Jamie and I have been spending the festive season holed up going stir crazy as we’re both sick as dogs with some revolting cold. This is the first day I’ve even opened my laptop – we’ve just been sleeping restlessly and staring at the TV listlessly. Underneath our apathetic exteriors we’re raging with frustration at having all this wonderful time off work and not being able to do a thing.

So I finally opened the laptop, let’s see if I can’t at least write a little something.

Like most houses we have AV equipment – tele, Tivo box, Xbox, amp for the stereo etc. I generally hate shop bought TV and media cabinets – ugly blocky things (at least the ones I could afford). Our TV used to sit in an old coffee table which then had a crappy Argos thing with holes in it for the Xbox etc. It was totally charmless and the lower shelf of the coffee table was a receptacle for crap.

I bought this little pine cupboard from Gumtree which fitted nicely in the recess next to the chimney breast and painted the doors cream. This now houses our booze and our larger books, a few DVDs and cables and external hard drives. For ages the old Xbox sat down the side on the floor.

So I decided to DIY a simple rectangular wooden media box that would hold an Xbox, DVD player, amplifier or similar and be strong enough for the tv to sit on. Yes I realise it’s not the sleek, hidden media storage that you see in many blogs, but if I had a ‘before’ you’d be amazed at the difference.

This project was dead simple. I took measurements, making sure it would hold the Xbox and be wide enough for the base of the tv to sit on and headed up to B&Q to get some wood. What I actually ended buying was a cheap pine shelf board. The length was exactly right and it had the added advantage of a nice rounded edge. I believe it was this one.

I cut it into 4 pieces with my jigsaw to make the top, bottom and sides and gave the sawn edges a quick sanding.

Then I drilled pilot holes and screwed the 4 sides together.

I slapped a bit of satin stain on it (oak colour I believe) and there we have it.

It was so simple and looks much nicer than an ugly faux beech or (trying to be) futuristic (but actually just looking like it belongs in an 80s bachelor pad) glass one.

Stevie was kind enough to model the set up for me…

I’m a hobby DJ (by which I mean I’ve never been paid money to DJ but tend to be asked to do it at friends house parties and the occasional private party at a bar).

This means we have a corner of our living area set aside for audio stuff. I made another pine box for my amplifier, that my DJ controller can sit on.

It helps keep dust out of the amp and lifts the controller up to a nice height for DJ-ing when we decide it’s time to dance round the living room.

If you’re getting festive this week I hope you’ve all had happy and healthy (unlike us!) holidays so far and are preparing yourselves to party into 2017 in a few days time x

If you want to try and make your own wooden box for a DVD player, Xbox or amplifier and need some tips feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you… Or, message me on instagram @littlegoldvase.