Tube TV turned bookshelves

This year will be the year of finishing projects.  I have so many half-projects or even ideas floating through my head, and it's time to complete them.  Of course, this will be the perfect place to record these projects.  

My project that has probably lasted the longest (almost 8 months) is the tube TV turned bookshelves.  Ever since I was a tween (forever ago) I would watch Caroline in the City.  Anyone else remember that show??  Anyways, she had an old TV turned fish tank and from that moment on I knew that I would do some kind of project involving some of those components.  

In June 2015 (remember, I started 8 months ago), our church has a huge garage sale.  I saw this beauty for sale.  I totally took a gamble and DIDN'T buy it.  First, because I was cheap, second, because I was cheap.  Well lucky me, a few days later the garage sale was done and it was sadly sitting by the garbage bin waiting to be thrown away.  I got some tools and another handy person, and removed the gut of the TV.  Let me tell you, the project almost came to a halt when I found a live cockroach crawling on the inside.  I was about to scrap the whole idea, that's how much I hate those bugs.   

Picture #1:  June 2015.  TV is tubeless and ready to be carted home. 

 Picture #2:  Phase 2: The Shelves.  I have a handy friend who helped me out with the shelf building, probably on the promise of chocolate chip cookies that I never made.  This phase was completed in August of 2015...and then a lot of time passed.

Phase 3: The paint!  After a few weeks I finally got around to painting the shelves.  I painted the outside with white chalk paint generously given to me no charge by my sister who had some left over from a previous project.  I painted the inside shelves "Pure Silver".  It is actually our bathroom color, left over from that project.  Remember, I am cheap :).

Finished the paint in October 2015

 Original knobs glued and screwed in.

 Phase 4:  Finally convincing Greg to let me put it in the house!  After much discussion and garage cleaning, I finally brought it in to the house in January 2016

I ended up putting my mixer on top and stacking all my cookbooks underneath.  I thought it fit perfect under a little gallery of pictures we've collected over the years.  

Shortly after placing it in the kitchen, we ended up getting a new kitchen table that was MUCH larger than the old one.  The TV shelves no longer fit. :(  It is shortly going to a new home, a friend who will be using it as a night stand/bookshelves.  Nice to know that it will be going to a good home where it will be well taken care of .