apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

nice!

thanks for addressing this interior design conundrum!

we've been waiting for the HD regulations to be more solidified before making another tv purchase. the switchover to digital tv broadcasts in the usa appears to be set for february of 2009:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15917619

p.s.-- aside from some gasoline and a few groceries to deliver us home from grandfather's house, it was a no buy day for us on this black friday.

I love AT house tours, but it seems like 75% of people who do them... their TV mysteriously disapears (or they don't have one). I've been looking for inspiration, and I think I found it here.

Thanks!!!

nice round up -- but so many screens that are so big

Great post and lovely interiors. My only criticism is that some of the screens have been placed too high for proper viewing levels.

since my current tv works just fine (and i cannot yet afford a fancy flat screen display), what i want to know is if that tuxedo kitty in picture number one actually watches that television. my cat has never been interested in tv since the first day he came home from the spca, looked at the racket coming from the tv with mild indifference, and then found the toilet paper--which has thrilled him ever since.

In the case of the TVs mounted on the walls, where are the cables? How did you guys get the cables into the wall? Did you do that yourself or did you have an installer run the cables in the wall? Thanks. We're thinking of doing something similar and can't figure out a way to not have the cables dragging beneath.

Carla-

I was asking my boyfriend the same question. He told me that it's only drywall, and apparently, you can run the cables behind the drywall to the TV. He said it's really simple to cover back up, you just have to get drywall Spackle stuff (that's the technical term) to cover up the hole... Now while that may seem easy as pie, I don't want to have holes in my walls. Another option is to paint molding the same color as your walls and use it to cover the molding. Personally, I think that's a lot simpler.

Good luck!

hey, that is my cat on AT again!

installing the cables isn't as hard as you think. as long as you are reasonably confident that you have a vertical space that is clear from the tv mount to the cabinet below you just use a hole-saw and cut two holes at each end to feed the cables through. a good trick is to get a vinyl coated thin wire that is 3 times the length of your cable run and use as the first cable through, then tie a loop midway on that cable to guide another cable down, untie the pulled cable at the bottom and tie another to pull up. back and forth a few times and you have all the cables you need.

a big of advice: even if you don't think you are going to use all the cable hookups on the back of that fancy plasma tv you should connect and thread a cable for each hookup while you are doing the project. the extra cost in cables up front is well worth it so you don't have to do it again later when you buy one more component.

it was pretty easy so i did it twice, here is our bedroom lcd http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/photo/021407averytour/avery22/large

cheers,
avery

well said avery. i definitely agree on making sure you have connector cables for all your ports even if you aren't using them now. one of the perks of doing this is that you can also buy longer cables and have your other equipment stashed away elsewhere. but if you do go with the stashing, make sure you buy decent quality cables because the signal can degrade after X feet (sorry can't remember the number).

if you're not comfortable with doing the cabling yourself, most AV shops that sell wall mounts should also offer this installation service. my parents are going to be mounting their tv over the fireplace, and will be getting a cable plate installed that covers all their ports.

Too late to submit another entry? :-) I designed a pre-rusted steel frame to hold our plasma -- suspended off of stainless steel cables that hang from a beam in our loft. Frame is backlit with cove lighting (hard to see in this photo), so it gives a real sense of added depth at night when watching movies.

http://lh5.google.com/jmcfarland/Rwg7JdwHXRI/AAAAAAAAA4U/PyS9zWXuXfg/s800/IMG_0958.jpg

avery,

thanks for reminding me about your place. you guys did a great job.

can I ask you if you split the signal from your tv receiver in the living room and are sharing it with the tv in the bedroom?

jdmc--that's fantastic, very dramatic.

jdmc..is there a chance that I may get your design to do a similar project? I really dig your design. My email is iowark@yahoo.com

Thanks for this...you have given me a good idea with a faux mantle!

sorry...mantel

jdmc, that's awesome.

jdmc, that is really cool. Both an original idea and great execution. Congratulations on a fantastic result!

I picked out a white tv so at least the frame of the tv would blend in to the surroundings at least.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/2561860527/in/set-72157604905980162/

On the subject of wiring, I snaked the wires down the wall and all the way to the left of the room underneath a window and into an alcove that I custom built to keep the cable box, sound system, etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_chel/1874086992/in/set-72157603018898056/

If I could do it again, I would have snaked a DV-VMI cord through as well so that I could set the computer up in the corner and run it through the tv for videos, photos, etc.

Not a big deal though because a mounted flat screen has a fair amount of room behind it where you can stash various cords, even a power strip.

Think different, try mounting on the wall over an attractive 30 inch book case. Click here to see example.

JAMESINSF!

YOU RICKROLLED ME!!!! lol

jdmc...That's *&^%$# HOT!!!

I'd like to think that my flat screen is set up rather nicely also. The shoji screen hides the L and R front speakers.

http://flickr.com/photos/starjewel/2500585713/in/set-72157594206118839/

jdmc: that's really fantastic looking!

jdmc, I like yours the best.

I posted on AT the other day about our TV but I think it applies here too. We put ours on an easel. Fun to look at and makes it the correct viewing height (I agree that a lot of these shown are too high).
HERE and HERE