Tiny Tip

Visual clutter is something that can be really distracting, for me. If I'm at home and there is something out of place, I can't concentrate. If I go to a store, where there are 500 items for sale on the cash desk alone, I can't concentrate. For me, this is why I love using things like baskets and boxes to "hide" things. I am REALLY good at storing a lot of stuff in small places and not having it interfere with any one's sight lines.

Something that I've always found a pain to display/hide are books, DVD's and CD's. I know I know who has CD's anymore? But, I do.

Case in point, TV display units -

Minus the holiday stockings, and the side shelving units (we will get to those in a later post, but I bet your wondering what is in those boxes and baskets) You can see ALOT of stuff on either side of the television stand at the bottom cupboards. And most units have glass doors as a decorative feature. A rainbow of horizontal lines courtesy of our favourite DVD's, family photo albums, picture frames and even those media boxes and gaming consoles that never go with any decor style.

I had thought about using a decorative window film over the glass doors to disguise the insides of the TV stand, but I never really came across one that I liked. It wasn't until I was cleaning the accessories warehouse at my last job that I came across this punch out decorative sheet metal. I thought there was something I could do with it, but wasn't sure what. They no longer needed it and I got to take it home for free! Bonus, however, now I cant find any more like it, anywhere!!!

This is what I decided to do with it -

TA-Da! (Who else is in love with Modern Family?)

I had the glass carefully taken out in one piece, and sheet metal cut to size, and installed in place of the glass. Before installation I used a brown and hammered bronze spray paint and mixed the two together and with a rag blended together. I was trying to get the sheet metal to look like the door hardware. This is a really simple change that you can do, to any style of cabinet to make it unique, hide your mess, and personalize your furniture.

I was lucky with this cabinet that the glass was being held in the back of the door similar to picture frames. I have a second cabinet that I would like to pop the glass out of but the glass is actually installed between the front and back rails of the door frame. So, if this is something you would like to try just be sure to check out the installation of the glass in your doors before you start breaking it out!

I have yet to find some window film that I like for my second cabinet, but when I do I'll let you all know.

Come back soon and I'll share some more tips!
-AR