Personally, I'd get doors. Then I'd drop a penny in a jar every time anyone remembers to shut the door. When there was enuf money in the jar we'd all go out to pizza, or rent the kids favorite movie, or let them have a sleep-over, or whatever rings their chimes.

Or if you prefer, you can just not expect them to ever be closed and then you can be thrilled to be able to close them when you have guests.

I've seen a couple of things I liked on HGTV. One is a flat screen on the wall with a painting hinged over it. You could do that yourself. The other is a pretty piece of furniture and the TV hides inside it and with a remote control the TV screen raises and lowers out of it.

Yes, but we could really use a high piece of furniture on the wall - the ceilings are 9 1/2 - 10 feet tall and I feel that the console w/o a hutch might look too stumpy. Make sense? OK, so 1 vote for doors....

If you can, I'd get the doors as well. It is nice to be able to close them when you want to, even if it doesn't happen all the time. WRT a cabinet for the TV, I agree. I have an armoire now, but have an older TV. I like having the larger piece of furniture to give me some height in my great room with vaulted ceilings. The pieces you found are a nice solution for those wanting a larger TV AND some furniture. Good luck!

I decided to not spend the money on the doors since I didn't like the look of the doors when opened - just sortof hanging there, and to get the ones that fold up or fold back into the cabinet, the size of the cabinet was getting too wide to accommodate the door width.

Plus, I too have 3 boys and figured out that those doors would probably never be closed. When we have friends over it's generally for a sporting event so we use the TV anyways.

I like the unit - it's very classy looking!

We have doors and they are closed every time the cleaning lady comes and closes them. I'm so used to them being open that it now looks weird with them closed.

I love the input - please keep it coming! I can see resons for both. My fear, too, is that one side would have 2 door widths folded back, so it might look off center and bulky. I guess it's - do I want to show a TV 24/7 or not. It seems like the TV is on 24/7- that's for sure!

In our previous house we had a custom built TV cabinet built with pocket doors that slide back into the alcove. I think the only time the doors stayed closed was when we put the house on the market!

I caved in and our flat screen sits on a very nice heavy console cabinet. Everyone who comes to the house wants to watch a flat screen! We use it for music also and have our Bose connected to it for indoors and outside.

Right now, I'm in my chair with my wireless laptop; DS1 is in the chair beside me with his wireless laptop; DH is on the sofa with his wireless laptop. The TV is on. We just finished dinner so we're just hanging out. This is my life -- can't escape the toys! LOL

Cameron

We did without doors for the reasons above (figured they'd always be open anyway, and the TV's so wide, that they might look odd when closed). It's a fact of life here that there's a big TV in the FR and it's on most of the time, so we deal with it!

If it were me, I'd probably get the doors, even if they are only closed when you have company, or want peace and quiet. Yes, just about every household has a TV, but I don't enjoy seeing ours (its over 10 years old) - and its not even very big! Just the thought of seeing it reminds me that DH might turn it on at any moment - I loathe the sound of a TV yammering in the background when other stuff is going on :-)

A friend of ours has a super sleek flatscreen TV that sits on a pretty table, and for some reason that one doesn't bother me as much.

Our armoire has pocket doors. The only time they're closed is when dh goes out of town, but I LOVE having that option. He gets a new flat screen on a chest console in the keeping room, but that insures I'll always have the armoire with pocket doors, lol.

Hi susans02 -- as usual you have picked a lovely piece to go in your extra-lovely home (hint...if your camera is fixed, we need more photos!).

I vote for no doors. I think it will look cleaner that way unless you watch very little TV and the doors will remain closed. Good luck!

Susan ~

I would suggest no doors - unless you can find a piece with pocket doors.

We just bought a large flat screen tv and had to remove the doors on our entertainment unit. When open, the doors would stick out at least 3 inches creating a 'blinder' effect and from certain positions in the room, the doors impinged on about 2 or 3 inches of the tv screen.

Now, of course, my furniture looks like the doors broke off....I need to find a way to remove all the hardware and fill in the holes.

Here is a pic (before the new tv) with the doors open...you'll see how they protrude a few inches:
{{!gwi}}

And a pic with the doors closed (we rarely closed them):

Here's what it looks like now with no doors:
{{!gwi}}

I have something very similar to your picture (without the doors) and it looks really nice. I don't like tv's either but it doesn't bother me. Is this room a separate room from your living room or is it your only sitting area? If it is your only area, maybe you should consider the doors. If it is used mainly for media, don't bother with them as that is the room's function. That's my humble opinion :)

We had our old TV in an armoire with doors, with the idea that we'd close the doors. We don't even watch that much TV, but we closed the doors... oh, maybe once a year! So when we got our new flat TV, we decided to stop kidding ourselves and got a wide-open "here's our TV" console. However, because the console is so narrow and smaller than the big ol' armoire, the TV is a lot less noticeable than the "enclosed" one ever was. A friend just stopped over yesterday and was standing literally two feet from the TV for 15 minutes before she said "oh! there's your new TV!"

One picture as they say. I wouldn't dream of going with doors. Next one, upstairs, goes right on the wall as they're now coming with brackets and designed to work that way. Soon they'll be integral. This is 40".

I would go for no doors since it is not in the bedroom but a room that the TV will be watched often and the piece of furniture you showed us looks wonderful without doors on it.

susans02, can you post a link from where the first unit is from? I am looking for one myself and I rally like that one.

I do have one in mind pictured below, but it is on backorder:(

yiannb - here's the link below

I'm starting to think no doors - I'm afarid with 3 doors going across it maye be just TOO much wood in the room. Does that make sense? And, yes, the doors are closed when the kids are at school - but they fly open when they get home and stay that way until they go to school the next day!

Here is a link that might be useful: Domain Wall Piece

yiannab - What store is the one you posted from? I really like that one!

Thanks Susan...I couldn't tell from the site but I am betting it is $$$$$!!

Kittycat- it is on backorder they say til mid Novemeber but who knows if they get any more in. Link provided below

Here is a link that might be useful: TV unit

Our older wall unit had doors to hide the TV, but we rarely closed them. DH always has the TV on, whether he's watching it or not - even if it's just listen to the music channel while he's working around the house.

Now we have a 52" that sits on a stand and I hate that. It seems intrusive, but sometimes you just can't change the mind of men so that's a lousing battle in this household. I do want to find a nicer stand though.

YIANN...that's a gorgeous unit there. Very modern.

Got a new camera - it would go in this room:

I just ordered a new media cabinet with doors. I am really hoping I made the right decision because it's being delivered on Saturday. I struggled with this too but we have a big great room and it's the first thing you see when you walk in our house. I am commiting to closing the doors as much as I can because the piece is really pretty that way.

Your room is really pretty. I would probably vote for the doors. At least then you have the option to close them.

Good luck!

Our entertainment unit has doors that disappear into the unit, and yes, they're mostly open. But when I'm there alone, they're closed. When we have visitors or a meeting, they're closed. I love the option, and wouldn't think of not having doors!!

I just pre ordered the unit and hopefully it becomes available soon.

I was torn between doors and no doors as well. The last unit I had did have doors and when we did have them open (which was often)the edges were pretty sharp. Especially to a toddler walking around.

Since I have another one on the way, I am happy with the no doors.

Have you seen the one by th Custom Shoppe? It has a top part that holds the tv but pivots to show shelves.
http://www.customshoppefurniture.com/pages/hometheaterpages/ht888.htm

The older entertainment units (like Karezz' and mine) were designed for the old CRT TVs which were so thick the screen was right at the front of the unit. A flat screen TV sits back in the unit and can't be seen from the sides very well. Taking off the doors is one option. Is there a product like a kitchen pot drawer that would let you pull the TV out front to watch it, and push it back in to close the doors? If not, there should be. There are a lot of us who own units like that.

Yes, the last post is so true. We have our flat screen mounted on the wall and would not want doors at all since the new TVs are designed to be viewed from all sides without any distortion; they are amazing. By placing them in a cabinet that is deep enough for doors, you are cutting off the side viewing and limiting the use of the TV. I love ours on the wall with a console underneath; but if I were to have a cabinet I would make sure the screen can be viewed from the sides. It's a very nice feature to have.

We have pocket doors and a "tray" sort of thing that the TV can slide out onto so you get a better view, but even with the pocket doors and the back open, the area around the TV gets hot when they are closed. So the ugly monster is showing most of the time. I hate TVs. If it was left up to me, there would be one in the kitchen and that's it but no one wanted my opinion here at my house, so there is one in every room, either CRT or flat screen. Hate 'em. Dust producers, all.

My armoire has the retracting doors that disappear, and I do close them when we have company or a party. But it's a fact of life that everyone has a t.v. And for families that have it on when they are at home, there's not much point in pretending otherwise. If you can get something where the doors retract, it might make sense, so you could have the look you love when you have your friends over or host a party. But if the doors are going to be flying open and closed every day, someone will break them eventually. Go for the open look.

Red