Of Entertainment Walls and Oven Fires
We went to Big Lots yesterday to pick up a new "department store" bookcase for our living room. We were having company that night and I wanted to get things picked up a bit more. We were starting to get a lot of crowding on some of our shelves so I thought some new shelving was in order.
Well, we barely got in the door of the store when Laban spotted the awesome entertainment wall unit I had been drooling over a couple of months ago. We decided to get it, likely against better judgment. But even Laban, who doesn't like me to spend money thought we should do it. Anyone who has been to our house in the last year knows how clunky and awkward the stand we had our TV on was. The really important point here is that this is actually real furniture, not that press board crap. It was part of a Broyhill closeout so we got a really sweet deal.
Bringing everything into the house was a challenge and our old wall unit was of course in our way since we didn't plan on coming home with a new one we hadn't done anything to re-arrange things. This resulted in some creative placement, including the large CD (bookcase style) rack going in front of our bath tub (that was amusing).
While trying to move things in a hurry I forgot to take the plate of bacon out of the oven (bacon left-overs are usually stored in the microwave which is out for repair right now). There wouldn't have been as much of a problem if I hadn't left it on a paper plate that was sitting in a plastic plate holder. It was a lucky thing I noticed there was smoke coming up from the back burner on the stove... I caught it just as the plastic was pooling in the bottom and the plate caught on fire by the time I figured out a way to get it out of the oven.
In the mean time, Laban and Todd (who we had originally invited over for dinner) made several trips to Big Losts to pick up all the pieces of the new entertainment wall. I especially appreciate his being around to help, but I have to wonder what will happen the next time we ask for help in bringing something home. ^_^
The thing was so big that we couldn't even put it all together. Thank God it is modular and made so that you can put it together in many different ways. It has two beautiful curio cabinets, one for each side of the unit and two media towers that are supposed to go on each side of the cabinets. The bottom shelf has 3 cupboards underneath with the middle one having a glass door. The TV shelf runs 60 inches across, so we had more than enough room for our TV and it should fit any TV we ever buy in the future should we ever decide to upgrade to a bigger size (not for a LONG time I hope!). The backdrop that goes above the counter is made of very heavy solid wood and is very lovely. There is also a shelf that goes across the top of that area way above the TV and just above that is a solid top that goes across all the pieces.
The curio cabinets have a large glass door and 3 shelves inside. The bottom shelf is wood and the top two shelves are glass. There is a light in the top and 3 brightness settings for the light. There is also a cupboard at the bottom of the unit with 2 shelves inside. The media towers looks like narrow cabinets with two doors. The taller door has 3 pull out flip racks for DVDs or CDs and the bottom is a small cupboard with 2 shelves.
We had to use the media towers to build the unit instead of the cabinets, they were just too big. We ended up taking the cabinets and putting them side by side in our guest bedroom. We had a perfect nook in one wall where they fit just right. When I get time I plan to fill one with all the nice stuff I have received over the years like fancy music box statues and globes from San Francisco Music Box Company and castles I have that were made by companies like Danbury Mint and Lennox. The other unit is for my geeky fandom stuff. I already put my old Pac Man and Ms Pac Man mini table top games in there. I also have some anime models and statues to put in there. The first thing I put in the cabinet was my Roy Mustang Medicom figure, he's about a foot tall and looks awesome!
What will be even better is getting the old entertainment wall out of my hallway! Hopefully it will land safely in our bedroom where we can set up all our old equipment that we don't really need any more.