Sheila was never a fan of the console that held her TV and other media equipment, especially given its size in relation to the awkward corner that housed the installation. Months ago she found the ideal solution to her dilemma and ordered an artist's easel to convert into a TV/media stand. With just a little modification, she was able to transform the easel and therefore her living room.
As you can see from above, the existing media console was the wrong size and the wrong shape for the space- overwhelming the small room. Though it had loyally served for years, it simply didn't work in its new home.
Sheila and her husband added two shelves to the easel to hold all their electronics before painting the entire unit black. They drilled holes to mount their surround sound system, and used metal strapping to secure the TV to the stand (connected the strapping to the holes on the back of the TV designed for a wall mount). The end result is a sculptural addition to their living room, one with a much more compact footprint than their original unit.
See more: SZInteriors: Artist Easel to TV Stand
Images: Sheila Zeller/SZInteriors
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This is one of the most ingenious things I've ever seen. I do think that it might look a liitle better left in the wood finish for contrast with the electronics and for a little more variety in the room that already features so much black. Fun to see things put to such unexpected and imaginative uses.
http://www.restorationhardware.com/catalog/product/product.jsp?productId=prod1617119
Thought I'd seen this idea before...
I LOVE this idea...creative AND inexpensive--a winner!
It looks like something they could have purchased at Best Buy. I'm not a fan of media consoles like this. The idea is cool, I guess, but it just seems so garish. I would have kept the easel and purchased a nice unit that could hide the equipment rather than making it so overbearing. To each his or her own, though. Still a neat idea.
I've seen this done before and Nate Berkus did this on his show last season. I think painting it black was a mistake as it now looks like a big, clunky thing you'd find in a server room of an IT company. It should have been left like it was or painted an interesting color...Mr. Berkus' show featured it in magenta. I do like the idea, but this wasn't the best iteration of it.
i think part of the problem is that the photo is too dark to really see how it turned out.
What a small TV! ;^)
how well does it balance? it seems to me it would be a bit top-heavy?
I agree that the original wood tone would have made a nice contrast to all the black of the electronics.
I really like it in Black. That color is great for TVs. It makes TV more invisible... Since I've got my black TV table I don't see the 40'ish " in the living room anymore when I get there.
They have this at World Market right now, too, if anyone sees this and is aching to have one without all of the work. Probably a lot less expensive than Restoration Hardware!
Recent issue of Houise and Home Magazine (Canada) provides a terrrific step-by-step tutorial on hacking an artist's easel for flat screen tv/ media stand. Worth checking out.
Whoops...errant keystroke...it's "House and Home Magazine" --formerly Canadian House and Home.
Thank you so much for the feature! What an awesome surprise! It's fun to read all the feedback - I wish I'd seen the TV easel on the Nate Berkus show - now magenta would have been way too much fun :-)
I think the thing that makes it feel a bit server-room-ish is the big silver appliance on the bottom. The rest has a really cool feeling to me and isn't too industrial with the black paint :)
Love it! We're still known as Canadian House & Home magazine, njm4487. Not to worry! Our TV stand instructions can be found here: http://houseandhome.com/design/diy-easel-tv-stand
Seema Persaud
H&H Web Promotions Editor
We did this 6 years ago & still love it! We bought a new one but decided to make it look "used" with paint splatters.
After we measured for the correct viewing height we screwed it all together so it couldn't move up and down anymore. We attached a regular wall TV bracket so we knew it would sit correctly and flat for viewing.
It's very sturdy and is not falling anywhere. Sometimes we have a DVD of our photos (or some art) playing so it becomes a frame.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karandash/2678864167/in/set-72157606713424529/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karandash/2678863995/in/set-72157606713424529/