Here's how day 6 went down:
My dad started the morning taking Hallie to school and enjoying "Donuts with Dudes" sponsored by the school. Hallie knew her dad wouldn't be able to go but she was just as excited at the thought of her grandpa taking her. Of course after donuts, she had to show him her classroom, the playground and show him off to all her little friends. Evidently, Grandpas are a novelty. She had one friend that wanted to touch his graying hair because it looked fuzzy. He obliged. Grandpas are the best. Once he got home we went to work.
We started by cutting the backs out of 1/4" MDF for the three units. One was cut the wrong length which left it too short to use. Measure twice, cut once. MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE. Eventually, I think this actually might sink into my little brain, especially after all the seemingly innocent errors which made more work for us. Back to the lumber store.
Once the backs were cut, we started to putty and sand all the doors and drawer fronts and lined them all up to receive their first coat of paint.
My handy dandy sprayer
was a huge timesaver, but I was still dealing with the drying and curing times. There is nothing like watching paint dry. It was painful.
I was still determined to meet my new goal - get the entertainment center into the house. Just before dinner we cleared the wall of the previous furniture.
Just after dinner we had a short window with Steve's help before he ran off to a meeting and we brought each of the three units into the house. We didn't put them in place, but they were in the house, and I wanted to scream with delight from the rooftop.
We made a last minute decision to add a cable box behind the unit (we don't currently have cable but didn't want to limit ourselves in the future) which took some figuring out. At 10:30 the box was finally installed without a cable and Steve said goodnight and left my dad and I with a disaster of a room.
The backs hadn't been installed yet as they were still drying outside, but once they were not tacky - we had them glued and nailed into place.
The minutes seemed to pass by too quickly and every time I looked at the clock it seemed later than I thought. I had to cut a 4"x1" slot using the jigsaw where the tv sat and through the shelf below it for the wires to pass through to the electrical outlet and it just about killed me. We had spent so much time on it and now I was cutting a hole in it?! I just prayed I wouldn't screw anything up and prayers were answered.
We shuffled units around and started to get them in their place. It was past midnight and we were both exhausted but there was no way we were stopping (okay...maybe my dad would've stopped but I was determined.) The large unit, probably 500+ pounds, was a little difficult to maneuver and I'm not sure I pulled a whole lot of weight. But we shimmied and slid and pushed until it sat where it needed to be and we counted our lucky stars when the holes in the back of the unit matched up with the electrical box on the wall.
There were tools and nails and hammers strewn across the living room and I made quick work to gather everything that would be potentially dangerous to my kids the next morning. I wanted Steve to walk out the next morning seeing it for the first time in its place with a clean room surrounding it and just after 1 o'clock it looked like this.
I just about cried tears of joy as I shut off the light and walked to my room. We didn't reach my original goal, but we met the modified goal and I couldn't have been more grateful.
DIY Entertainment Center - Day 1
DIY Entertainment Center - Day 2
DIY Entertainment Center - Day 3
DIY Entertainment Center - Day 4
DIY Entertainment Center - Day 5
DIY Entertainment Center - Day 6
It already looks amazing and it's not even finished!!
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