The April Blake

A Midcentury Modern Record Cabinet for the Living Room

Our main living area where the TV is and where we enter and exit the house daily has this awful orangey knotty pine that was original to the house. I hate the color. Patrick loves it. And because the thought of painting every little tongue and groove makes my eye twitch, we live with it, so I decided to fully embrace the midcentury modernness of it in other aspects of decorating the room without going overboard into full on kitsch. I'm all about respecting the bones of a house but I am not down with olive green shag carpet!

One of the things I love about MCM furniture is the legs, which I grew to appreciate once we got a Roomba. Yes, that's really how it started. The stupid robot would get stuck under traditional furniture with lower lines. To get the living room a little more MCM and a little less "I bought this stuff randomly" I decided it was time to get rid of the side table I had beside my beloved recliner, but was being very picky. As in, I kept measurements for the size table I wanted on the Notes app of my phone picky. I came across this gem at the Old Mill Antique Mall and took this photo.

mid century modern record cabinet before

I went back to visit it two more times, and the third time it was on sale for 20% off! It made the price more in my range so I had the nice guys there load 'er up (uh, along with another table and this really awesome framed map of the Cayce Avenues. Definitely didn't plan to spend $160 that day but what ya gonna do?

Because the outside of this table isn't real wood, it's veneer, I didn't want to deal with any sanding and went with chalk paint. I painted my other table with it first, and used the wax and did not like how it turned out so this one remained wax free. It took several coats and about two weeks worth of intermittent painting to get it complete. How do ya'll feel about chalk paint? I don't think I'd use it again honestly. But it did the job for this little record cabinet.

The inside still has dividers to keep records neat. I'm using it to keep my wine, Gameboy, pet supplies, and crochet tools separated.

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