Before we became homeowners, $1000 would have seemed like an insane amount of money to spend on a single wall. After spending large amounts of time comparison shopping, $1000 is actually a solid value to outfit a wall of this size (142 inches wide, about 95 inches high). (That price is not including the TV, books, stereo, etc. Just the cabinets and shelving system).
Our criteria for this wall was: cabinets (important to hide clutter), book shelves, space for a TV, and <$1000. Another issue was the a baseboard runs along the wall, so ideally, whatever we choose will rise above it so as not to insulate the room from the heater!
When trying to find a source to create a media wall our first inclination (and still is for any furniture need) was to see what Ikea had. The Ikea Billy would be the easiest option. They have multiple colors and a wide variety of accessories to integrate a TV into. The problem is that the Billy isn't the sturdiest or most attractive furniture set. The system is plastic veneered fiberboard masquerading (poorly) as wood. It does the job, but not in a aesthetically pleasing way. Most depressing of all, a Billy system to cover the wall is nearly $1000, which we had set as our unofficial budget for the wall.
The next option I seriously considered was the Ikea Ivar. It's made of unfinished pine wood, which after being stained or painted could be a very attractive piece. It also has options for cabinets, which though plain could be enhanced by gluing some trim to the doors. It would only cost around $600. The major deal breaker was the TV - the shelves are only wide enough to accommodate a 32'' LCD. Which happens to be the size we currently own, but we hope to upgrade to something a little bigger in a few years. I looked into making wider shelves, but the Ivar shelves have a custom metal bracket on each end that would have been very difficult to fabricate.
After two strikes, I came up with my best and final idea. Ikea kitchen cabinets for the base (~$600), container store elfa shelving brackets (~$250), and premium pine shelving that I would cut to size and have J stain (~$150). It's a strange idea on (e)paper. Kitchen cabinets? Closet shelving system? But it gave excellent flexibility in determining the width and height and had the added benefit of the cabinets rising above the baseboard heat. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. We did buy handles for the doors, but I think we will keep them off. The "expanse of wood" effect would be lost with some handles sticking out.
So, along with the fireplace wall,
the living room is coming into form. We still have to design the entry way portion of the living room:
The current plan (at least in my mind), is to replace that arm chair with a love seat. Behind the love seat will go a Ikea Expedit arranged horizontally. The two rugs will be replaced with one large, rust-colored wool rug. Beyond that, I'm not sure. We'd like to have a coat and umbrella rack. More book shelves and storage could be nice. I'd like to leave some wall space available to hang paintings or photographs. Maybe some modular cubes arranged like a triangle? Lots of options....
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