Monday, January 24, 2011

DIY Living Room Media Shelves

While I was in NYC last weekend and visited James and Katrina's cute apartment, I fell in LOVE with these shelves that they had built on their wall. Mendy took a pic of them on her iphone and we were determined to copy them.

Well, last weekend Ben decided it was time to get our TV off of the tiny stand it has been on in our living room and mount it on the wall. Then, we decided to tackle the shelves and build them around the mounted TV. I was going totally off memory because Mendy was in Cabo with her phone and the picture of Katrina's shelves! But, we forged ahead anyway and even though they are no where NEAR as cute as Katrina's (she has that interior designer eye for detail and accessories) I think they ended up ok....here is seriously what our living room looked like before (minus some pillows and Kinley toys).
Before & After
Here is Mendy's phone pic of my inspiration from Katrina:
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This is a fun DIY project that anyone could do with a free day. It was so much more cost friendly than purchasing a piece of furniture or a wall shelving unit to surround our TV. The entire cost of the shelves (not including mounting the TV or the accessories) was only $115!!!
Here is all you need for the project:
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One shelf into the project, I had a panic moment when I freaked out about how we were going to hide all these cords and power surges and battery towers and make this look decent.
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I decided on using some baskets with lids (just don't look inside) and good cord covers from Hobby Lobby.
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Because 99% of the time people looking at these shelves will be sitting down, we decided to paint the L-brackets the color of the wall so that they wouldn't stand out as much. (FYI - all the L-brackets had holes in them that were zig zag, we weren't that bad with the drill)
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Getting the hooks into the raw lumber was a bit of a challenge but, we started the hole with the drill and then used a good set of pliers to screw them right in.
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Decorating the shelves is really where Katrina shines and I have no talent in this area...but, I just moved some items I liked from other places in our house (i.e. books, mirrors, candles, antlers) and then bought a few odds and ends at Hobby Lobby.
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Overall, I am pleased with how it turned out and I feel like that wall in our living room looks a little more homey. This was definitely a fun DIY project!
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44 comments:

kristen said...

LINDSAY HOWE YOU ARE AMAZING!!! i love these!! oh my gosh, come to my house and build some for me. i love them!!

Amy Sullivan said...

I know I already saw these, but I love them! And I figured out how to post!

lisa R. said...

So tres chic! What a difference it made.

Camila said...

LOVE IT! So creative and looks perfect in the space! Come to my house and help me decorate please!! Hate we missed you when we were in TX!

Allison said...

Fantastic! These look AMAZING!!! I can't wait to see them in person! Hopefully soon!

The Rodriguez Crew said...

hi there! I just stopped over from lullaby lubbock b/c I HAD to see more of this, and wanted to throw you a HUGE compliment on how awesome this looks!! I want to send the idea to everyone I know! ha! LOVE IT. Great job!!

Carrie said...

Hi Lindsey, These shelves are so cool! I bookmarked them for when we move in a few months!

Also, I looked through some of your craftiness (always feel like a creeper when I look through people's old posts, but oh well) and I LOVED the idea of lining elastic waist skirts with knit. Genius! Thanks for the ideas!

hernandezjr said...

looks sooooo amazing!!! awesome work guys!!!

Katrina Scott Design said...

Pottery barn eat your heart out! :) OMG LINDS!!!!! The shelves transformed your space!!!! what a focal point that wall is now. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!! fabulous job!!!!! The baskets as cord hiders are pure genius too. great work- I'm ticked pink you guys were so inspired. I'm gonna go blog about you now!! oxox

Anonymous said...

Love this! So creative, I just found your image on pinterest and had to give the original source some props! Way to go!! So lovely!! :)

Kelly said...

Hi! I found you on pinterest too and I think this is amazing! I want to do this too and I was wondering if you could tell me the color of the paint on your walls.

Lifethrualinds said...

Hi Kelly, I am so glad you like the shelves. I think the wall paint is from lowes. It is not on the valspar paint side but, the opposite side of the paint area with the cards that have one solid color per card. It is called "java" but it doesn't look java at all in our space. It looks more stone grey. Hope this helps!

Kelly said...

Thank you so much! I am going to give it a try. I painted my living room twice already and both grays I picked out were way too blue. I hope it turns out like yours. Thanks for the inspiration :)

AdukalaVishesham said...

Hi we have been looking for inspiration to mount our tv but was not sure what to do with rest of the electronic gadgets and wires. We came across your tv shelves image on Pinterest and we loved it.. Long story short we made it this weekend... We used only bottom 2 shelves and of course basket to hide wires.. Thank you for the inspiration

Amanda said...

Kelly, just wanted to throw another gray option out there for you! Martha Stewart's Sharkey Grey is awesome! We used it in our dining room and love it!

Jess said...

I just saw your picture on pinterest and i about died. this is so genius i wish i would have thought of this before myself. but i am glad that someone has. i now have this has a to do for my husband and i in the near future. i have been wanting a newer and better t.v stand and havent been able to find one with in my budget. but this will be so much easier on the pocket book and the space we have in our living room.
also i love your decorating style. its very homey and chic.
jess

Unknown said...

How big is your tv and what are the dimensions of your wood?

Casey said...

Amazing! My boyfriend is doing ours right now. Hope you don't mind us copying! ;)

Anonymous said...

This is amazing! Do you any ideas as to what other materials would you could use instead of the steel chains?

CFisher9 said...

I pinned this post a while ago, and I finally got my husband on board. We are starting to get estimates on what it will cost. I love how your space transformed, and I am looking forward to ours doing the same. When I came across your before picture, I literally thought someone took a picture of our living room (excluding the wall colors). We have a 15 ft open wall with nothing but a 40 in tv on a small condensed tv stand. Looking forward to using your project as inspriration for ours! Thanks!

Miss Genrich said...

Where is the cord from the TV?? Pure genius! Love this idea

Bre said...

I just saw this on Pinterest and its just what I've been looking for!! Now I can get rid of my ikea shelf!! You rock!!!

Bre said...

I just did my own version of this... If you a interested in seeing it, check out my Facebook page... www.facebook.com!savedbythebeach

Unknown said...

Hi Lindsay!

I recently found your article about your really cool tv stand wall here: http://lifethrualinds.blogspot.com/2011/01/diy-living-room-media-shelves.html and I LOVE it!!

I am wondering if you would mind if I feature it in the article I am writing for SheKnows? I would like to use 1 photo and a link back to your blog post about it for an article I am writing for them about unique tv stand ideas.

I am on kind of a tight deadline, so if you wouldn't mind letting me know either way, that would be FABULOUS!

Thanks so much and I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Thanks so much!
Ashley

Lifethrualinds said...

Sure ashley! Feel free. I am still surprised that how people have loved these shelves. I am not even sure how they got on Pinterest but, it's been so fun! Send me the link to the article, I would love to read it!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much!! I will definitely send you a link when it is up on their site! It sometimes takes a couple weeks but I will definitely let you know when it is live!

Thank you SO much!

Have a lovely day!
Ashley

tv stands said...

This is amazing! Do you have any other alternatives for metal chains? I'd been searching for a better parts for my TV stand but I have a low budget so I can't afford metal chains.

NW Girl said...

This is awesome, thank you so much for the inspiration! I used your idea to build my own, and I posted it on my blog with a link back to you. Hope that is OK!

Unknown said...

I wanted to let you know that you have been featured on SheKnows! (I contacted you several months ago to get permission!) It took a while to get them up on their site but they are officially live! Wahoo!

Come and check out your feature here:
http://www.sheknows.com/home-and-gardening/articles/984913/5-modern-tv-stand-alternatives


Thank you SO VERY MUCH!

~Ashley
Simply Designing
{blog} www.simplydesigning.net

Princess Zaria said...

I like the improvement. I guess our home needs an improvement also, maybe we need to add some designs or decorations.

How To Hide Your TV

Haniel's Blog said...

This is a great DIY project, I will like to redo this at home. Was hoping if you could give a little more information on some of the stuff you guys used.

The size of the L brackets
The size of screw hooks
The size of the chain

How did you guys mount you TV? and run the cables to the TV?

Looking forward to hearing for you.

BRCanfield said...

My husband finally agreed to help me with this project when we move in two weeks! I've been waiting forever! Could you tell me what the dimensions of the wood you used are, and how thick was?

Unknown said...

What a fantastic project! I'll be linking to it on our Living Rooms pinboard. Check it out at pinterest.com/homedepot next week!

- Chante

Unknown said...

I doubt I will get an answer as it does not look like the original poster has responded, but does anyone know the size of the boards and the length? Also size of L brackets etc?

Thanks.

Mary said...

Did you use any sort of "kit" to feed your wires through the walls and bring them out down near your outlet? I hung my shelves today and my only option for getting the wires to the outlet through the shelves is to cut a large hole in the shelf and I don't really want to do that. Any input would be great. Thank you!

Mandy Erin said...

I came here to find out the paint color too! Thank you! I've been looking for a soft neutral grey for my walls and this one is absolutely lovely! You did a fabulous job styling the shelves. It's a really nice way to display all of your pretty decor. :)

Unknown said...

Hi I just ran across this posted Picture, fell in love and bought all the supplies -(minus) husband. Now its time to hang. when you hubby hung the shelves did he use special screws? Great project the cost of mine came exactly to $116.

CFisher9 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cynthia said...

I know this is an older post but I just had to comment and thank you posting this! After I pinned this post my husband saw it and did it for our living room. It truly transformed our living room. I'm so glad you shared this! :)

Jacqueline Stein said...

Hi Linds,

Can you let me know what paint you used for the wall? It's exactly the color I'm looking for when I do my next paint job. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Can the Samsung LED TV be mounted on the wall?
Jumbo led

Life's Complicated said...

This is such a wonderful idea and perfectly done. I wanted to know what are the dimensions of the wood?

Abhisheka said...

Thanks for sharing such lovely post with us, yes this useful information sure helping me for decorating my flat. I’ve really enjoyed them and look forward to following your blog.
Wall shelf

AarsunWoods said...

Thanks for posting an informative post...