Beverly, it's a built in. I can't sell it. LOL I'm trying to save money so I can spend more on my kitchen. I do not want to spend a ton of money on this project. I like your idea, though.

Ellen, it may very well be attached to the wall with screws, and the floor may have been boosted up to make it appear built in, but I have serious doubts that it's 'built-in'. Even most kitchen cabinets are not built in and can be unscrewed from the walls and recycled. The unit probably comes apart in 4 sections.

South Shore Furniture floating media cabinet for less than $225 in a variety of finishes.

Or is money is really tight, consider Besta units from IKEA in a variety of finishes

Or paint it the color of your walls, in an appropriate finish, maybe semi-gloss. Remove the doors.

Beverly, this is built on a travertine base. I'd have to remove that, then buy more travertine because the whole house has travertine baseboards, then repair all of the drywall behind the cabinet and find someone to haul all of this off. LOL I said I wanted to "save" some money. LOL

The reason I asked if it's *your* tv and decor is that if not, you will be asking your carpenter to customize it to your needs. For example for my use I would be removing all the doors and adding shelves at smaller intervals because I have approximately one million books to shelf. But if this is your decor it is arranged very nicely.

I actually don't mind anything about it to be honest. It works in the room.

Thank you. My husband would love you for saying that you're ok with it. LOL

Lol it's always easier to like something in someone else's house :-)

My first question is how is the carpenter expanding the opening with the tiers the way they are? If that is happening then have that done first so you can see what it looks like before the painting is a concern.

Also, simply removing some of the shelves may help . Painting it white IS the way to go btw.

I do agree what if you just removed the top cabinets and treated it as a console for the tv?

It’s so functional! So much storage!! I’d paint it white and maybe take off the glass doors and just make it open shelving. That might help take away some of the weight.

I’d also probably remove the doors covering the TV and whatever the panel thing is above the TV. It’s just heavy but removing some elements will lighten it up.

I am like mmilos.....remove the top portion and paint the bottom either black or white and hang some colorful art on the wall on each side of your TV.

The bottom part of this "historical" entertainment cabinet does provide much needed storage. We live in Florida so no basement or attic for storage. The bottom portion of this, provides most of the storage. It appears that back in the day, the early 90's ,they had a million and one things hooked up into this cabinet and also some of the walls behind this cabinet are open. There is a seperate door behind this cabinet, in one of the bedrooms, that u can open and enter the backside of this cabinet. This appears to have been, one of the first, home theaters. LOL

It's a nice piece, but since you don't care for it, I would also vote to remove the top part...Then you can paint it.

I agree with everyone's advice to paint it white. But I'd also add that the contrasting baseboard looks odd. I'd remove that and have your carpenter replace it with something paintable so that the unit goes all the way to the floor instead of looking like it's sitting in a drip tray.

If the carpenter can fit a modern tv, I would do that and paint it. If you remove the top, you're going to have a floating soffit with lights that may look awkward seemingly having no purpose without the top cabinet.

I get your goal of resolving this with the least money spent. Keep the bottom and paint it out satin or semigloss but not the trim colour, use your wall colour to help it look less large. Enlarge the tv area, removing the full top portion or maybe just keep the outermost shelving on each side. I don’t think it will look unusual with the soffit above. If you are painting, your carpenter should be able to reinvent this. Keep the tv low for less neck strain while seated.

I like the idea someone mentioned earlier - paint the cabinets the same color as walls so it blends- I think the current color is fine

Now I have a different aesthetic than most, but I would re-build the TV area, create more bookshelves, take out the soffit, lights, and the top, all the way to the ceiling. And paint it a really, really dark gray, or a shade darker than the wall color. Since your doors are black, you might consider painting it just a tone/shade lighter than those. But, I hate soffits, wastes space, especially when you have books!!

Matte black like the entry door

Strongly disagree with the paint it white votes.

Don't paint the cabinet -- leave it wood finish. Looks good as is.

That baseboard, however, is another issue.

The only thing truly I dislike about the cabinet is the white baseboard trim -- ugh. Could you remove the white boards and see what's behind it? If it's the same wood as the cabinet that is either straight down or indented (think kitchen cabinet toe space) and it still looks good, great. If it's wood but it doesn't look great, whether straight down or indented as a toe space, you could paint that, even paint it white.

Just. Do. Lose the protruding, emphasis on "protruding", baseboard.

Its really not bad, and living in Florida (condo) I get it about no storage. To modernize it....take off all the upper doors, pit wood shelves instead of the glass ones. Have it painted in the lightest shade of cream/beige that is in the travertine base...that way it will seamlessly blend up the wall. And if you don’t like that color, go a bit darker...or as a last resort..the wall color. But remember, you may want to change wall color in a few years....would be a huge job to repaint this. I think with paint and carefully selected display items you will come to quite like this beast.

Y'all the baseboard is TRAVERTINE. It's throughout the whole house. I guess I could have it removed from around this piece. I do not want to spend thousands on this "thing." LOL I have never seen travertine as a baseboard but it's in this house. A single guy along with his decorator designed this house/room, 20 years ago. The travertine is cream colored not White.

Even if it were gold .... well, especially if it were gold since I'd want to sell it ... I'd move that protruding eyesore from what is otherwise a really nice cabinet, whether built in or not.

If it were me, I'd lived with it awhile (maybe 6 months or more), finish the other renos and see how I felt. It's not so bad and it may grow on you. (or may want to take a break from house stuff)

Rather than painting it white, think about a soft color that compliments your wall color. Add light/white accessories.

Hi. Your room is lovely and elegant. If your painter knows how, I would consider having him lacquer the cabinets (after you have enlarged the opening for the tv). Proper lacquer is different from a high gloss paint. I would try to find some oversized and decorative hardware to accentuate the piece and have it feel like high end furniture. Ideally the paint would go to the floor vs. stop at the baseboard.

I would stain it dark, remove the doors or not and fill it with books then add a ladder.

Hi Ellen, I think you are being sensible and practical by modifying and painting the built-in to suit you. It looks well made. I love built-ins & am very lucky that my husband’s hobby is fine carpentry & cabinet making. If people knew how much custom millwork costs, I don’t think they would be so quick to suggest tearing them out.

I would remove the doors from the uppers, display your pretty things there. Leave the lower doors for storage.

I could live w/that cabinet IF it was painted and redesigned just a bit, by a local carpenter. The thing I could not deal with is that fireplace! omg, those columns are killing me. Go ahead and keep the travertine hearth (if you must) but everything else above it would need to go. Maybe just do a standard wood mantle that meets the hearth.

i don't know what your style is,,,

or, cover the travertine w/something like this shiplap (you may want to try this w/the bookcase base)

Since you have the black exterior doors, and black and travertine look so nice together, what if you took off the doors, opened up the bookcase, enlarged the TV portion, and painted it black? (you could do the inside/back of it white if you like two tone) and then do a black mantel on the FP.

or reverse the colors

Open up the middle portion,,,,Blue

take out the woven stuff and replace w/regular doors like so:

I'd spend the money to update. It's a decent piece (and I'm sure they spend over 5K on it back in the day). It can be made to look really nice w/a bit of carpentry work and paint.

I wouldn't paint it white or black, perhaps an Annie Sloan paint in the Linen, nice soft colour similar to your fire surround

How clever is your painter

This is definitely one of those times when I'd ask the carpenter to give me my options and the cost for each. Can it accommodate the size of TV you want with all those uppers? Whichever way it ends up,I would have it painted to co-ordinate,maybe match, with the wall. Probably a semi-gloss because lacquer is $$$$. I can't see painting it black in a room with that fireplace.

That's why I mentioned, in the same sentence, if doing the black, you'd also do the fireplace to match.

here's how it would look painted close to wall colour and painted white:

I think I've changed my mind about white. Wall colour is better. But I still think it would look better with a self-coloured footer.

Definitely paint it darker, not white.

I totally know that feeling when you dislike something on first sight and dream about something different...

From my perspective, it looks like a very decent piece of furniture with lots of potential! I think if you repaint it, take out the middle section, replace hardware and add something cool in that empty space for focal point it can look great.

Yes, it looks like you do know that feeling! Thank you.

Remove the top and drywall patch. Use the access door on the other side to have a secret spot lol

Thank you, everyone. So many great ideas that I'm looking at. I wish I could get rid of the columns, on the fireplace, too but..............those "columns" are holding up that mantel. That fireplace is all stone and heavy. It's not fake stone with styrofoam in it. LOL It's the real deal. The only thing I can come up with is to have a carpenter cover the columns with wood and make them square and then paint it another color??? I'm not replacing the whole fireplace. Cha-ching.

Paint the built-in white and work on your kitchen. The built-in is large but works nicely in the space, and it offers so much storage. I would think about removing a few door, which IMO eliminates some of its bulk.

Have it painted exactly the cream beige as your floor and fireplace so it blends in. Additionally, you could wallpaper the backs of the shelves in a pattern of creams and whatever the colors of your furnishings are. Think about replacing the fireplace pillars with something with straight lines.

I’m with mmilos....remove the uppers and paint it black. Or, since it’s on a travertine base, a soft cream tone—but not white. However, I would keep the shelving portion so it doesn’t end up looking like a big bank of buffet cabinets. Amy Howard has some great chalk paint products that you could add some nice affects such as a subtle shimmer on edges with mica and other various options.

Ellen, a family member recently bought a fabulous house and they also had a huge built-in situation so much like this. It was painted by a cabinet painter (essential) some sort of greenish/gray color and it is quite shocking at how great it now looks.
Not sure of the cost, but I would say worth every penny.

If you paint it white, it won’t be a “big white thing” because of all the glass doors. Maybe you could have it re-stained if white isn’t your choice.

@Ellen, In regards to one of your earlier comments about small TV 30 years ago. Yup now TV's got bigger and peoples brains got smaller.

Perhaps just try painting it the color of the trim. That should help it blend in more at least.

Ellen , count me in with the paint it a nice soft neutral crowd . ( Not so much black or white ! ) A color you like that compliments both the wall and floor colors would look nice and integrate it into the rest of the room more .The aspect that strikes me a little odd though is the travertine base on which it sits . Talk to your carpenter to see if he could somehow adhere (glue? ) a thin sleeve of wood around that , to be painted like the rest of the cabinet ,thus making it look like the base part of the cabinet instead of looking as though the cab. Is perched on something . Best of luck .

Just a thought...If your kitchen opens to this room, you may want to consider the wood/paint colors you want to use in the kitchen before you do anything with this entertainment center.