Half Finished Project #1: Well Hung

Remember when I used to DIY stuff all the time? I was a drill wielding, paint brush handling, hammer hammering... (what? I have no idea what I'm talking about...) DIYing guru and if you only read this blog (which you do) you'd think all of that had stopped. But au contraire mes amis! I actually have a few things in the works! The only trouble is that they are taking longer than anticipated to complete so I haven't blogged about them yet.

In the interest of full disclosure (and having something to blog about...) I'm sharing the half-completed things I've got going on around the house. Here's project number one...

If you follow me on pinterest you may have noticed that I've pinned a few fauxdenzas. If you don't follow me on pinterest (you should! tsk tsk...) and you have no idea what a fauxdenza is, a fauxdenza is a fake credenza. They look like this:

via

via

All you need to make a fauxdenza are a few Ikea kitchen cabinets and some plywood, then, Wally!, awesome fauzdenza-y goodness.

For our house, I thought that a fauxdenza would be a perfect replacement for our TV stand. I think it's clear from the old photo below that it was never a contender to stay. The old stand was too small for the TV, it's ugly, and you can't tell from the photo, but it's not standing the test of time very well either. It's starting to fall apart.

In order to use a fauxdenza in place of the entertainment unit, we had to mount that giant TV to the wall because the TV base is actually deeper than the Ikea cabinets that I bought. The Ikea cabinets are 12" deep and the base that the TV sits on is a few inches wider, which would never work.

So, the first step was to hang the TV to the wall.

...Actually, the first step was to decide to move the TV to the other end of the room, so the real first step was to buy a super long cable cord to go around the room (don't worry, it'll be hidden once I get base molding on the walls). Then we bought this mountfrom Amazon (thank you Amazon Prime!) and then we mounted the TV to the wall.

It takes a lot of steps to actually get to the first step.

The idea of mounting the TV to the wall was scary. It's not easy to let something you've spent so much money on just hang in the air... but it worked! We did it all by ourselves and the TV feels really secure. I may have even knocked the TV once by accident - which may have almost given me a heart attack for fear that it would plummet to the ground - but the TV didn't budge a bit. It's there to stay.

Then came time to install the fauxdenza. Oh happy day.

After going to Ikea - and getting a stern look from the Ikea guy about how "they don't recommend these cabinets for anything except the kitchen" (to which I say pssssssssht! those Ikea guys are so by the book...) - I bought three AKURUM cabinets, and doors for each. And handles. And hinges. And those little things that keep the doors from slamming closed. And rails to hang the cabinets from on the wall. It's amazing how this stuff adds up when you're buying it...

Anyway, I toted my haul home and was happy until I realized that three cabinets would really be one too few for this wall. It's a big wall and a big TV, and three cabinets would look small and weird. Four cabinets is the number I need.

Don't stress about the wires, they'll be hidden when the fauxdenza is complete.

In the end, I've hung what I can for now, leaving a space for the final cabinet once I can make it out to Ikea again to buy another one.

And that's how this project remains half finished for now.

Anyone else have a half-finished project they have to wait to complete?