Top 5 Living Room TV Solutions

We share our Top 5 Living Room TV Solutions

Have you ever asked yourself how to make your living room in to a home cinema? Here at Custom Controls we have installed hundreds (if not thousands!) of televisions in to people’s homes. This blog post details our favourite techniques and products to enable a seamless installation, making your living room in to a home cinema!

1 – Wall Hung

The wall hung TV is the neatest installation possible – a centralised audio video system allows us to hide all source equipment away so ‘just’ a TV floating on the wall has access to Sky TV, DVD players and games console. Sound for the TV can be enhanced by ceiling speakers, soundbars or on-wall speakers, depending on the room the TV is to be installed in and the customer requirements. This is our most common installation.

Crestron Installation Primrose Hill — A Wall hung TV from our Primrose Hill Project

2 – The Simple TV Stand

These lovely stands from our friends at Future Automation are beautiful. A simple metal pole holds the TV and can be installed in a corner etc – the stand can even be motorised to rotate to preset positions if required! The same sound reinforcements can also be applied here – under mounted soundbars in a bespoke width to match the TV can create a very nice aesthetic!

Future Automation TV Stand — Image (c) Future Automation

3 – Fully Hidden TVs

A lot of the time clients don’t want the TV to be the focal point of the room so we install one of the hidden TV options from Future Automation. TV Lifts, moving picture mechanisms and hinged panels can hide the largest of TVs away in any kind of room. Combining these with the centralised audio video system allows a TV to pop out of it’s hiding place and have a wealth of sources available. We often install TV lifts in custom furniture at the end of beds for clients.

Future Automation End of Bed TV Lift — Image (c) Future Automation

4 – TV Cabinets

he under TV unit has been around as long as TVs – a simple piece of furniture houses all the TV sources required – everything from Sky TV through to surround sound amplifiers and games consoles. Infrared repeaters can allow remote controls to work even with doors closed and can create a clean aesthetic in a living room. We often install this solution in our garden room home cinema rooms as these rooms tend to be stand alone and not part of a centralised audio video system. Our range of cabinets is extremely flexible and can be made in custom widths and colours and include specific mounts for soundbars. We even do a modular range where a whole cabinet can be a subwoofer! This off the shelf cabinet work can be the perfect solution for the right project.

Future Automation TV Lift in Hayden Furniture — Image (c) Hayden Furniture

5 – Bespoke Furniture

For the no compromise client the best living room solution can be custom furniture. Designed specifically to enhance the client’s environment whilst incorporating a wealth of technology a custom cabinet can be the jewel in the crown of an audio video system. In the pictured example a custom cabinet, built in Italy, houses the client’s TV with under mount soundbar and subwoofer – this is a real center piece in the clients living room. You can see the whole project case study here.

Custom Made TV Cabinet — Bespoke Cabinet from our London City Project.

The range of options for incorporating TVs in to client’s homes is huge. Hopefully this article inspires clients to think outside of the normal and consider the many options available!

What height should my new Living Room TV be mounted at?

Whilst there are no hard and fast rules for TV height there is general advice which will increase your viewing pleasure (and decrease neck pain!). Ideally a TV should be mounted around 1m from floor level – or the centre of the screen should be as close to eye level as possible. As the screen size increases this pushes the centre of the TV up, changing by up to 50cm as the screen size changes! If the room layout and furniture means the TV needs to be higher then the TV can be mounted on an angle to reduce fatigue. Viewing distances used to be based on a 30 degree viewing angle, allowing you to accurately specify the “right” size TV for the room but with new 4K OLED displays we regularly break that rule by going bigger with no issues!