Background

Not only was there a big, empty wall with an old TV stand barely standing in front of it, but all of the accumulated toys and board games were beginning to creep all over the living room! A more functional and elegant solution was desperately needed! A fireplace couldn't hurt, either...

Getting to Work

Unfortunately, a real fireplace is not in the cards, and a gas fireplace would require a whole bunch of expensive plumbing work, so the first thing to do here was pick out which electric fireplace to use and design the rest around that. The cabinets are prebuilt 30"x30" wall cabinets from Lowes and were placed on a platform I built 3.5" shallower than the cabinets in order to create a toekick. I then built the frame for the shiplap wall and fireplace and secured it to the wall.  I routed the wiring for the Frame TV into the left cabinet and wired up a faceplate with HDMI, ethernet and cable hookups so I could keep the cables hidden. The countertops are made from Red Oak and the floating shelves are made from 3/4" plywood, routed for LED strips and stained to match the desktop. The mantle was built from the same Red Oak - I milled three boards to the proper length and width, mitered the edges that would be joined, and then glued +nailed them together. Next came the shiplap for the center frame, followed by floor and ceiling trim and a whole bunch of painting. The fireplace, LED strip and TV installs were the finishing touches.

The Result

This built-in became the focal point of the living room and revamped the look and feel of the first floor. There's more floorspace, less clutter, movie nights are more frequent, and the fireplace & mantle create a magical atmosphere around the holidays.