What you really need to know is that you could still end up with a huge pile of cords and wires. Those wall mounted TV's have to be wired somewhere. If you have a satellite or cable box, DVD, TVO, etc. make sure you have something that will conceal it all, somehow. Learn from my mistakes!

Whether you would be better off with a bookcase is dependent on how much storage you need and how much space you have.

Check out Brownstone Furniture. We bought through bedroomspace.com. They had the best price and free delivery. There were a few styles to choose from. It's long and narrow and houses all our entertainment components, has 2 drawers for storage, and 2 holes in the back to fish all the wiring through. We really liked the choices from Brownstone since we wanted something that looked like furniture and not a TV Console. Most of the consoles we looked at did not have room for speakers. We are opting for small BOSE speakers on pods flanking each side or speakers installed in the wall.

Here is ours.

We opted not to wall mount for all the reasons Annie mentions. Also, we wanted the TV to be a close to eye level as possible for comfort.

Thanks for the warning Annie1971 and jerseygirl. I hadn't even thought of all of the wires...altho" I should have because we have a rat's nest of wires in our present set-up. I'll check out Brownstone. I love the look of the console that you posted. Thanks

We looked into mounting ours on the wall, too, but opted for a plasma lift console to hide all those wires and components . . . and the big black box when it wasn't turned on ;~) I think that a regular console would have worked just fine, but we needed something with a low profile so that it wouldn't overwhelm the hand-painted kiva fireplace right next to it. Have you checked out the lift consoles yet? They're now being built in models to fit every major design style. We got one in dark cherry to work with the new kitchen cabs. BTW, I still have to restain or paint the component tower and the sofa table in an antique black. Hopefully that'll happen next week once DD is back in school.
Here's what it looks like down:
{{!gwi}}

And this is what it looks like up, which I think would be too much on that wall if it were up all the time.
{{!gwi}}

"to hide all those wires and components . . . and the big black box when it wasn't turned on"

They turn off?

Lynninnewmexico, your lift in the cherry console looks like what I had in mind. Did you have it custom made? What do you store in the console? That is where I was hoping to stash all of those components! These new plasma tvs are a design problem, to be sure.

Hooker Furniture makes several plasma consoles with room for additional equipment.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hooker Furniture

I don't understand what these "wires" are that everyone talks about. I have never seen any wires with our tv -my husband just hoisted it up on the wall. I really don't recall any wireing. ?

Daisy,
Your husband must have fished the wires through the wall. It has to plug in somewhere as do any components. He did a great job. My guy is not handy at all.

Lynne, beautiful console. I like the lift a lot. BF did not want to spend the $$ for the lift since he watches soooo much TV and it would be up anyway allll the time. LOL

Jerseygirl, I know there are wires back there - I was not being serious.

That being said - you don't have to handy to hide the wires. Once you get past cutting the first hole in the drywall it couldn't be easier.

We ordered ours from a company in SoCal. While the lift console itself is wonderful, I would never recommend ordering something that big and heavy again. The delivery was a nightmare. The first console arrived with a hole in the box and the console door, where a fork lift had been run through it! The second one arrived with horrible instructions on how to hook it up and major damage to one of the wheels. The delivery guys were totally incompetent and ended up leaving the console, damaged, in the middle of our family room floor with the tv on it's back next to it and all the attachment parts strewn everywhere! It took DH, DD & myself two days to get everything attached properly. So, while I love the lift systems, I'd only recommend buying one from a local store, whose delivery people are experienced in getting them set up AND actually getting them into your house (which was another nightmare, as they tried to bring it in on a tiny little dolly, which did not work out well!). I saw several nice ones at Ethan Allen and I believe that Tema carries them, too. I imagine you can find them locally if you call around.
Jerseygirl, I hear you! When DH told me that he wanted a big flat screen tv for Father's Day last year, I told him it was fine with me . . . as long as he bought me a lift console to hide it in for Mother's Day! He couldn't believe that I actually wanted to hide that *glorious* tv, but it was the only way he was going to get it, so he gave in. Too funny! I love making that big black box disappear!

I would suggest that you use PVC ( a pipeline) installed into the wall to conceal the wires. You can then have a HEC ( home electronic center) installed where the pvc ends (close to an electrical outlet, behind your console). Then install a recessed "clock outlet", behind the t.v, into the wall. ( do not know why they call it a recessed clock outlet, but they do) The HEC will have your internet, cable, phone, DVR, Audio, and any other componate that you will need. The PVC is only a few dollars, you will need to do drywall repair and re-paint. Since you are going to need drywall work done, if you want surround sound installed, now is also the time to consider it. What is nice about this PVC is that has you change out componates , you will have this pipeline to use for future use. I have done this for many clients, and the only time it is in issue is if they wish to have the t.v, above the fire box.
I hope this was not to confusing to explain in a text message.

We went with an entertainment center we found (of all places!) at Sam's Club. It has sliding doors so there is no intrusion on the living space. The wires feed through a hole in the back of the TV cabinet so we solved that problem easilly. It satisfies our desire for a television in our space but the doors can be easilly pulled closed to reveal the adjoining bookcases when we want it hidden.

Not sure if you are looking for something like this but thought I would throw it out just in case.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Tulane Media Center at Sam's

Thanks everybody for all of the suggestions. I really liked the suggestion of putting all of the wires in the pvc pipe. Now *that* is something DH would never have thought of! I thought that a console would work best, but now DH tells me that all of the components need to be exposed so he can use his remote. So, maybe I have to rethink this. Argh...

In my photos that I posted here, you can see the component tower right next to the console. The ones that have to be behind glass or exposed for our remote(s) are in there, along with the subwoofer, which is just plain big and ugly. Many consoles come with one or two towers, for this reason. Ours came with two, for an extra price, but I only had enough space for one and they wouldn't sell me just one (grrrrrr!). Most places will, though.

Lynn,

Where did you buy the nice lift console and shat brand is it?

We do keep our cable box out. If we didn't we wouldn't be able to use the remote for it in our bedroom.

The components don't need to be in the open, but solid wood doors won't work with remotes. Glass doors would be fine. One word of caution though. We have a stereo receiver that produces a lot of heat. I can't imagine having it in an enclosed area. Even the vented cabinets would be too confining for our receiver. I currently have it on an open console shelf and am amazed how warm it is.

We used my mom's old buffet and had the tv mounted on the wall. We love it. There is a hole there to fit a bunch of wires, but they are threaded through a pipe similar to pvc. I know I will always want to hang something on that wall so it would always be covered in case we change the arrangement. It is a small price to pay to make all those wires disappear, imo. We also kept the box outside so we could use the remote, although you can get a device that makes the remote work through the solid door. It just doesn't bother us that much, but maybe we'll get around to that someday. I'm still working on ideas for the wall space around the tv, and may recover the chair on the right in the print fabric lying on it. In other words, still tweaking the space but the TV is a big hit, and I love the wall mounted look. Much cleaner, and most of the TV stands had a more modern look that I didn't like with the rest of my stuff.

{{!gwi}}

You'll love your tv!

We placed all our remotes systems behind the sliding doors doors. The components sit on the shelves. We have remotes for CD player, stereo receiver, and cable box. All are very easy to access and we don't have doors that swing open. No need for glass. When we want to hide all the components we just slide the doors which exposes the storage drawers which are decorative also and give more of a buffet appearance.

I'm impressed with all of the innovative ideas on this forum. DH mentioned using a SmartEye, which I think allows the doors to stay closed and a remote to be used for the components. Anybody know anything about the "eye?" Do you need one for each component?

Lesley,
I have seen some consoles with the eye in it. It's not very noticeable as far as appearance is concerned. I just can't remember where I saw the units since we looked at so many. It may have been Macy's furniture or an independent furniture store in Phila.

It is good thing to know first the exact weigh of your TV. Once you find the weigh of your TV than you can buy your tv lift easily. I have buy TV Lift last month. My TV Model is Panasonic 42" Plasma TH-42PX80U and it's weigh is 65 pounds.

Here is a link that might be useful: TV lift