A Living Room DIY Storage Solution

The Spring energy adrenaline has been flowing pretty steady around here, but instead of being outside I am forced to channel it inside.  There are several projects going on a bit at a time but none are quite finished yet.  Except for this oh so easy to do simple DIY  storage solution for our living room.  It took less than half an hour to complete.

My youngest returned home to go to school, so I gave up my downstairs office and stole borrowed a corner of Hubs mancave for my office.  I have various books and articles and office supplies I need closeby resulting in this.
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I had not noticed the fabulous white cords showing prior to the picture but the books were driving me nutty and I wanted to add more covered storage to the empty space.

The downstairs craft room got some extra storage from this secretary desk makeover.  I closed in the glass door on it using curtains.  Curtains were my original plan for the upstairs man cave entertainment center, but I hesitated as the lace curtains are feminine and have a very cottage feel.  The lace is perfect for the basement but Hub’s living room space required something else.

Before I started the blog I had made a headboard using faux tin panels and it’s inspired me to close in the bottom two windows with the faux tin panels.

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A Very Simple Tutorial

You will need.

Faux tin panel (I got mine at Lowes)

Marker, straightedge, measuring tape, scissors, glue dots or tape.

Measure and Cut the Faux Tin Panel

Measure the glass on your cabinet door.

Look at your panel and choosing where you want your center to be.  Measure out from the center half the distance of your door.  Do this on all four sides.

With a straight edge mark out the cut marks for your panel.  Double check before cutting.

Cut out the panels and confirm it covers the window.

Once confirmed fit your new panel to the original panel, making sure the patterns fit together.
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Trace around the existing panel, and then cut to create the second panel.

Attach the Panel

On the inside of the glass,  place glue dots all along the edge of the glass.  Place your panel good size out, and press into place.  If you don’t want to use glue dots, you can use tape.  The glue dots show when you open the door, but I suspect that the tape will hold longer and be visible when you open the door.  Either way, I like that the original cabinet was left as is.

Repeat for the other panel.
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As a side note.

When I took the photos for the before picture I noticed the lovely white cords behind the PVR and DVD player.   I patched together the trim ends of the panels by gluing them together on the back with hot glue.  I then folded the bottom to make a small stand,  cut it to size and slipped it in behind the PVR to cover the cords.
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It looks so much better with the faux panels on the bottom glass doors.   I chose to leave the side cupboards as they as they store my pretty collectibles.  Do you think they should be covered with the panels as well?  Or do you think they look alright as they are?  It would take three new panels to fill them in.

Please let me know what you think?