Austin-Morgan Closets Blog
Custom Entertainment Center to Hide Your TV
The television can be the source of so many household dilemmas. It’s bad enough when two people can’t agree on what show to watch, but what about when one person doesn’t want to look at the TV at all? Cabinets were fine in the days when TVs were big and bulky, but with today’s flat screens, hulking furniture pieces don’t make a lot of sense. To keep your screen from feeling like the center of attention in the living room, here are some tips to redirect attention back to your decor, with a custom entertainment center.
Televisions are decor black holes: When off, the large black surfaces suck up light and draws way too much attention to such an undecorative piece. One of the simplest ways to hide them is with a custom entertainment center. Place a TV in front of (or even set into) a very dark wall. This will literally camouflage your screen to the point where you barely notice it at all. Accomplish the method with stone cladding or inky paint (either as a full accent wall or just the area around the TV. For the ultimate effect, a glossy black wood finish will mimic the sheen of the screen itself for the ultimate in chameleon-like camo.
Custom entertainment centers, rather than full-height cabinets to enclose the TV, often simply surround the TV with a wall of floating shelves to help visually distract from the screen while adding useful storage (which often would be filled with DVDs in the past, but are more often just decorative in the age of streaming). Positioning the TV asymmetrically within a media wall helps de-emphasize it further, making the wall feel like a composition that includes various items (such as flowers and vases), instead of making the screen the central star of the show.
A Custom Entertainment Center Hides Your TV
Often TVs are installed far too high, as people tend to place them where they look best from a standing position, forgetting that they will actually be viewed while sitting down. Placing your TV at the proper angle helps take your eyes off it the rest of the time, especially if you tuck it under some shelves painted in a fun hue. Dark floors or a dark rug will help it visually sink away into the ground where it won’t be noticed until it’s TV time.
To take a less hypermodern approach, place a TV in a full bookshelf system to create a more transitional look. Encasing the TV in a custom entertainment center can help it blend even further, so only the essential screen is visible. Keep in mind that a frame will block the remote receiver, so you may need a device to reroute the signal from a receiver tucked on a nearby shelf.
Again, asymmetry can be your friend, as placing the TV off to one side in a wide bookcase or pair of cases will keep it from feeling like the visual focal point. Depending on the furniture arrangement, this can also leave a TV well-positioned to be watched from a sectional sofa or favorite chair, even if it’s off-center from some of the other seats.