An entertainment center and a marriage celebration

1997

Yes, I realize this is a really strange title. :) Bear with me though....

Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality is having a thrifty party and I thought I would share my entertainment center story as well as a bit about my marriage.

12 years ago yesterday my husband and I were married. We were young...REALLY young (20 & 21) and didn't have a whole lot of money. :)

We furnished our apartment with yard sale and thrift store finds, as well as hand me downs from friends and family. It was a cozy happy apartment and I loved living there. One thing I couldn't handle was the black modern entertainment center my husband had. :( Returning extra wedding gifts to Macy's we discovered their Electronics Dept was closing and they were clearancing out their items. Due to this, we were able to buy this entertainment center with money we received from the returns.
(picture that I posted on Craig's List - it sold after being listed 5 days!)

Over the years we bought a house, my style changed and I was ready to move on from this lovely piece. :) My husband is pretty particular about his electronics and we looked at several entertainment centers this year but they all looked so mass produced to me.

Last year at a yard sale I came across a white cabinet that I fell in love with. It had glass knobs...


darling hinges, peeling paint and was just my style!


At that time we were not looking for a new entertainment center and the thought didn't even cross my mind. The dear lady who was selling it was moving and said it had been in her garage for storage. I turned my back on it and walked away but Christina and Sarah persuaded me that I could use it for storage in my basement or even on my carport. The lady was getting ready to close down the yard sale and told me I could have it for $30! Sold!
On the way home, one of the doors flew up and broke off. :( For a year it sat on my carport holding spray paint and misc items with the door propped on.

While my husband was out of town on a work trip, I had my brother-in-law (who is a painter) paint my living room to give it a new look after 10 years. Christina helped me move this piece into the living room to try it out as an entertainment center. It took us about 20 min to get the thing a very small distance because it was HEAVY!


My husband came home, decided he would give it a go, glued and clamped the door then put it back on and voila...here is our new entertainment center for $30! I love it better than the ones I have seen for $300 - $1000 ( there was a $1200 one I would have liked to have had but that wasn't in our budget).


As all you married folks know, most of making a marriage work is the give and take that goes on. We will always have a large TV in our house (and probably our living room since we don't have a family room), complete with large black speakers (not so pretty) and that is okay with me. My husband allows me to have furniture with peeling paint (which he abhors) and I let him have his big TV with speakers in the living room! :) That's just how we roll and one small way we make our marriage work.

~Victoria~