The Holtonian

Entertainment Centers Revisited

First let me say, I appreciate everyone's feedback, I really do like it when people provide advice and pointers from their own person experience. Many thanks to Bill, Charity, Bob, and Scott.
      But I must say, don't count us out there, folks. Scott we've been looking since May, so don't insinuate that we haven't been looking long enough...if you were insinuating that, it sounded like you were, if you weren't then ok, but it sounded that way, and if it sounded that way then maybe subconsciously you were insinuating that, which then that means subconsciously you want to be me because of my insane coolness. (Insert your own laughter here)
      I truly have been looking for a long time for an entertainment center. Entertainment centers are somewhat of weird fascination of mine, mainly cause I've always wanted one, and never had one. So I'm somewhat of a student of the entertainment center. Back in July when wifey's parents got us their wedding gift of a dinning room table, I hinted that I'd rather have had a solid oak entertainment center, but it was way over a $1000 maybe even upwards of $1900, I just know it had 4 digits, and wifey wasn't about to let me get my way on that one, which was a good thing in the end.
      Also an entertainment center is something our house desparately needs right now. For starters the table our TV is currently on is a wonderful Cherry end table that we received as a wedding gift, due to the fact that a 27in tv is on it no one can really experience the table and the Feng Shui it brings to the room. Our living room is our main socializing room, we don't have a sitting room, sunroom, or fun room so its the living room or the dinning room. Also our living room lacks the focal point of a fire place. Fire places not only provide great heat but also act as a sort of center of attention and tie a room together, much like the Dude's rug tied his room together. So since we don't want to install a fire place, an entertainment center is the next logical choice.
      Now let me respond to each person's comments:
         Bob, thanks for the info, great help. The furniture is not put together so i doubt its refurbished. Also when you get it and if you notice any damages to any of the wood that occured while shipping, you can send it back free and they'll send another one, which is cool. Also shipping costs are $2.95 regardless of size, weight, or race.
         Charity: I tried Southeastern salavage however the real deals there are mainly on building materials and random pieces of art. I found their prices on furniture were either the same or more than other retailers in chattanooga. I found a similar piece of furniture there was about 200$ less at Factory Direct, I believe it was a China Cabinet. And if you think about the ethos of Southeastern Salvage, its a salvage yard, they get stuff thats been left over from houses that were built or overstocked stuff, the furniture... not sure where that comes from. Some of it is really good pieces, but you also have to realize with a large item such as this, I'd have to get a large truck, and the furniture at Southeastern Salvage and Factory Direct is already put together and they don't deliver, which is a huge pain and a very large risk and liabilty. But thanks for your post, I'm being sincere, I appreciate the help.
      Scott, I saw your entertainment/armoirs, and they're cool. I was very impressed with your craftsmanship and creativity to make them work to your specifications. However, I'm neither as handy nor as patient. If i were to shell out the benjamins for a piece of furniture, I don't want it to need some modifications that I'd have to do myself. I don't want to buy a fixer upper piece of furniture, unless I'm getting a fixer upper price (fixer upper price in my mind is under 100$). Also note that Bob did not say it had too much stain, only a lot. And Scott don't you think you're a wood pretending to be a man??? Think about it... you're tall (trees are tall), you're anal (wood is very anal), and you can hurt me (trees hurt me too). Also Pine can be whatever color it wants Scott, don't judge the pine man, I don't tell you not to wear an ear ring to work, or to not have a goatee, or to not wear bike shorts even if you are biking at the time of you wear them....I'm so fired aren't I?

      Finally this entertainment center has several things I like: First off: Its simple. A lot of entertainment centers try to get too complicated and busy by adding lots of compartments. This being said, I do like a lot of compartments in an entertainment center, however rare if ever have I ever found one with the right dimensions and extras. Also I've noticed that most of the compartments are too small for my Dvd player which is a home audio system receiver that is a behemoth. The ones I saw at Factory direct had this problem and the only way to fix it would be to take some extra wood and make it the way I want... which sort of defeats the purpose of shelling 100s of dollars on a piece of furniture. This one gets delivered to my door for two dollars and nintey five cents. It has matching book shelves that go alongside it or will go in another room if we feel it is a bit much for the living room. Though it is pine, i have seen pine that looks like this before. We had two books shelves back home that were pine and heavily stained and they looked fine. They might not have had the snob appeal that cherry, oak, and concrete have but it did its job and was a nice piece of furniture. Remember, furniture, especially pine, are people too....