the costanza

S-l-o-w-l-y we are getting our house together. We haven't painted any more, so we don't have any pictures up (why poke holes that I will then have to fill?) but I have found places for all of our stuff--places that make sense and don't keep changing. We still have several projects that we're working on, but I wanted to show you what we did with the old radio we found on the Sale on the Trail back in May.
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(One reason I love Dave so much is that he doesn't freak out when I get hooked on a project for "us" that he knows will be more work for him than me. He just gets to work, good naturedly and with his usual sense of humor. When I found this beast at the yard sale, I told Dave "we'll use it as a credenza-type DVD holder in our living room." Dave said "a credenza, like in Peter Pan? Or do you mean a costanza, like George?" So our project got named The Costanza, and that was that.)
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When we bought it at the yard sale for $2, it was looking pretty rough. The sides and front brackets were filthy and smelled like cat pee.


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The back was full of holes because it was a radio (duh, Holly) and it was cracked.

The top was built to be two separate pieces with one side that slid back to reveal the record player and radio controls, but the sliding piece was missing. The radio didn't work--the cord had come completely out.

And, worst of all, my favorite part of the piece, the doors, didn't actually work! They were just one piece of wood made to look like doors. We definitely had to remedy the situation.

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Dave started by taking the back off and removing all the radio components and vacuuming it out.

We took off the side and front fabric pieces and I washed them. I was a little worried about this but my washer has a 'silk' setting that doesn't agitate at all, so I set it on that and the fabric came out better than new. All the cat pee smell was gone!
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After all the radio parts were gone, we discovered the bottom of the piece was in terrible shape too, so we knew we'd have to fix that. We wanted to be able to use the doors, so Dave carefully took the front off as well. He removed so much that basically the radio turned into a box-shaped wood frame.

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Dave worked so hard on this project for me and I am so proud of the beautiful finished product.

He built a shelf to go inside for our DVD's.
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He put in a new bottom, a new back and sanded down the whole thing (all those nooks and crannies about killed him) so we could stain and varnish it.

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He put on the new top, complete with a stationary side and a sliding side, and built new, functional doors that he backed with the old "door" pieces for strength and durability. The hinges on the doors were almost Dave's undoing, but my hubby is amazing and they swing beautifully.

One of my favorite things about the new-and-improved version is the pull-handle Dave put on the sliding piece on the top. It is one of the old knobs from the radio!

Another of my favorite things about this piece is the little handprint from a boy who touched the still-wet varnish and then leaned on the new floor with his hand.

I know I will always love remembering how small Jed was when we built this.

Lest you think I didn't do much work on the project (unfortunately, it's true) I DID stain the whole thing. Twice, in some instances. Dave then varnished it and we impatiently let it dry before bringing it inside.

I love the bracket decorations, the big chunky feet, the gorgeous grain of the new wood doors, top, back and floor.

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And I love the way it looks in our living room:

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Eventually we'll have a tv that hangs above the costanza, paint on the walls, the piano will be painted and my cutesy decorations will be out. I'd say my desk will eventually be clean, too, but that's not likely to ever happen :) Good work, Davey!