[SparksCW]

Hi been browsing here for a while and got a lot of ideas for my house which I'm hoping to buy this or early next year. I'm an electrician (and data engineer I guess) by trade so also fairly handy at DIY and always learning from my dad who can do most DIY jobs well. (currently been learning to stud wall, plasterboard and now we're tiling a fairly intricate bathroom)

Anyway, been "practicing" a few ideas to see how they come out in my bedroom, have also started redecorating my computer room (live at home with just my mum in a 4 bedroom house so I've got 2 rooms to play with haha although I think I've convinced my mum of a false chimney wall install when money allows!)

After seeing a thread by "elootoos" I decided to build a floating headboard which you can see here... pictures really do not do it justice!

Now I've decided to do the same thing on the opposite wall where my TV currently is. Going to build a floating wall of the same height using same wallpaper with my Samsung 40" 1080P tv on with a blue cathode (or possible IKEA dioder) "ambilight" kit. Also looking to upgrade my speakers, currently using a LG home cinema hi-fi type thing, its not bad for free at least!

Here's my current TV set up (I made the wall mounted TV unit myself, it turned out okay for first peice of furniture, but it's a bit limited in size etc) LG system isn't pictured here... use Xbox for DVD's and gaming and also as a WMC extender for films (servers not set up for PVR yet)

The plan is to build a floating wall overhanging the TV by about 10cm each side, wallpaper it and a new TV bench of some sort at the bottom.

Aiming to get started either tomorow or saturday so hopefully updates soon

Constructive critism or new ideas more than welcome

Can't wait to get my own place, got a pretty firm idea of what I'm looking to achieve now and I'll definetly post some threads (in-wall aquiarum, light "troffs" in cinema room with ceiling mounted projector etc etc.. obivously some clever lighting design being an electrician and all ) a lot of ideas gained from threads by people such as mitsiturbo, elootoos and THE FORCE... thanks guys your style and tastes are exactly like mine and I've learnt a lot from you from reading your threads, so thank you!

I'm not completely new to AV.. my dad has quite a collection which I've picked up a bit of info from... 52" LCD in the kitchen 50" plasma in snooker room, 37" LCD in gym and a dedicated cinema room with HD projector and fixed screen, whole house is controlled by anytronics intelligent lighting systems and a lot of LED mood-lighting has been installed. (yes my dad is also an electrician) so I've got a fair idea of the basics, but far from knowledgable really. Lot to learn!

Thanks for reading

[scodav]

can you give me some idead on what you did and waht you used to build the headboard m8

[Legacy]

That headboard looks great, and your dads house sounds like AV heaven - a 52"LCD in the kitchen!? Well I guess following recipes on TV would be a pretty enjoyable experience! Does he need a lodger?

The floating wall idea sounds great, my only worry would be that a pattern like the one on the headboard might be a bit too distracting around the TV. In my opinion I would think a less vivid pattern might be better, but then it is all down to personal taste!

Keep us updated on your progress!

[SparksCW]

Originally Posted by scodav

can you give me some idead on what you did and waht you used to build the headboard m8

I should have taken pictures really but I got the wall built so quickly I didn't get round to it, I litereally got sent a link to elootoos thread, liked it so much I started building it there and then with some wood I'd bought to build a cupboard with (still not built that cupboard haha)

Basically I built a frame out of CLS timber from B&Q I then mounted that to the wall by screwing another bit of CLS to the wall then placing the frame onto the wall mounted bit and screwing the frame in, then used 2 brackets to hold the lower section to the wall...

Had the 9mm MDF cut at B&Q to size, screwed to the frame, filled, MDF sealant used.. I painted the edge and about 10 cm of the back with black gloss paint then I wall papered the front.

I've wired it for two up/down lighters on it, but haven't bought them yet.

Got 9M of rope light from ebay for £16.99 delivered, clipped around the frame then fitted a dimmer switch in the bottom corner fed from a 3amp plug top fuse.

All in all it cost about £60 or so including lights, dimmer switch and wallpaper.

Hope that helps...

I'll be building the TV wall using the same technique and will get more pictures this time.

[scodav]

thnx for that m8 i may have a go

[SparksCW]

Originally Posted by Legacy

That headboard looks great, and your dads house sounds like AV heaven - a 52"LCD in the kitchen!? Well I guess following recipes on TV would be a pretty enjoyable experience! Does he need a lodger?

The floating wall idea sounds great, my only worry would be that a pattern like the one on the headboard might be a bit too distracting around the TV. In my opinion I would think a less vivid pattern might be better, but then it is all down to personal taste!

Keep us updated on your progress!

Hi Legacy, the kitchen LCD is awesome but the sound sucks (Samsung) he's wired for extra speakers but hasn't got round to fitting any yet, kitchen was only finished early this year though so hopefully he'll do it soon as it really does sound terrible!

I see your point on the pattern, was a bit worried that would happen, I've placed a bit of the paper under it and it looks okay but it's only a small bit I've got left so by the time whole floating walls done it might be a bit over-powering.. but I'm a bit worried about using mis-matching papers in a smallish room, might look really conflicting?


Just found a picture of my old computer room set up, I later moved one of the monitors to wall mounted for the xbox360 but can't find the picture of that. I've now ripped everything out of that room and am building a built-in worktop (black one I got from B&Q) with a cupboard to hide the boiler, feature wall paper, spot lights.. a single 22" samsung monitor mounted on a black floating shelf above the desk, 2.1 audio.. pc running WMC as a server for tv, dvd etc (1tb NAS hopefully) still trying to decide between a Sonos media streamer or a squeezebox.. swaying more and more to the squeeze though!

I got to be careful not to get too carried away!!! as I'm desperately saving for a house deposit.

[pabulous]

I don't have anything creative to add, I'd just like to say I love your movie shutter thing (if that's the word for it). Very unique.

[SparksCW]

Started work this evening!

Made the frame up and mounted to the wall.

Lowered the TV by about a foot, it's SO much better at this height I wish I done it sooner. Its more natural to watch and doesn't strain my eyes/neck so much. Very happy with the new height!

The piece of MDF on at the moment isn't fully fixed it's just held up by two screws to see what it looks like, its not flat to the frame so may look a little odd. By the way, the TV is on a hook type bracket so will slide side to side hence why it isn't central to the floating wall at the moment... before someone comments on it being wonky

Personally I don't think the wallpaper is too overpowering.. with the lights off the tv stands out /more/ with the dark background compared to when on the cream wall.. I think I am going to go with the paper and hope for the best!

Still not sure what I'm doing cabinet wise though.

Sorry for the poor quality pictures, will have to source a decent camera once it's all finished.

Hope to continue tomorow evening!

[SparksCW]

Bit of progress today..

Lowered the TV again, Its now just above eye height when watching so its really comfy to watch now, I had it way too high before, lesson learnt there.

I normally get B&Q to cut my wood up, but this time I decided to have a go myself after my dad taught me how and lent me the correct tools! Turned out perfectly and I'm really happy, will make future projects quicker and less hassle too if I can cut stuff myself (and turn out good quality)

Anyway, TV lowered, top and sides mounted up. Just need more wood to do the lower section.

Ambilight idea isn't going to work now as theres no room behind the TV to be effective so I'm going to run some rope light around the edge again (this time I have an 80mm overhang so the light isn't too bright (and will be on a varilight remote dimmer)

Next up is the lower section, filler, sanding, mdf priming then wallpaper

Hope you like so far...

by the way, it is close to the door as the shape of room doesn't really allow me to put it anywhere else but when looking at it its not really that bad at all and I already have a door stop to stop the door hitting the tv/wall.

[SparksCW]

Here's where I'm at now...

Decided to paint the floating wall and paper behind it so its not as distracting from the TV.

Sony home theatre system bought, sound is more than good enough for my small room, but I might upgrade the speakers as and when I get bargains... to be honest its my first 5.1 set up and its a massive improvement over my previous set ups so I'm quite happy for the moment.

Waiting on speaker wall mounts for the rears... gonna have to get stands for the front L and R

Xbox now back on the TV although I can't get it to play DVD's over HDMI as I get some crappy HDCP link not found error! grrr.

Got next week off work so going to do the papering and hopefully get the wall painted. Although buying a new motorbike tomorow hopefully so might be out on that all week haha.

Decided on this AV rack as its square backed so will sit nicely against my wall.

[M.D. Klapwijk]

Any progress here?

[SparksCW]

Originally Posted by M.D. Klapwijk

Any progress here?

New AV unit is turning up next week, got to get the wall painted and some wallpapering done, will update soon, didn't think anyone was looking at this thread hence the lack of updates but I'll post up new pics soon

Changed my front speakers to Mission 762i's though.. got them for free, nothing special but they sound pretty good

[SparksCW]

Made some real progress this weekend... pic quality doesnt really do anything justice but in real life it looks amazing, I'm very happy with the outcome so far.

Sanded, filled and undercoated the wall, took a whole lot of sanding and filling and its still not perfect but I doubt very much I can get it any better personally.

Now finished in green with TV in place and new AV stand below... just need to connect everything back together and move the speakers and sub back...

The wall behind the floating one is going to be wallpaper in the black and white paper you can see in the corner of the pic...

Anyway, as I say, very very happy.. going to have to invest in a Blu ray player soon and some black speaker stands for the Mission 762i's I got for free recently...

What do you lot think so far?

[alz2605]

Looks great already mate The green looks fantastic and I can imagine when the wall paper is up it'll look even more fantastic

[The_Traveller]

Some nice work there, how did you build the floating headboard? is there a how-to any where?

[SparksCW]

Originally Posted by The_Traveller

Some nice work there, how did you build the floating headboard? is there a how-to any where?

Hi, no how to's that I know of but it's quite straight foward.

Made a frame on the wall of CLS studding timber then screwed the MDF to the frame overlapping by 50mm each side... then I filled the holes, sanded and sealed the MDF and then wallpapered it.... the lights are done using rope light around the frame work they feed into a dimmer switch screwd to the bottom corner of the MDF wall which is fed from a 3amp plug top.

Wasn't too hard and didn't take long.

Thanks for the comments so far, really happy with how the walls turned out for the TV, just need to get wallpapering!

[The_Traveller]

Thanks for the info, nice and straight forward, plus the little woman likes it too