Let's Redo It (Again): The High Fidelity Zone.

Right?  How many times am I going to do and redo and rework and undo and design and redo that six foot wide stretch of territory in our house where the record albums and stereo equipment are located?  How many times?

Fingers crossed this is it, amiright?!, save a few minor tweaks here and there.

As you might recall, I have painted and repainted this fifty four-ish square foot section of wall how times now?

See, I'll tell you why this area is important, other than the obvious:  due to its location between the living area and the kitchen, it's a major focal point.  

It's extra important because every evening I unwind on the right side of the uncomfortable couch if you're facing the television and smush back into the pillows which means I am staring right at said high fidelity zone every single day.

So it's essential that I can look at it and be happy.

Then if you remember, we were so generously gifted a tremendous Photowall mural which was fabulous.

Mike disliked it strongly.  Like he wouldn't even speak words, just in headshakes disliked.

The product itself is outstanding and you should absolutely install as many as you can, but I made the wrong aesthetic choice for Mike.

You guessed it, it came down.  That was a shame.  I feel terrible.  I know. 

Speedily I found wallpaper replacements for here and the kitchen and oh a surprise for Mike's office and as soon as they arrived, got it all up in the span of three days.  Yeah, I was very pooped and (temporarily!) hatin' on wallpaper.

Not entirely scrapping everything I had built, I (well, we) hauled the big heavy heavy shelf unit downstairs where I hacked off the top shelf then evened up what was formerly the top and bottom to match in dimension for the thing to fit horizontally in the space.

Yep, I turned the thing on its side.

While yeah, the openings are taller now than they should/need to be, that's outweighed by how much more satisfying the whole area is aesthetically.  

Next, chopping up the original floating cabinet, I reused wood to give the thing legs.  My goal:  align the height with the kitchen counters so it'd be one horizontal line through.

With a couple 1x oak boards, I manufactured a top shelf piece for everything to comfortably rest on, aka, the right depth this time.

And sure, I totally panicked that I'd be short on space for the albums.  Hugely panicked.  I did half-heartedly attempt the math numerous times and it kinda seemed like it might work, kinda?, so I kept going.

❮ ❯

(Slideshow images:  1.  Before; 2.  Let's cut; 3.  Leg and stability crossbar; 4.  Bad carpentry; 5.  Testing fit)

This was not my finest carpentry hour but it's fine enough; I wasn't sold any of this was going to work therefore I minimized my investment.  But, at least the pricey oak didn't go to waste.

Of course, my math was off trimming the ends so I had to trim once back upstairs which was utterly too messy.

Seriously.  Seriously.  Wtf.  I measured this a zillion times.

Luckily and amazingly every last album fit.  As it's snug, I'm going to hold fast to one in, one out.  Or thin the herd.

This is my life.  Yep.  hahaha, ahhh Finn!

Ok!!  So!

Next I happened to see a Habitat ReStore post of new arrivals one day and decided I required the large round mirror they were selling.  

A quick check on actual retail price* (don't be offended here as I gladly support their mission; this location has a tendency to price items for far more than new) and I was out the door to be there by opening for the day.

Picked up a little squat gold-colored vase while I was there too.

To fend off dust from getting into the receiver parts when not in use, I trimmed up a piece of 1/8" thick Masonite and plopped a lil' wood ball drawer pull* atop.  Painted that puppy black and voila, dust limiting receiver cover!  Tidier and cheaper than buying one.*

Lastly I ordered up a package of clear acrylic shelves* to put the "now playing" cardboard sleeve on, or, well, to use albums as decor too.

Plop my little Dollar Store Decor wood dowel vases on there, some dried clippings from the park in the vase, and whooooie people, I did it!  I'm finally happy.

And I just cleaned out unused dog toys too.  You'd never know it though.  #spoileddog

Oh, right, I did make a pallet wood light fixture the DIY of which I might share but the light it emanates currently is terrible and the fixture feels too small.  So we'll see.  

But whoooie!  It's loud.  It's proud.  It's eclectic.  It's definitely not Minimalism.

Ok, here's the Pinterest friendly cleaned up of dog toys image.  Sorry Finny.

Tweaks and touch-ups ahead no doubt but this generally closes the chapter on the DIY record album storage area whoo-ha!  Hahaha, who am I kidding, this house is my constant experiment.

*The large round mirrors, wood ball drawer pulls, receiver dust covers, and the clear acrylic shelves are Amazon affiliate links.  Mwah, thanks!  Please see the "boring stuff" tab for more info.