When Amy and Parke Young purchased the classically-styled, fruitwood entertainment center from Breuner’s in 1999, it was probably one of the biggest purchases they had made as a couple. But when a flat screen TV arrived last year for the living room wall, the entertainment center seemed almost obsolete.

“I loved the glass bookcases and the central armoire, so what was I going to do with it?” said Amy, who lives near San Jose’s Municipal Rose Garden. “I wasn’t going to throw it away.”

With Super Bowl Sunday coming up Feb. 1, and analog TVs on their way out two weeks later, many families with new TVs have been facing the same dilemma. Amy Young came up with an idea: repurpose the entertainment center as a living room bar, replete with liquor bottles, stemware and ice buckets. Not only did it free up cabinet space in their small kitchen, but it encouraged her guests to leave the crowded kitchen and circulate in the living room.

Here’s how she did it:
1. Assembled four men to remove the old TV.
2. Laid granite tiles left over from a bathroom project on the floor of the main shelf to catch drippage and add a luxury “counter top” look.
3. Lined the back wall with fabric.
4. Leaned a large, framed mirror on the back wall.
5. Screwed in hanging rack on the bottom of the upper VCR shelf, hung upside-down stemware below and placed ice buckets and her aunt’s 1960s highball glasses above.
6. Added plastic risers from The Container Store, often used in kitchen cabinets, to elevate liquor bottles for better access and viewing.
7. Added small lamp to illuminate cabinet as well as add style.

“It was a pretty easy ‘do-it-yourself’ project,” Amy said. “I was in there with the screwdriver — Parke was laughing at me the whole time — but it turned out just fine.”

There are still signs of the original use of the armoire. The lower cabinet is filled with her sons’ DVDs. But Amy has another idea: She’s looking for a small wine refrigerator that will fit. Then, she said, it will be complete.

Update:

This post is featured in the San Jose Mercury News Home and Garden section here.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 10:15 pm and is filed under Home Decor, Julia, Q & A, Q and A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.