Thursday, January 15, 2009

The good, the bad, and the ugly....

The Good:


A teaser of what the top of the TV looks like now....


A basket of 'faux' flowers (gotta love Home Goods!) and two stone birds that I brought in from my garden. (Can you tell I'm desperately trying for a garden theme to get me through the rest of the cold New England winter?)

The Bad:


What the top of the TV used to look like.... cable box, VCR, and speaker... bad, bad, bad....

The Ugly:


Elephant #1 (from previous post), in all its glory...

Back in November, we (I) decided to spiff up the monster TV and all the electronics that go along with it. These old TV's are not attractive - they have a very narrow 'shelf' top, but as you can see from the side view, they become quite large about half way down... It just doesn't make for a pretty silhouette...

So we (I) decided to attach a larger 'shelf' to the top of the TV (part of my plan to conceal the ugly silhouette). We (hubby) measured and cut a piece of plywood to fit the top of the TV...


Now we needed a way to attach it to the TV... Industrial strengh Velcro to the rescue!


We used the whole package and just kept placing strips on the top of the TV, with the interlocking strips on the bottom of the plywood shelf.


Since the back of the TV had two small flat surfaces (visible if you enlarge the photo), dowels were screwed into the shelf and now rest on those two surfaces for additional support.


The next step was to paint the front lip of the plywood shelf... I thought I'd just have to paint the front strip, but you could see a bit of bare wood on the bottom sie of the shelf between it and the TV, so we carefully removed the shelf (thank goodness all the Velcro strips hadn't been applied to the bottom of the shelf at this point)....


... and I painted a few inches of black on both the bottom and top of the shelf. (I didn't paint the entire shelf because I had plans to cover it.)

Now it's still a big old elephant (there's no disguising that), but it looks a heck of a sight better than it did before. I'll show you the finished project tomorrow.


Donna

14 comments:

ksarra said...

Can't wait to see the finished project!

Anonymous said...

What a tease....LOL!
I didn't know there was such a thing as industrial strength velcro!

Kathleen said...

What a great solution to the problem! Now, how to disguise the cat box? Any tips? Can't wait to see the finished look to your shelf. Stay warm, it's a cold one today! Hugs

Connie said...

You're ingenuous, my little cherub! That idea can be used on a lot of things we want to "fix" also. Looking forward to the finished project. It's giving me ideassssssss.....LOL
Smooches,
Connie

Pink Slippers said...

I bought some Airwick Lavender smelling plug ins to get me to Spring. You are very creative. I love your two birdies too.

tam said...

Great idea Donna! Can't wait to see the finished project! Have a nice day! ~Tam:D

Maryjane-The Beehive Cottage said...

Very CLEVER! Looking forward to seeing it!!!! Have a wondeful weekend!

Hugs,
Maryjane

Nola said...

Aren't you and hubby too clever??? I can't wait to see the photo of the "after". And who knew there was industrial strength Velcro? Live and learn.

Unknown said...

Donna, I love your copyright notice about the "ramblings" - so cute. good luck with your very ambitious beautification project!

Anonymous said...

I love your Pretend Lavender :) and your solution to the TV!! I don't know what I would do without: duct tape, glue gun, wire and Velcro!!! I've rigged up a lot of things over the years with those items in my "tool box of tricks"!

Stay warm--it was -1 in Independence, MO this a.m.--brrrrrr. Dana

Joanne Kennedy said...

You come up with the best ideas! Your mind must be going all the time.

We had a tv like that. So I know what you are talking about. It's nice to watch movies on but a pain to try to get it to blend in. We finally got a new TV. At first we were going to hang it on the wall but then we decided to put it on a stand. I think it's still ugly but what can you do? I love watching tv in HD.

Hugs,
Joanne

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

What a great idea! But you have really turned into a tease! I use industrial strength velcro frenquently. Love it. laurie

Rechelle ~Walnuthaven Cottage~ said...

OMGOSH DONNA! No Way! I am currently working on improving our "whale" (52" bigscreen). How funny that we're doing it at the same time. I'll post pics when I'm done. Can't wait to see how your's comes out!

Cindy said...

I will have to email you photos of the disguise we did to hide my husbands huge ugly TV. It looks great now.
Cindy