I am happy that others see the beauty in the simplicity :) cat_mom, yes indeed. I think I bought an entire bubinga tree (in slabs)! It may not be called 'eco-conscious' to use tropical hardwoods but my definition of eco is different. I build things of out quality stuff and dont plan on replacing it during my lifetime. So a piece of furniture will last me decades, vs something that is replaced every 10 years as tastes change, trends change. Reduce, reuse, recycle (in that order). Anyway, I love your walnut pieces. I am sure they will last your lifetime too! To impress your DH, the hometheater has more components. There are two more amps that are close to the main speakers. I have a 5.1 surround sound with a high def projector on a 150" screen. The black tube on the right is a 12" hsu research subwoofer.

Thanks for all the help. I'm adjusting my mind to the idea of a really dark ceiling and trying to imagine how the room will look when the room isn't being used as a "theater". I probably should have said in my original post that this our general rec room and will probably also act as the grandchildrens' "dorm" at some point. This room also has two windows and a glass door to a porch. I was planning on using white plantation shutters in the rest of the house and I don't think the white plantation shutters will work well for light control. Since these windows will be very visible from the street do you think it's important to keep the window treatments uniform or can I do something different on these windows from the rest of the house? I'm definitely way out of my comfort zone on this and any help will be appreciated.

Hi. The least expensive way and nicest looking would be to dry wall in the wall and hang the tv on the wall. If you have a lot of components, they could be housed in the current niche space and accessed from the stair wall side with a small door. In the future (or now if you have the funds), an even better idea would be to again, dry wall in the niche, buy a linear fireplace and then mount the tv on the wall above it.

Over 12 feet wide and nearly ten feet tall, this wall media unit is one of my biggest projects to date. It is built from quartersawn sycamore and book-matched figured sycamore veneer. The walnut counter top, baseboard, and pulls add some contrast to the beautiful sycamore. One of the challenges of this project was accommodating all the audio equipment and speakers as well as ensuring access between the various cabinets to run all the wiring. I was pretty nervous about this all coming together during the installation of the unit, but fortunately, my client knew exactly how everything needed to be wired and took care of it while we were installing the cabinets. Amazingly enough, everything worked on the first try as well, a rarity in my experience with entertainment centers! The unit features inset doors with soft close hinges, solid maple drawer boxes with self-close full extension under-mount drawer guides, custom walnut pulls, glass display shelves, LED lighting and cove crown molding made in house.