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Hi.

Welcome to The Whimsical Wife. Thanks for popping in to share my adventures in the kitchen, in my home and my workshop as I Cook, Create & Decorate. 

My French Provincial TV Unit





I have been looking for a French Provincial style TV unit for a while. Like nearly a year. Do you think I could find one that wasn't above $500? Nope, it was impossible. I fell in love with this TV unit at Everyday Living but it was about $550, and my budget was about $350 so it was out of the question.

 I scoured eBay like nothing else, looked at garage sales and in every furniture store that Toowoomba had to offer. Most stores didn't have anything in the style I wanted, or if they did, the units were outrageously expensive. One place wanted $1200 for a French Style TV Unit! I even looked at getting one made, but it was more expensive than the Everyday Living one.

 

 Then I stumbled across this unit at Loot (Excuse the photo it was from my phone). Ok, stay with me here! I know it is nothing like the picture above, but I had a vision of what I could do to it to make it into what I want. It was in the markdown corner from $600 to $350 it screamed PICK ME! It had the shape and features of a nice provincial unit, but the colour was a problem along with a few other things!



 Like this crack which was one of two that the top of the unit had. That is why it was in markdown corner. So first I had to convince hubby that this was worth buying and doing up, which I succeeded doing! I also cajoled the shop assistant to drop the price a bit more, and I ended up getting it for $300. So one afternoon we were proud owners of a beat up brand new TV unit that was nothing like we wanted! Ha.

  And I waved a magic wand, and it turned into this....... if only!


 More like a lick of paint, glue, re-sand, re-stain and wax this is what it looks like now. I won't say it was all roses along the way fixing this piece up. No there was a "major" hiccup with the top of the unit. Hubby had pulled the cracked top off, glued and braced it together. After a week of drying, he removed the braces, and it looked as good as new. I had finished painting the unit so we only had to put the top back on and voila we were done! I thought I wouldn't have to touch the top now so we proceeded to hammer the top back on..... and then a nail poked straight through the top splintering wood everywhere, hmmm oh well that's ok we can deal with that.... then another one split through! By the time we finished getting the top back on I think 5 - 6 nails had splintered their way through to the top!


 It looked an absolute mess. I was devastated. I thought it was ruined, and there was nothing we could do to fix it. But hubby was positive it could be fixed, and I left him to fix it cos I couldn't deal with it. He glued the splintered pieces down and left them to dry for a week and sanded the whole top down and he was right it was fixable. I re-stained and waxed the top after I got my head together again and I have to say it come up pretty good. As you can see in the photo's above you can see where the nail splintered through but I like how it looked... rustic and beaten up a bit!



 So I ended up getting my French Provincial TV Unit for half price... but with a little bit, extra work and effort were thrown in for good measure! But isn't that life... with it's ups and downs!

If you want to learn more how to re-stain a cabinet top come and check out the tutorial I did on creating a French Country Hall Table here.




 What drama's, have you had with renovations or furniture buying?


I've had a few emails regarding paint and stain colours. So here is the details below:

Paint Colour: Dulux Natural White in matte acrylic.
Stain Colour: Cabot's Interior Water Based Stain in Cedar.

Feature Friday... Sweet Silver & Giveaway

Tasty Tuesday.... Moroccan Quinoa Cakes