioned Henry Clay was known as The Great Pacificator. Perfect timing as we’re trying to get our 16 mos old son off his pacifiers and he already recognizes any variation of pacifier, paci, etc. if we’re asking the other person to take it from him. It’s just a bonus that we can confuse other people. :)

    Reply

  43. Meg says

    LOVE this. Love the MCM-ness and YHL-ness of it. Can’t wait to see where it ends up.

    Excited to see you guys at BookPeople tomorrow night. Especially excited to see Sherry’s new bangs! :)

    Reply

  44. Casey says

    OMG

    You’re lucky you went to Diversity before me. I’ve been on the hunt for something EXACTLY like that for months! MONTHS I tell you! Definitely would have snatched that up reeeeeeal quick if I had seen it. I was just in there yesterday. Phooey.

    Reply

  45. Debbie says

    Hi..love the console but….just be careful it is not top heavy…young children can climb up these tv stands, using the drawers as “steps”, and the tvs ( and consoles) fall over and children have been hurt. There is a strap that attaches to the tv and console…love your blog!

    Reply

  46. Kate Bateman says

    So this post has absolutely nothing to do with Mia but I did want to let you guys know that when you’re in Austin, you must absolutely eat at Torchy’s Tacos. Get the queso and and a couple tacos each (they’re all good) and you won’t regret it. Oh and we’re excited to see y’all tomorrow!

    Reply

  47. Maria says

    I have a similar dresser that I got for free months ago,I was thinking about cutting the legs and making it a bench for my bedroom but you just gave me the idea to use it as a tv console since I’ve been thinking about moving the tv from above the fireplace…

    Reply

  50. K Pup says

    Secret leg screwing and bangs… (snort). You guys are quite edgy today. Oh well… Monday needs a few chuckles.

    If it weren’t for the existing Ed in your house (the bed), you could name the TV Ed. Then when the Ed and Mia are united, they would become M.ED.IA. Get it?!?

    On a serious note, we have a tiny RF sensor that sits under the TV and repeats signals from all remotes into our solid drawered and doored TV console. It works awesome!

    Reply

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