Spotted Gum TV unit using leftover decking boards

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This stylish entertainment unit with sliding doors makes great use of Spotted Gum boards left over from a decking project.

• The project
• More inspiration for entertainment units

The project

I've had a photo of a TV unit like this on my phone for many years. It was about $1000 and was made with MDF with a hardwood veneer.

I knew I could beat the price making it myself, so when a neighbour had some leftover Spotted Gum decking I jumped at the chance to give it a go.

I trimmed the boards on a table saw to remove the rounded edges, then used a biscuit bit in a router to cut slots for #20 wood-jointing biscuits about every 25cm along the edges.

I glued up the top and sides separately as I had to work with lots of odd lengths of timber. The sides are 380mm tall, the top is 1700mm long, and each has six boards laminated together using biscuits, Titebond II wood glue and lots of clamps.

I didn't have enough timber to do the shelf and base so I just used a sheet of yellow-tongue flooring with a strip of decking on the long sides, which turned out great. You can't see it inside the cabinet anyway.

The door slats have tenons cut using a dado stack and slip into a corresponding groove cut in the door frames.

The doors slide on small aluminium angle strips with a thin groove cut into the top and bottom of each door. I was planning on putting a strip of HDPE plastic in the groove but the doors slide well as is, so I didn't need to. I can always do it later if they begin to stick.

Here's what the runners look like up close: 

And here's a shot of the back with the shelf supports and cut-outs for cables.

The feet were made from Merbau as that's all I could find that was a close colour match.

 

Everything was dry sanded down to 240-grit before I applied a coat of Bondall Monocel Timber Benchtop Oil. The second coat was applied using 1000-grit wet/dry sandpaper to give it a mirror finish.

 

More inspiration for entertainment units

Bunnings Workshop member eriktank made this wall-mounted entertainment unit with decorative LED lights.

Workshop member Rharr created this custom shelving unit under their TV using SpecRite Hevea Timber Panels.

Workshop member stackhat built this entertainment unit with plenty of storage options, including drawers, flip down door cupboards and an open shelf.

There are also plenty of great ideas in our Top 10 most popular outdoor furniture projects and Top 10 most popular indoor projects.

Let us know if you need a hand with your project – we're here to help.