Console table inspiration

I've been thinking a lot about the living room lately. Well, that's an understatement, I've been thinking a lot about every room lately, so that's not a big surprise. It's getting close to fall - nearing that time of introspection - and of course, spending a lot of time indoors, inside my house and dealing with it.

But back to the living room.

Our current tv stand leaves much to be desired. I mean, it's not a bad little tv stand, but it's really not where I want to go with the room.

It's just not... "enough" for me. Also, I'd really like something with doors so when our 2-year-old god daughter or our myraid of friends that have small children come over we can just shut (and band) the doors so the wee-ones can't get into trouble.

My other goal is to have something that makes that space feel more organized. I don't know about you, but I loathe clutter with every fiber of my being. This area is so prone to it that it kind of drives me crazy.

We're planning on moving that large tv into the basement to make it part of our rec room and move our smaller tv in that space. This is good, because it means we don't have to make/buy an enourmous piece. Yay!

So here are a few ideas of some items we can make:

Apothecary console - photo from ana-white.com

This is a great idea (I love apothecary-style furniture) and like any of the pieces, we can make it to fit the space we have. The open cubbies still pose a problem though because wee-ones can still poke around.

It would especially look awesome with this finish. 

I was really attracted to this piece because of the handles: 

Photo from Wayfair.com

GAH! I mean that's gorgeous! I would probably pick a different color stain and possibly do glass doors in front, but those handles... they are the thing of dreams.

I love the paint style in this piece and think that could be something really fun to do in an afternoon. I also like that there are carved-out parts of the doors (I can imagine that would make it easier to use a remote or something instead of having to have glass doors, but rather difficult to do without the right tools) I don't know if I'd use colors that bold or if I'd go with something more subdued to "go" with the rest of the room. 

I actually really love this piece. I love the embossed squares of tin and how it's all distressed. It has very simple lines (which I like) and looks good and "grungy" like it's been around for a while. 

This cabinet I saw at our Olum's scratch n' dent warehouse for like $200. I don't know if I'd like the dark brown, or if I'd repaint it a lighter color, but there is something really unique (and a little bizarre, but I kind of like bizarre) about this chest that kind of "does it" for me. The only problem is anything that requires a receiver (like a remote) would have to sit on top.

We're also planning on mounting the tv to the wall (hopefully) so we have some more "space" on top of the console since that space is narrow to begin with, and we can use the top of the console for photos or some decorative things (that can easily be put in the cabinet if wee-ones come over). I don't think Garry will be too thrilled since that will involve drilling (more) holes into the wall to run the cables without seeing them. That's me, having to make things more difficult than they need to be. :)