Jefferson Swivel and Secretary

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Flat Screen TV Cabinet


 After over a month of working on this "beast", I finally wrapped it up today. The finish alone took a week to apply and get to what I think, is a pretty realistic looking primitive finish. I made this piece for a client to house a large 55" flat screen and the components that go with it.  It's made in two pieces, the wood is poplar and and has bi-folding upper doors.


                                               
With the doors open you can see how much room is saved by the bi-fold doors. The doors are over 25" wide and would take up a lot of room when swung open if made into a full door. The color on the interior is a mixture of Butternut Squash, Black, Cream, with a touch of Mustard. Once the mixture is applied it looks horrible, not something you want happening on such a large piece. When the paint dried it gave a dirty brownish, black color that "resembles" old wood left to age. The results I am fairly happy with although I will continue trying different variations till I get the inside to look like the grungy brown, black color you see on most primitive interior cabinets.



This shows a close up of the door joinery. I used through mortise and tenons and put riven pins on a diagonal. This piece has fairly heavy doors and I wanted there to be no issue with sag. This method should help keep it as square as possible.



The color chosen, was a 3 color milk paint finish, or as I call it, my "Time Worn Finish". Black was the first coat, then a mixture of Butternut Squash, Yellow Ochre and Black to get the "pumkin'y brown" color you see, followed by a turquoise and white mixture. I put on one coat of oil/varnish to give some protection but not do away with the "dry paint" look and feel. I did the aging with scrapers, sandpaper, and a ton of elbow grease. It's not everyones preference, but for the primitive antique'r, it gives you a way to have a large flat screen TV in a cabinet that fits the TV, and still get a worn primitive look, kind of a 17th century meets the 21st century, cabinet.  It can be made out of any wood for a more formal look if needed.
The finshed cabinet in it's home.  

14 comments:

  1. Any plans in the new year to do a blog on a little more detail of how you did the finish? My first look I thought it was an antique till I read the blog.
    ralph

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  2. WOW seen lots of so called distressed or antiqued finishes, but this is really very well done. Bravo, very convincing. It really look like a real antique.

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  3. Ralph,
    Thank for the comment. I've been kicking around the idea for a while now of doing a 30 min to hour long video on doing a paint finish like the one above. The only problem is finding the time and making a piece to demo the techniques on. You never know what the New Year will bring though!

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  4. Thanks Bob,
    I really appreciate the comment. It's not easy to achieve something that looks right and not over/under done. I'm glad someone thinks it looks convincing and real. Now if the client does I'll be happy!

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  5. Nicely done, Matt! You turned an old cabinet into a great piece of furniture! It is the perfect TV cabinet to hold your flat. Where did you place this, by the way? If you have a home theater, you can place this there, and design the room to have a somewhat vintage theme. How about that?

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    Replies
    1. Jessie, I built this whole cabinet from lumber, it's NOT an old cabinet that I just repainted. It went to a customers house and houses their 55" flat screen. It was built specifcally for their TV. I made all the parts myself.

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  6. Matt, I live in Avon Ohio, and have a need for either a cabinet such as the one you built or a wall hung cupboard to hide a 40" flat screen in a bedroom, rest of furniture is american country primitive. How much would you charge for a similar but smaller cabinet?and how long would it take?

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    Replies
    1. Karin,

      Email me pinehillprimitives@yahoo.com the overall width and height of your T.V. so I can give you an estimate!

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    2. Karin,

      Email me pinehillprimitives@yahoo.com the overall width and height of your T.V. so I can give you an estimate!

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  7. Hello, I came across your page via Pinterest. Do you share your plans for this cabinet?

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  8. I want to change my older tv cabinets. I search an agency for make my home furniture. Share your plan please.

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  9. There arent plans for this! It was custom built to a customers needs!

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  10. Hi! Wow, this looks amazing! Could you let me know how much to make one of these but just stained with a warm walnut stain? My husband won't budge on tv size and I can't find a way to hide it anywhere!

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