Materials: 2 Expedit Shelving Unit 5x1
Description: I had two brown 5x1 Expedit Shelving units. I painted them white. Took out 2 shelves from each unit. I turned them horizontal and laid them flat on top of each other. I went to Home Depot and had a piece of MDF cut to size, which I stenciled and drilled holes in (for hiding av cables). I attached this to the back and voila! For added classiness... I installed IKEA under-cabinet lights on some of the shelves.
~ Sarah Quickel, washington DC
Sarah, wondering what you used to paint them? Thanks
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs. Hardaker,
DeleteI sanded the bookshelves, then put a couple layers of Primer on it. The Primer I used was Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer. Then painted over them with White Behr paint. I was told that primer adheres to all surfaces, including the material IKEA uses.
i love the backing! nicely done!
ReplyDeleteThe woman on the telly can't believe you built such awesome TV stand! XD
ReplyDeleteLol!!
DeleteI know Sarah personally and I think she did a great job!! It looks great. The transformation that she did with both the bookcases and the room is amazing!!
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing! Everything in our apartment is from IKEA. We need a new TV stand and were looking for ideas and we've now decided on doing this. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what to do with IR receivers? They're about the size of a small box of matches, and we have three of them, and they're so ugly sitting out there on top of the TV stand on their own.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I absolutely love how it turned out. For your IR Receivers, maybe sticking them under the top of the tv stand could work? Like I did with the lights.. Or maybe... if you were to put feet on the stand (I originally planned to do that.. but it ended up feeling too tall) you could attach them to the bottom. Hope you find a solution! Good luck with your project :)
Deleteyour TV is too small! Just kidding, love the hack my talented sista!
ReplyDeleteWow. This is a dream of a tv stand. Incredibly clean work. Love the design and the lights
ReplyDeleteI just did the exact same setup, though I have yet to put a backing on it or the lighting. Both of these are things I plan to do. Also, I bought the white shelves, so there was no sanding/repainting. I think to hold the two together, I'm going to drill some holes on the end units and use some of the leftover dowel rods that hold the shelves in place.
ReplyDeleteAs of last weekend I attached a backing, but still haven't painted it yet. I'm still very indecisive on the color.
DeleteI also took four of the extra wooden pins used to hold in the shelves and drilled holes (7/64") in the end pieces for each of the shelves, so I could stick them together. If you put a little bit of wood glue on one side of the pin so that it sticks in place, and wait 30 minutes, it won't move when you put the second one on top of it. This keeps the top one from sliding at all if/when you bump/lean into it. It worked great! I still need/want to put in the lighting as well though.
Thank you for the great inspiration from your post; I got so many compliments on it at my early-Thanksgiving party!
Hi there, what size is the tv please - great job by the way.
ReplyDeleteHello and thanks! The TV is 55"
DeleteAwesome job - I think I will be stealing the look this weekend!
ReplyDeleteHow is the height? I want to try this out, but I'm afraid it might be too high for a small apartment. My couch is pretty close to the wall as it is.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a link to the IKEA under cabinet lighting? I can't find it anywhere on the site.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I used
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00119424/
I know wish I had gone with the ones that do different colors
Great idea. You mention putting in holes in the back to hide AV cables. How were you able to hide the cables from the TV?
ReplyDeleteI was able to run the cables from the tv down the center of the metal stand until it hit the behind the cabinet.
DeleteThis is Great!
ReplyDeleteIm going to use this set up, but i'm going to make it 10x2 to have added length.
I will also use additional book shelves vertically on both sides for storage of DVDs and additional consoles.
Thanks for the ideas!
Thanks Sara for info on lights. Any chance of updating your post or describing how to go about the stenciling? I've never done and have no idea of what to look out for or what products to buy. Any advise would be great.
ReplyDelete