So here is the story of how we "upcycled" this old console stereo into an entertainment center. How did you say "super cool" back in the 60s??
We started with a Craigslist console record player / radio, circa 1966. The electronics still mostly work but it had been very thoroughly painted white - How chic!
Next we stripped off the paint. We used the no-scent safe stuff so we could do it in the garage and not stink up the house. Next time I think we'll wait for warmer weather and use the heavy duty paint stripper.
The paint stripper stuff did work, it just took a lot of elbow grease. And underneath, lovely walnut.
At some point we realized that it would be a lot easier to disassemble and then strip. This turned out to be surprisingly easy. I guess in that era furniture construction involved a lot of screws and very little glue. We lucked out in that respect.
Here's a shot after we've applied some tung oil and started re-assembling. You can see the shelf August added over the amp electronics.
TADA! We really liked the tung oil finish. Its easy to apply, very forgiving, and doesn't smell too bad.
Originally the only access was from the top. At first we planned to take out all the old electronics and decommission this door.
But the old school stuff was just too cool. Check out the turntable and radio. That grid thing on the right is the radio tuner. Why its a grid, I don't know, but it adds a cool 60s space-ship sort of vibe.
Now we just need a record!!
For access to the DVD player we split the old front panel and made it into doors. There's room for the Wii and some other random stuff too. We used Blum 170-degree hinges. I cannot recommend Blum hardware highly enough. It is awesome. Pure Scandinavian design genius. They are NOT paying me to say that!
In order to make the new doors as incognito as possible, we used magnetic touch latches.
The END! I love it. It turned out way better than my original vision which had involved the use of a recip saw to get that front panel off. And I might be a tiny bit addicted to this idea of taking old vintage stuff and making into something new. Example: Typewriter Ipad Dock.
