before

I was looking about recently for a sideboard or chest of drawers to stand the TV on and store away all the 100s of DVDs that we (when I say we, they are mostly children's movies) have accumulated. I looked at a new pine, flat-packed piece which had a price tag of about £200 and thought "hmm, I'm sure I could do better than that". I always resent buying new stuff as the quality is so rubbish unless you have £1000s to spend.

So I mosied (not sure if that's the corret spelling but such a great word!) round to a second hand furniture shop not feeling very hopeful when I spotted this little beauty for £40! She's solid as a rock but is suffering a little from orange varnish disease with a small case of cheap brass handle-itis. Nothing that can't be fixed up with a little elbow grease. Enter the husband with power tool. He's done a great job sanding the top which is a great colour. I can't be so cruel as to suggest removing the varnish off the whole thing as it's such a job, so a couple of coats of off-white paint along with new handles and she's going to be a beauty!

Will post pics of the finished article at a later date...