Decorated Media Cabinet

I am a music lover.

Should I say, I am a music connoisseur?

I will be a tad more honest and say that, when it comes to music, I am a hoarder.

I've always loved music. I don't just enjoy listening to the radio though. I like having music. I don't want to listen to whatever the disc jockey decides to play. I want a collection to choose from to listen to what I want to listen to when I want to listen to it. 

Remembering way back, I remember borrowing a tape recorder much like the one shown in this photo from my grandmother. I would sit it on the floor in the bedroom between two speakers attached to an old console stereo to record the weekly top forty countdown. 

During high school, I made payments on a huge, loud, and at the time over priced, Fisher stereo system. It has stereo, record turn table, and a CD player. Soon after that, although I had hundreds of cassette tapes, I bought my first CD. I still have that CD in my collection. If you take care of them, they last. 

Fast forward to today. The town I live in does not even have a music store. Most of my music is bought online and downloaded. It is cheaper this way, but I still like having the actual physical CD. So in my collection are many store bought CDs, but also a lot of burned CDs. 

Some time back I built a new chest type CD case to go along with a similar one I already had. You can read more about that project here if you'd like. 

As it goes with a music hoarder though, I recently realized I had outgrown this chest type storage for my CDs. Actually I had outgrown it by about five smaller store bought CD boxes and one box that a ceiling fan came in that were all completely full. 

So it was time to build something different. To be honest, I've been thinking about this project for over a year now. I just finally made up my mind how I wanted to do it and got everything I needed to decorate it gathered. 

For the base of the cabinet, I wanted my stereo in it. On the left is my stereo unit and the right is my five disc CD player. The middle holds accessories that I use, such as my IPod that I listen to often and the charger for my phone and IPod. 

Yes, I know they make smaller and more modern stereo units. I like my old system though. The one I bought back in high school finally burned out and quit working about a year and a half ago. So I found this one at a yard sale for ten dollars. 

I started this build and was about to start making legs to get it up higher than the floor. Then I thought about it and decided to build it atop this desk in my shop. This is a very old, very sturdy, desk that sits in my shop. It was given to me. It was once in the First National Bank here in Vicksburg. I guess they just threw stuff out when it was shut down. When I got it I cleaned out papers that has stationary of the bank's president. 

Anyway, moving on.

Above the stereo compartment I started building the CD compartment. Since it was thinner than the bottom section, I decided to move it forward for easier reach. This leaves space behind the top part. I made holes in the back of the top on the stereo section. This allows all wires to be hidden behind the upper section without hanging down to create an ugly mess or interfering with the desk sitting close to the wall. 

The top of the CD compartment and the doors is decorated with old musical instruments. The trombone is attached to the top of the cabinet. The guitar and banjo are attached to the doors.

Then I scattered old eight track tapes all over the doors. 

In my opinion, these decorative items is what makes it more than just a simple media cabinet and sets it apart, which is exactly what I was trying to do. 

I was sure to leave enough space inside the cabinet for further growth of my music collection, because I know I can't stop my obsession.