This is a very clever idea for renters who've splurged on flat-panel TVs. (Far less of a Bay Area anomoly than you'd think these days, with rents on the rise.)
DWR's Italian-made Muro Media Storage allows you to create the clean look of a wall-mounted screen without the hard-wiring of cables and power cords through your walls.
Don't get too carried away with excitement, there's still some DIY: the unit comes unassembled and is made of MDF, and the clever idea is that you paint or wallpaper it to blend into or complement your walls. The effect is of a floating screen, no wires.
The frame bears loads up to 100 pounds and has a structural panel with a universal system for hanging a plasma or LCD television. Cables are tucked behind the panel.
If you're thinking about upgrading to flat panel, it's smart to have both a plan and a budget for mounting and wiring it. DWR's unfinished Muro provides one possible plan. The budget? $498.
And if you want to bypass the painting, a version in glass (same effect, higher price tag), is $1498.
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Comments (11)
That is a great idea. But I would love to have someone handy with MDF spec it out and let us know if buying it for almost $500 is comparable to making it yourself? I mean it's MDF, not steel or oak. Is there anyone out there willing to find out and post the info here?
Renters wallpaper their apartments? Not if I were the landlord.
serioulsy. i'm terrified to even paint.
You can get a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" thick MDF for like $20 at Home Depot. It's just a bunch of rectangular pieces. You can even get them to cut it for you (althought not super accurrate) for like $0.25/cut (I think your first two are free). So, depending on how much you value your time, I don't think it is worth $500. A reasonably handy person should be able to make something this simple in a few hours.....
I think this could be worth $500, because if you read the description it includes a universal plasma mount. Those usually cost around $100-$150, so really you are only paying $350-$400 for the rest of the setup including the shelves.
Aside from the cost to buy versus DIY -- what seems cool to me is the ability to PAINT it to blend with the walls. Landlords sometimes do know what paint color they used or even have leftovers to share.
MDF: up to $25 depending on where you buy it (I just bought one for $22). Where I buy the first two cuts are free and each additional cut is $1.
Screws: similar sized project MDF screws cost me $8
Plasma mounts: that size, about $120... but small to medium screen mounts can be as low as $25 if you just want a flat mount. It's tilt & pull-out arm that drive up the prices (but those features are worth it!). Best prices I've seen are through mountcenter.com (no affiliation) and they have free shipping.
Additional mounts: for the DVD, etc, generally run about $15 each but some creative shopping and you could find those cheaper.
So to duplicate their version I'm calculating just over $200 but below $225.
Note: I'd add earthquake straps for safety, from the unit to the wall studs, because they're helpful for earthquake *and* child/pet safety and this unit doesn't have a wide enough base to balance the TV weight in a good shake.
If you're handy, this is a relatively simple project (with the cuts done for you at the homestore/lumberyard and a decent drill with the appropriate drill bits), but if you're not handy you might want to pay DWR and save yourself the frustration.
If you do post it please share a picture of the final result!
BTW, clever design, I'm impressed that someone came up with a sleek way to hide all the wires AND offer something suitable for use by renters!
Quick follow-up: I just noticed dozens of wall mounts for flat panel TV's, on eBay, for under $30 (some for specific brands, some universal)... I searched for 'wall mount tv'.
If you check the details (and DWR is thin here), this unit somehow includes brackets that aren't shown to attach it to the wall -it would totally flip over otherwise. Plus it includes powder coated (I think) shelves for 4 of your components. Plus screws and hardware all predrilled to put it all together - it's not just a flat sheet but a flat front with a frame behind it and all the cams and stuff you need. If you have a home shop and know what you're doing, I'm sure you could duplicate this for probably $200. But if it looks crappy and you just spent $1500 on a TV, how much money are you really saving? This is definitely priced about $100 high, but please name other similar options in your price range - unless you're doing it yourself, I don't know of any.
Bought one. Great idea, less than great execution - esp for the price. My installers cursed it. Now that it is up, it looks fine but not way to access outlets, etc behind the unit except to take it off the wall. The shelves needed shimming to be straight because the MDF didn't hold the fasterns well.