Check out this reader DIY we just received from Laura:

I wish I could take credit for this idea, but it was my mothers. I recently bought my first home and at my apartment I had a behemoth craftsman-style Sauder entertainment center that I knew was not going to survive another move. I was more than ready to part, but I was at a loss as to what to do with it. It wasn't going to come downstairs without being taken apart, and at $2 a garbage sticker it was going to cost a fortune to throw it away (aside from any environmental considerations)…

...In my new tiny basement is a room where I knew I wanted to store decorations and various other things, so there was going to be the expense and hassle of going to the store and getting boards for shelving. I'm sure by now you can see where this story is going! My mom's brilliant idea can be seen here. We even reused the screws from the original piece. I hung the doors on the walls as decoration, too. There was just a handful of hardware leftover that I'm sure I can probably recycle. I've got one more board that I'm going to get those metal table legs from IKEA to make a table.

I reused two more boards (not pictured here) that didn't have a nice finished veneer edge in the laundry room. I only have the two side doors I haven't come up with a clever use for...yet. But they're not going in the trash!

All I had to purchase were the metal brackets, a few more screws, and 12 cinder blocks for the three heaviest bottom shelves.

Thanks so much for sharing, Laura! Great idea!

(Images: Flickr member Lilyofthefoxvalley used with permission)