3.26.2011

Making a Cool Feature Better

Hi all! Tim here, with my first DIY blog post

One of the many things I love about this apartment is this cool mantelpiece we have in the living room. It’s tall and beautifully structured, great moulding, and has this neat mirror on the top half - it’s a great focal point for the room. And since it doesn’t have an actual fireplace in it, Jen and I knew right away it’d make a great frame for a TV!

Since there aren’t a lot of entertainment centers that sit low enough to the ground to work in the space, we took on the challenge of building our own. We spent a few nights playing with some designs on paper, and eventually settled on an asymmetrical look that perfectly fits my TiVo, XBox and Wii. We very carefully measured out the interior of the mantel so the height and width of the TV would fit nicely in the space.

The following weekend, My Dad and I bought some pine from The Depot, and using a table saw, some biscuit joiners and glue, we built the bad boy you see before you.


We only hit one hitch when my dad leaned on it before the glue had dried.  In a slow motion fall, the whole thing collapsed on itself.  Jen had just stepped outside to check our progress out so she saw the whole thing- it was hilarious.



The floating effect was achieved by cutting small pieces off of some mid-size dowels and using them as legs set a few inches inside the frame. I also took on the task painting it with a high gloss white that we matched to the mantle (warning: white comes in dozens of shades), which made the whole thing look like it had always been built that way.  Added bonus - there’s enough room behind the stand to conceal all my power strips, cables, cable modem, router, and other messy electronic crap!