Thursday, August 2, 2012

DIY modern rustic living room make-over

Hi folks, I am so excited to post this update! So excited that hey, there are a few things in here that aren't perfect, but I am not waiting for perfect - so let's show you what we've done!!

When I revealed the rustic wall hanging from this post, I was waiting for something to be done before I would show the wide view of the hanging on our wall..

Well my friends, it has now been done!

A while back I needed a spare TV for the kids to watch their DVD's on, so I bought one on trade me. It was $1 and even came with a TV stand. I wasn't fussed on the TV stand at first but then we got an idea.... Here is our TV (not the $1 one!!) on the stand below, before we gave it a make over. It is flimsy mdf wood on a steel frame. You can even see the MDF buckling under the weight of the entertainment unit and Tivo. This is the best & only before picture I have so sorry for the poor quality.....

So, what we decided to do with the unit was simply strip off the MDF and replace it with recycled tawa (NZ native) tongue and groove, reclaimed from a demolished villa.

Here's how it turned out...


I just LOVE it! The wood is imperfect and you can tell it has had a previous life, and the smooth lines give the unit a contemporary look. Here's a closer look....

Oh and yes it ties in with the rustic wall hanging quite nicely!

The coffe table is made up of two boxes that the hubs made out of an old pallet and then there are two tongue and groove panels on top that you can push together to make one large lid. This table suits us to the 'T' as we can put quite a lot of stuff inside the boxes, and the lids can get scratched up and ruined and we will  not mind one bit. Rustic is a good look for a young family as all of the knocks and bumps just add to the piece. I had a wee go at painting on one of the lids but then decided it didn't really suit it, although I haven't gotten around to sanding / wiping it off yet.. it might grow on me??


So that is where we are at with our living room for now... I am missing something in the corner to the left of the TV.... and I have not yet decided what I want to go there, so there's something fun to think about!

I am well behind on posting our projects due to a very busy week and the man of the house turning 30! Happy Birthday Hubs! So there will be a few more awesome projecty posts coming out of the mill this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Alex & Sunny

UPDATE....

It's Saturday and I have been busy filling that gap in the corner. I have added a small table and some old windows that are just waiting to be used for another project. I have also added a huge piece of charcoal carpet to act as a rug. Now it looks a little bit more 'finished'.

Here's the photo bomb!















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23 comments:

  1. Love it, it looks warm and inviting! The love art is really sweet

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    1. Thanks Sarah :-) I made that and it was so easy! I think I will make another one soon so I can do a tutorial - thanks for stopping by :-)
      Alex

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  2. I'm loving all the rustic wood!

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  3. Hi Alex, so glad you came by, and thank you for the sweet comment! Doesn't it feel great to find a solution for a "need"? Love your room, you know my favorite thing?...the LOVE sign in the corner, what a great piece! thanks for coming to the party, hope you'll be a regular!

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    1. Thanks so much Debra - I think I will definitely be a regular :-) I might just have to do a tutorial on that Love sign as it was so simple to make :-)

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  4. I like your table/ storage cubes for a coffee table! neat idea. I think it is great that you used pallet wood for your entertainment center. It TRUE...you can't go wrong with pallet wood when you have kids!
    I love the leather couches and all that wood. Your room has a very Modern Rustic Look!
    Pat

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  5. Very nice! Love how you've repurposed!

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  6. It looks beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

    Happy Sharefest!

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  7. Wow! Love what you did with that entertainment unit. Now off to see the rest of your blog. Over from Totes Pinworthy.

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  8. Great room! Saw it on the Totally Pinworthy Linky Party. Had to pin that fabulous table!

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  9. I love everything! I can't pick my favourite piece! The TV cabinet came up great!

    Thanks for linking up to Totally Pinworthy!

    Amy x

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    1. Thanks so much Amy! Hopefully I will be back again soon!!

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  10. Oh my goodness I love your room! That TV console is perfection! I can't believe the difference. Kudos!

    Shared all over the land for SNS 146. :) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151102327071141&set=a.192514281140.164586.175378011140&type=1&theater

    Donna

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    1. Wow Donna, you have made my day! Thank you SO much for the feature - I am thrilled :-)

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  11. Looks great! Thanks for linkin up last week! Hope to see you again this week!
    Kim@Madeinaday

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  12. Thank you so much for joining in with my Say G'day linky party and linking up this great post! Your living room looks fantastic!

    It's so wonderful to meet another Down Under blogger too! I look forward to following your blog.

    Best wishes and happy Wednesday!
    Natasha in Oz

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  13. What a gorgeous makeover! I LOVE all the gorgeous wood. I really love the piece on the wall too! I've got a bunch of fake wood in my house but I would love to fix up some real wood {it's much more beautiful}, I'm just scared to for some reason ;) Thanks so much for sharing at my Throwback Thursday party! I hope to see you again this week :)

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  14. Great job I love that everythings so neat!

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  17. Yikes! Your old window table display is cool....but it is probably TOXIC!! Old windows like those are chipping lead-based paint. Those tiny chips and dust can be ingested by kids, pets, and adults and cause lead poisoning. Lead poisoning is particularly dangerous for kids as their organs are still developing. Irreversible learning disabilities and other neurological and organ damage can result. This is serious business!!!! Most buildings painted prior to 1978 have lead-based paint in them. Your windows look like they have many layers of degrading old paint.

    Here is what you need to do immediately:

    GET RID OF THOSE WINDOWS! Bag up all those windows in large, thick garbage bags and seal them tightly with duct tape. Put them in your household trash.
    Use wet rags and completely clean off the surface of the table and surrounding floor and other furniture to remove all the chips and dust. Test the areas with Wet Wipes until they come up totally clean. Throw those rags away in the same way you did the windows.
    Get everyone in the household blood tested for lead. Your family doctor may need a little proding to do it. We have found that not only the public but health professionals think only low-income housing people are exposed to lead paint. NOT TRUE!!

    OR:
    You can strip the old paint off safely after you get the windows out of the house as described above. To do so, check out the Speedheater Infrared Paint Remover. It creates soft paint and thus little lead dust from scraping. It uses low heat and doesn’t make lead fumes like a heat gun at 1000℉ does.
    Then you can repaint those windows in a funky, colorful way and still have a unique display WHICH IS SAFE FOR YOUR WHOLE HOUSEHOLD.

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  18. Thanks for your comment GreenGirl - sorry I have deleted the other two identical comments - I will look into this - lead paint is something I didn't think of at all.

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