New Entertainment Center

Our poor entertainment center had taken a beating since Autumn went to town on it. It was really a china cabinet I converted into an entertainment center for $40 off Craigslist. It didn't have any holes for coords and it wasn't deep enough for our receiver so we removed the back - originally we'd planned to make a cut out, but that never happened. It made it pretty unstable, but good enough.

Well, then Autumn broke 2 of the 4 doors within a 2 month period. It was really starting to look rough. No back, 2 missing doors, and I'm sure the next 2 doors were only a matter of time. It freaked me out every time Autumn got near it that she would either fall head first into the glass or the TV would come tumbling down on her because the unit was so unstable.

With all my extra photography money I was going back and forth between splurging on a glass storm door or a bedroom dresser. Both had pros and cons - so much so that I decided what we really needed to splurge was a new entertainment center.

What's a girl to do?

CRAIGSLIST.

Now, you may recognize this unit - it's the exact same one in my mom's family room! It's so funny because just the day before I purchased it I had asked my mom where she'd gotten it and for how much - 4-5 times out of our price range! I was AMAZED when I found it on Craigslist and in EXCELLENT shape. I was able to talk the seller down to $275 (for a $600-$800 Havertys Entertainment Center) and we picked it up tonight!

BEFORE

This was taken as we were still moving in. Notice the receiver sticking out on the right side? This was before we removed the backing to make room for it.

This was it tonight before we pulled everything out of it. Autumn took out the two doors on the right. She also constantly pushed the shelves back to where they would fall and everything would crash off - such as the PS3 and Wii. Our other "babies". The unit was crazy wobbly and look at all the cords in the back. Too much clutter!

Here she is in action a few months ago... it also bothered me that there weren't more shelves. Notice the big gap between the DVR and the top of the unit?

AFTER

Yay! It's not quite as warm as it appear in the picture - it's almost a cherry/deep brown. But no more cords, it's REAL WOOD, and keeps everything out of sight from a certain one year old. It is a bit deeper (but fits the receiver!) so it will take some getting used to. If we didn't have the ottoman it wouldn't seem so cramped, but it also serves as Autumn's toybox and my footrest so for now, it stays!

It took me almost 2 hours to get everything connected again. Computer nerds - what do you expect? What you see:

• Nintendo Wii
• Super Nintendo
• Verizon DVR
• Sony Playstation 3
• Harman Kardon Receiver
• Bose 5.1 Surround Sound
• GameStop Input Selector
• NCIS Awesomeness

That equals A LOT of cords. I managed to keep it all straight and we got everything hooked up! It's beautiful... I love organization!

I hope Autumn will understand that her favorite toy/punching bag will need to be put out to the trash on Friday...