I was tired of the clunky and idiotic "entertainment center" in my house. While it's a new (well, built in '05 and I bought it shortly thereafter) house, it sure could have benefited from a "Queer Eye for the Straight Home builder" tips, I decided to take matters into my own unskilled hands and make something better.
This is what I started with;
Obviously a bigger TV wouldn't fit and it just looked... cheap and relatively unsymmetrical. Insymmetrical? Desymmetrical? Hmm... it wasn't symmetric at all.
My grand plan wanted a recessed wall so a larger TV would still be flush with the wall and not protrude too much, and still have some ability to angle left/right and come out a bit. I also wanted the cables hidden a bit better.
As with many DIY things, the specs changed while I was in the process...
What does your discerning eye see? A
curved wall? Indeed!
That was the hard part. All the wiring and outlets etc was pretty simple. I basically made extenders of the HDMI, RCA and other connectors from the plate behind the TV down to the cubby where media center and stuff would sit.
Mostly done. Cubby and wall finished. Mudding done, texture sprayed and paint sample is applied. You can spot the ceiling fan. Might as well add that if I'm already accessing wiring. :)
Paint is finished, trim applied and painted. single-stud, fully articulating mounting bracket for up to 65" TV installed! It mounts vertically since the wall is curved. A horizontal bracket wouldn't work. This is also why there is a massive six studs tied together behind it for lots of support.
The TV is in, along with the sound system.
To show my mustachian roots (long before I knew I was a mustachian), this TV and soundbar was purchased at Walmart. Yes, I researched what I wanted/needed and they had it.
Since I get credit card points, I found that if I used my points website to click through to Walmart, I would get five times the points for the purchase.
Every 10K points is $100 cash back in my account. Effectively a $100 discount on the TV.