My wife said that if I built in our entertainment nook I could but a new
70" LED TV. ;~)
Well the price dropped on the top of the line model that I have been looking at and we got the TV at a reduced price, $900.00 off the going price. I got the TV and the savings will pay for the entertainment center.
We are going for a different type look. Walnut panels mounted vertically and floating out from the existing wall behind the TV and a walnut console, for the electronics and storage, that will remind some of you of a 60's console stereo. The electronics will be under the top and behind the front 3 grilled doors. Top access to ease adding equipment and routing wires.
Groovy man. Now by that particle board and walnut laminate and get to work.
More seriously, seeing the way the panels are configured it seems a natural for some motorized contraption where the TV gets hidden away when not in use and replaced by a piece of art or another panel orsomething
I think I am going to buy a single sheet of 1/2" walnut plywood and rip it in to two pieces. Then paint their edges black along with the exposed sections of the wall. Ill hang the two panels with french cleats along their tops and bottoms.
Funny you should mention that. This particular TV has an option to display "museum type art" when it is turned off. The brightness goes dim and a slide show begins a number of preloaded pictures. Or plug in a USB flash drive and have it display your own selection of art. This feature can be turned off but will automatically shut down 3 hours after turning the TV to off/standby mode. Supposedly there is very little usage of electricity in this mode.
I really like the concept of the console. The only thing I would vary would be to a lighter wood, but I live in the woods in the NW so I'm going to look at it differently. I imagine that having enough light in a room where you live is not much of a concern. 8-)
Thank you~ I'll try to remember to show the progress as I go. I'm buying the wall panels tomorrow and will finish that before proceeding with the cabinet.
The dark wood is a concern but this will be tucked away in that nook which is about 20" deep so I think it will only look dark when you are watching TV, and that is what I am after. Originally I had nixed the panels and was going to simply paint the wall flat black. I was afraid that all that darkness would suck your eye balls right out of your head like a black hole. ;~) I have 11' tall ceilings and walls, the nook is only 8' tall so there will still be plenty of light colored paint above all of this and on the nook arced top and sides.
The dark wall behind might be good.....think about putting some kind of low-level light behind the TV panel, to provide a bit of a glow, so the dark doesn't suck your eyeballs out.
Also - remember to provide plenty of cooling airflow for the electronics. Don't cook the goodies. ;)
-Kevin in Indy To reply, remove (+spamproof+) from address........
I think I'd want to have the lower cabinet top fully removable instead of hinged access. I'd use sanded till they're slightly loose dominos as pins to hold it in place.
I like it. Attractive AND practical. What kind of grill are you thinking of?
I have a couple of far future projects that are rather similar. One is wall mounting a TV in the bedroom; planned to use walnut panels as a frame/background and to hide the wires. Another is an arched niche like yours between the LR and my office. I want to leave the upper part of the niche open so TV etc will go in the lower, need to use a combination of roll up door (for TV) and sliding doors for the rest. African mahogany (khaya) and black. All Sketchupped, gotta finish my current projects first.
I had that Idea and had forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder. Loose fitting would be better, my current dowel configuration requires two people and they have to lift straight up.
At the moment black speaker grill fabric, I used this material 18 years ago for the current cabinet but it was a single center speaker grill. It worked out well. I fear getting 3 separate fabric grills to match considering the possibility of stretch. I was at a Magnolia design center and noticed the cabinets had a metal grill painted black. That would absolutely be the easiest to install but I wonder where to get that type material
Love the concept, but in my ignorance I sit here wondering what you are doing with audio treatment (speakers) and, with all electronics contained within, how are you dealing with remote control line of site issues? Of course I am aware of hard wired master consoles and/or rf wireless sytems via HTPCs etc, but simply curious as to your own solutions?
Having some problems with my newsreader. I will try this one more time. These are my opinions only! Ya wanted comments, so here goes. ;-)
1) I find those flat screen furniture that hide the screen to be big, bulky and not that interesting. If you are gong to a fancy display to show off that big ass TV, display it proudly! Show it off. Just give it a wipe down now and then to keep the dust away.
The idea of dark around the screen is good. It is easier on the eyes.
Want to hide the other components? You may need to see them to operate them. Changing channels, etc. is much easier if you can actually see the display.
Make it remote friendly. I had to modify a couple entertainment centers when folks who were sitting in their easy chair could not activate the components that controlled what was up on that big screen. On one such job, I had to cut out much of one side of the opening to allow access to the infrared ports on the cable box and DVD player. On another, I drilled some holes. Neither were very attractive. Just functional. But they had too much money into everything to pay for something custom or nice.
To continue the past point, make everything future upgrade friendly. I just replaced my cable box a few days ago. It was smaller and the infrared port was on the opposite side. I had to reposition the box and angle it slightly. The opening allowed this. But I had to put a block under it. Or stand to use the remote.
Sooooo....., You need remote access now, and into the future. Plan, and build accordingly.
And speaking of remotes, here is an idea. I saw this a couple of times. Why not a custom "cabinet" for the remotes? Ideally something that would allow you to "put it away" after use. Ya know, to keep the dust off of them. I never met a remote that did not get dirty and dusty. And they get misplaced from time to time. Create a nice little "home" for them and they tend to stay healthier, cleaner and accessible. Maybe a place to put drinks down as well. Or the TV guide, etc. A dedicated cabinet that takes care of all your need by the easy chair while viewing your favorite programs.
One of my pet peeves about big cabinets for electronics is that they often become junk collectors. People stack all kinds of crap on them. Use this for the electronics and nothing else. If you need to store something, stash it away inside a drawer or cabinet. Keep the overall appearance clean and uncluttered. Out of that context, try to design it so that is a shortage of available space to stack crap on it that doesn't belong there!
I gotta run. That is all I could think of off the top of my head. (To maintain your wrec credibility, you need to use at least 432 dominoes on this project!) :-)
I have DirecTv. With their box you can get an RF remote. Fantastic that you don't have to aim it or be in line with anything. Check to see if that is available for your main components.
All my gear is in a 19" EIA computer rack (APC, ivory, with smoked glass front panel) in a completely different room from the display. A simple IR receiver/RF transmitter and RF receiver/IR transmitter works well to tunnel the remote from the viewing room into the equipment room (and the smoked glass panel doesn't block the IR signals).
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