Multi-challenged living room TV wall

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

This is the north wall of the small living/TV room. For now it's our main livingroom. After the Four-Seasons room remodel we will have a larger dedicated lounge/TV/company room. For now, this is it.

The wall, and the room, are 11' 10" wide. The "Living Room" area is about 15' long. The rest of the space is the infamous closet/breakfast nook/front door entry area that has just been (finally) completed.

I need help, folks.

I want a run of lower cabinets, (some with drawers, some with doors) 24"-30" wide bookshelves at each end, display space, and a wall hung 42" TV. I want it all , and DH has agreed to do it now ! :)

A normal TV cabinet will not do; they simply don't have room for the oversize books, photo albums, electronic gizmos, cameras, G0-Pros, binoculars, etc. that I need to have easy access too. Our house is very small; I need to use every inch.

I will post my "ideas" after this. I don't want it to get so long-winded you write me off! Please, offer any and all advice you can think of.

The chairs are gone. They might be recovered and moved to the sewing room. This is the only photo I have that shows "the wall." The construction materials and drop cloths are gone now.

I thought I could fill the wall with an 8-ft run of kitchen-type cabinets. At the max they could be 8'6" wide. That would leave plenty of room to walk through the arched doorway that leads to the den, sewing room, and bathroom.

Right now I have two old upper cabinets set on the floor, and a larger end table filling this 8' space. I wanted to get an idea how wide the unit could be, and how far it could project into the room; 18"-24" will work fine.

There are no heat vents on this wall. The electrician will add outlets and the hidden TV wiring whereever I want it. The drop cloth is in front of the over-wide window that fills the east wall; I lost that battle.

The challenge...

Featured Answer

starnold

8 years ago

If you want to maximize the cabinet space I've had success using angle cabinets near a restricted doorway.

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Comments (11)

caroline94535
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
And some ideas...

Wes would like hickory cabinets. He's flexible, but if he wants hickory, that's fine with me. The floors, baseboards, and trim is oak.

I have pulled some photos off of the Internet to give a general idea of what I want.

I think I could use three base cabinets; each end would be door units, one with pull-outs, possibly. The center unit should be 18"-24" wide with two shelves for cable boxes, DVDs, etc. The bottom could be a deeper drawer or pullout.

I like the wider top and the set back bookshelf ideas shown here. The TV would be a bit higher. We watch it from our recliners.

I have no idea who first drew this drawing. I found it on an "image search" several years ago. Imagine it with only one stack of drawers in the center.
caroline94535
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I do not have a fireplace, nor do I have an arched wall, but the bottom cabinets shown here would make me happy.

I don't want a lot of open storage; I live with too much dust and dog hair for that. I would keep books on the shelfs, and use the extra counter top area for seasonal displays and the occasional buffet food use.
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caroline94535
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I don't think my unit could go to the ceiling; and I don't want a shelf above the TV (do I?), but this is almost the look I'm hoping for, again the unit can be, plain, painted, hickory, oak - whatever.

Because my arched door way has only 3" (inches) of space between it and the TV wall, I can not span the entire area as shown here. We don't have surround sound, that will be on the four-seasons porch later.

Again, I snagged these photos off of the Internet. I don't know who to attribute them too, but if I need to delete them, I will.
caroline94535
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Again, I can't go wall to wall, but here's what appears to be a hickory unit that I like. I'd use different hardware, and no stain on the hickory.

I think I'd want the area behind the TV open with no shelf above, or painted my wall color - or should it be a contrasting color?
Shades_of_idaho
8 years ago
Well of course it is not up to what I like but I really like the first and third one. And not all the way as you said on the third one. Which just about makes it the same as first one. So glad you came back on your room. I was reading about it earlier. LOVE your paint color. Your closet addition. Just the general feel of the room.

I laughed out loud on the dog and cat hair and YES it does get up on shelves some how. I also hate to dust. We have 2 dogs 8 cats. Four kitties do live outside though.
cupofkindnessgw
8 years ago
I just took this picture on my phone and I'm typing this on my phone. My kids are playing a lot of video games which is why you see so many cables and wires. Ordinarily, it's fairly tidy.

We designed this cabinet 10 years ago. The base cabinets are nearly completely unstructured which allows use to put just about anything inside. Originally our old TV was in the base cabinets but five years ago we bought a flat screen. There are four base cabinets and the three right ones are completely open to each other underneath. The cabinet under the world globe is self contained. There are three separate shelving units above. The entire unit is made of MDF except for an oak edging along the front. We have ten foot ceilings in this room but the built-on is about seven feet tall and twelve feet wide. It's not perfect but it has served us very well. Family games are stored in the right-most cabinet, then videos, then equipment like DVD players, VHS player, the next can has a receiver, CD player... You get the idea. You may not see the cream colored speakers on the top, but follow the ugly wire up on the right. The base cabinets are about 38" tall. Good luck with your project!
talley_sue_nyc
8 years ago
I made a TV wall of sorts--I had a cabinet place make bookcases w/ doors for the bottom, and set them in place, then had them make a countertop to sit on top of them and make an uninterrupted surface.

You could use kitchen cabinets to make the lower section.

For the upper shelves, which needed to store books, I attached vertical shelf standards to the wall and slipped brackets into the slots, then cut boards to make shelves.

I'll post some pics later.
jakkom
8 years ago
I can recommend using the Sanus brand of wall-mount for your TV. We bought it and are in love with it! Very heavy duty, easy to move and tilt. Our contractors were super-impressed with its quality. Sold at Best Buy and thru Amazon.
Wendy
8 years ago
Are you still looking for suggestion? We actually used a completely closed cabinet for the TV. My LR is tiny, So, like you, we need every inch.

The cabinet is 18 inches deep. We attached a piece of wood to the wall to account for trim depth and for strength. Then, attached the bracket to another piece of wood on the inside and the wood behind the cabinet. It created a sandwich, more or less, for the back panel of the cabinet. also had to add the wiring holes. It worked out pretty well.

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Debbie B.
8 years ago
Hi Caroline, wow, that is a challenging space! When are you doing your "four seasons" room? I'm just wondering because it seems like the things you want and your DH has agreed to are a fairly large undertaking, in time, expense, and big furniture that might be difficult to repurpose. What will this space become when you have the new TV/company space? Also, if I may ask, what region of the country do you live in?

I agree with you about not wanting the open storage. The picture you posted with those open shelves is my least favorite, although I realize you were really looking at the bottom cabinets. The wood against that green wall in that picture is unattractive, in my personal opinion. Also, it's really, really hard to pull off open shelving or even open bookshelves unless you're super organized and have some very nice things to display; otherwise it just looks messy and cluttered.

The white unit is by far my favorite, because it looks the least "heavy." I know your DH wants hickory, but, and this is just my personal opinion, a long room like that with wood floors and then a massive wood wall structure just looks very unbalanced to me. The hugeness of the entertainment center and TV just completely dominate the room. The white one lightens up the whole room and just automatically looks cleaner and not like a mess. I would hope that you're not planning to completely fill every inch of shelf space; if you can balance the space on either side of the TV, that would be nice.

My understanding is that you want the bottom cabinets to hold over-sized photo albums and photography equipment? That seems like a great idea! I think the whole concept is solid. I would just urge you to think about lighter colors, and using white areas, i.e. not filling all the space, giving it a light, airy look to counter balance the room both spatially and color wise and not make one end "wood heavy."

Also, think about what you want that room to be when it's no longer the TV lounge. Maybe a kind of library/quiet space/conversation room? Perhaps where the TV was you could do a small gallery wall-or one big work of art, with a few smaller framed pieces on the shelves, breaking up the space between the stacks. Just some thoughts.