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Design Dilemma living room Storage & Closet

Built-in Media Center "Hack" - Ikea?

6 years ago

I bought a new house and it has a 1970s era media center in the family room. It fits the old tube TV, with no place to mount a flatscreen and looks very dated. I spoke to a few contractors about gutting it and building a custom media center - was quoted $6-$8K. I then asked about doing something semi-custom, with Ikea or some other pre-made shelves, cabinets. They all said "sure! Just get me the specs." And this seems to be the hard part.

I've seen all kinds of Ikea hacks and blogs where people talk about turning etageres into semi-custom media center, but I can't find anything that will help me on specifics. I contacted Modsy and Havenly to see if they could design it - no. I contacted ELFA (the Container Store) and they weren't very helpful. I worry I might spend hours trying to figure out the plan with Ikea stuff (2 Billy bookcases? 4 etc) and then still make a mistake. I'm thinking bookshelves to left of the window, the right be the mounted TV plus a narrow bookshelf, cabinets on bottom.

Any ideas someone who could create a plan for pre-made cabinets that a contractor could easily implement? I would like a media center more like this.

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Comments (4)

erinsean
6 years ago
I didn't see the one you would like but suggestions for the one that is built into your house.....take out the shelving beside the right side of the TV and there should be room for a new flat TV, centered in that space.. Put a door on the left side of the window where the shelves are so that it looks like the rest. Now paint the whole thing....maybe new knobs also.

If you are wanting open shelving, then take off the two doors and 3 shelving squares off the left side and put shelves in..

If you have a handy husband or a carpenter, he could make each of the doors a little fancier before you paint them, with moldings, or medalions..... even cut some out for glass to be inserted behind them.
gustaruygers
6 years ago
What erinsean mentioned is good but your quote of 6 to 8 thousand for a custom made unit is a steal. You get exactly what you want, do it if you can or save up until...
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While I have nothing against Wayfair, it's not where I'd look for a significant focal point of your family room. In our area, having something custom built will mean a wait of at least a year and likely longer. There are also some big differences in quality of workmanship among the few custom furniture builders, and most focus on rustic looking pieces that would be at home in a fishing cabin. One retailer that may offer what you'd like is Room and Board. https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/custom/cabinets https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/media-cabinets Their custom pieces may still take 6 - 9 months while their other media cabinets may be available as soon as 3 months. Much of their furniture is made in PA, VT, NC and other US locations. In a lower price range, due to mostly being imports, are the contemporary media units offered by CB2. The store generally provides the Country of Origin in the product details. https://www.cb2.com/furniture/media-consoles/1?sortBy=priceHighToLow Good luck!
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We have klipsch audio for our movie room, we have towers flanking the tv and a large subwoofer along w other speakers (im no professiona lol) The sound, if youre into that, is ridiculous. We also have surround sound speakers built into the ceiling although im not sure if they are used during movies. In our greatroom, we also have surround sound built discreetily into the ceiling, and they have great sound. I guess it depends on if you want speakers showing, which i did not, but the media room is my husbands domain. For a sleek, customizable and very functional media console, id suggest BESTA from ikea. Google besta media consoles and you will get the idea. You can mount them on the wall which makes them look more contemporary and the illusion of not taking up a lot of floor space.
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A O
Original Author
6 years ago
Updated to clarify: I am looking for some type of virtual design service who can take the specs of our media center and design a plan based on pre-made products. For example this,

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/517773288390473281/

We used a service for our Ikea kitchen, then ordered the materials for our contractor and he installed. The place we used does not do media centers. It could be Ikea or another product but I want to present my contractor with a design with commercially available doors, shelves etc and he just do a lighter installation. Thanks
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
6 years ago
Forget actual hacks and rip all of that so dated cabinet run and go to Ikea and check out Besta you could make that wall look amazing.. Do you need bookshelves for books or only because you think you need display place for god knows what.
A O thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting

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