Using What You Have - Transforming an Entertainment Center

I know that I'm not the only one out there with an entertainment center that fits the big tube televisions of the past.  You know the ones with the doors to "hide" the television.  

I looked into purchasing a new entertainment center...one specifically made to house a large flat screen television.  For starters, a new entertainment center is thousands of dollars.  Also, most of the ones I looked at would be wider than the space I have available, since it's the center unit that is wider to fit huge flat screen televisions.  Another factor I considered is, I have a two story family room so I feel I need the height of an entertainment center rather than just a console for a television.  Most importantly, the truth is, I still like my entertainment center.  What I didn't like is it not being able to fit a large enough flat screen in the wall unit.  

We had put a small flat screen into the unit a few years ago, but with the doors on, it only allowed a 36" television set.  After inspecting the unit carefully, and measuring and remeasuring, I decided I could remove the doors and upgrade to a 48" television, plenty big for the room.

First I removed the mechanism that moved the door.

However this left an unfinished piece of wood on either side.  It was screwed and glued down, so I didn't want to rip it off and cause damage to the unit.

Instead, I stained it.  Once I realized that I had stain that matched very well, I removed all of the other hardware and stained the wood below.

Tough to get a good photo of the wall unit without glare off the glass doors and television, but here is the new wall unit. You would never know that it once had doors.

This whole project cost nothing since we bought the television with anniversary gift money from my mother in law and all the stain and any other supplies we had in the house already.  That's what I call a perfect project.  

Have a great day.

-Judy