classic sitting room ideas

as i showed in a previous video over the years my living room has devolved. each addition of a modern system is forced to share space on the same open shelf to avoid overheating problems. this is counter to the purpose of having a dresser here in the first place. the addition of the xbox one and playstation 4 finally prompted me to

rethink this whole setup. i know i could repurpose the dresser into something more cabinet like, but i am afraid of the overheating issues that can come from enclosing these high-powered systems in a box, even an open-faced one. besides, if i can i'd rather find a new entertainment center that can fit back in the three feet of space between my

media racks, thus making my living room feel much less cluttered. i have a few ideas of what to look for so let's go shopping. even though most of these would be better than what i'm currently using, each one still falls short for me in some fundamental way. these tv stands just aren't intended to house eight consoles

and a receiver. not to mention having room for expansion. they mostly fall in the same category. shelves or compartments or both but still about as wide as my dresser. i know i can find better. really how hard is it to find a customizable shelving unit that offers adequate adjustable shelving space, a way

to conceal cabling, and all in a package no wider than three feet? hmm... that might just work gondola shelving has become the de-facto standard for retail shelving due to its modular design offering so much flexibility. i want to introduce the idea of repurposing gondola shelves to use a home entertainment center. but won't that

look tacky in a house? well, it could but hear me out. both my wife and i appreciate function over form in design. we like what you could call 'industrial chic.' if we could afford to have a restaurant style kitchen, we would. so having these retail shelves in our house isn't out of the question, as long as it doesn't look shabby. watch

to the end to decide if we succeeded. also, i come from a retail background, so i've had experience building and dismantling gondola shelving before and i have a few disclaimers. these units are made of heavy steel and even a small unit can weigh more than you would expect. each manufacturer has recommendations for the use and installation as well as

expressed limits and safe distribution of weight charts for each shelf type. carelessness or disregarded of limitations can cause property damage, injury, or even death. seriously be careful. okay, moving on. so i have this seed of an idea. let's start by researching what's available. looking at catalogs for these products there really is a world of options. you

can have full control of color, height, width, and depth of a unit or units. there are various backing materials. plain, pegboard, slats, or gridwall. there are even shelves in various styles from typical retail shelves, to shelves like these that i personally find pretty attractive. here are shelves with built-in lighting. i can imagine someone having a

whole gondola wall. shelves like these are made to hold media, like a video game collection. you could have consoles on shelves from one end of the room to the other. parts such as these are available to provide a unit with full ac power, with shelf troughs to manage cables. shelves that pullout like these would allow you to easily reach the backs of

consoles, or to allow toploader cartridge systems to be housed without adding extra overhead; just pull out the shelf, change the cartridge, push the shelf back. shelves that are angled and of increasing depth can also accommodate this. at a few short pegs or hooks and you can show off those collectibles. how about baskets for your controllers?

all of which can be changed and adjusted as your collection grows, there are many configurations that would be great to own but buying new has many drawbacks as well. from my experience it seems you cannot buy direct from the manufacturer, you must instead go through a reseller or contractor. buying new equipment is also very expensive and shipping is only

available through a freight service. once you've accounted for those expenses it would likely be cheaper to have an entertainment center custom made by a local cabinet shop. but now seeing all that's available i already have my heart set on what i want. i don't need to remodel my whole living room, i just need one piece. i realized that

with just a bit of tweaking a single part of one of these units, known as an end cap, would fit the bill for my current living room exactly. it meets every one of my criteria; three feet across is a standard width, i have control over shelf placement and quantity, each shelf is fully open on three sides which allows good airflow, i can keep the surge

protectors under the unit accessible under the bottom deck shelf, and i can run the necessary cabling between the front and back pegboards keeping it discreet. well that's in theory at least, what about in reality? here's an example of one type of end cap, let's take a closer look.

here's the pegboard i mentioned and look at what is in the way behind it. this is called a center rail or spanner and depending on the manufacturer and style of end cap there could be one or more of these inside the unit. it provides important structural integrity so it shouldn't be removed, but it really prevents the running of

cabling top-to-bottom through this cavity, but it's not necessarily an unsolvable problem, though. perhaps the spanner can be modified in some way, or maybe the rear panel should just be left off instead. i'll worry about that once i've found a unit to buy. ok, now i know what i want and, as an old-school cheap ass gamer, i determined that buying used was

a better fit for me. so now i'll share some tips for trying to buy an endcap used. looking for a used fixture is a really regional affair. there are many websites that sell used equipment but be sure to look for what areas they service. it would be cheaper if they offer local pickup rather than having an additional freight expense.

alternatively you could find something more local. i recommend craigslist as a starting point. of course watch out for stores in your area going out of business or remodeling. most gondola sections are two-sided so you specifically need to search out a one-sided unit. for the end cap itself, some are not free standing and rely on

being attached to the end of a gondola run or to the wall. be sure you are getting a free standing endcap. keep in mind the size you need including the depth. some store shelves can be as shallow as 13 inches deep and this wouldn't house larger gaming consoles very well. as for the backing material, i would avoid slats and i've

seen some pegboard made of sheet metal. i think i would avoid that also. in my research i found that a previously owned endcap can typically go for anywhere from 80 to a hundred sixty dollars. that may or may not include shelves. used shells can go for fifteen to twenty dollars each. these are typical prices but you could

spend more or less. buying used can limit your options, but with patience and some luck you should eventually find what you're looking for. at least that's how it happened for me. i searched off and on for one of these over the course of two years. i had plenty of dead ends but eventually i found a local store owner who was willing to part with one of his

end caps for the right price. so this is what i ended up with. i was able to pick up this unit with a chrome grid backing. this is perfect for two important reasons. the first is that with this design there's no center spanner to worry about. the second reason i'll show later during the build. i'm ready to get started but first i have to

do something about this awful faded burgundy color, but that's nothing a bit of sanding and spray painting can't fix. another great thing about this build is that i'm able to hook up all my systems while the shelves out in the room and i can slide it into place when i'm finished. but the feet on this are not really made for sliding. i got some appliance

casters hoping that they would work, but the stem size wasn't the same so instead i got these magic sliders. they fit exactly on the current feet and should protect my floor from damage while allowing me to easily move this where it needs to go. all right now i've reassembled the painted unit. you'll notice that the grid is missing.

actually, i swapped the position of the grid and the backboard. by the way this board is not the original board that came with the unit. this is a repurposed piece that i got from a friend of mine that we cut to the proper size and painted one side. this board was originally intended for another purpose so please ignore this painting. i'll be

determining where to drill cord access holes and i'll be using the grid as a guide. i'm placing the first upper shelf at its lowest position above the deck shelf. i won't be putting any systems on this deck shelf because i want to be able to access the surge protectors that are going to be housed underneath. the only thing i'll be keeping on the shelf

is my wii fit balance board. the shelves are adjustable to one inch so now i'll determine where to place each one. by dry fitting my consoles i'll get an approximation for where i need to drill. i'll mark the back, remove all of the consoles and the chrome grid, and get to drilling. i'm using a one-and-a-half inch hole bit to cut my

holes. i'd rather go smaller but in many cases the connectors leave me no choice. there will be three to four chords for every console here; power, hdmi, ethernet, and in some cases an external camera or sensor as well. i'm using my shop vac here while i drill to try to catch some of the dust.

next i cut a larger access panel behind where the receiver will go. ok, now i've replaced the grid so i can start putting this whole thing together, starting by installing a 16 port ethernet switch. for each system i fed about two feet of its cables through the hole then i clamped them off to keep them in place. i then rolled up the slack for each one and

routed it to where it goes. i used velcro straps to secure the spooled up slack to the grid. this is the other reason that i thought that grid was perfect. once that is done for each system, here's what i ended up with. it still looks cluttered but there are no tangles or knots and it is hidden from the front. each

ethernet cable goes to the switch, each hdmi goes to the receiver, and each power cable goes to the floor to meet the awaiting surge protectors. ok, so now i pushed it back and here's your first sneak peek at what it will look like in place. i've left the tv shelf off to give me access to the back of the receiver so i can hook up the surround speakers and

more easily re-set up the shelves across the top for the cameras and kinects. alright i just need to add the finishing touches. just a few more moments. and now without further ado i present to you my finished living room! i hope you agree that it is a big improvement from where i began and i

further hope you can see the value in exploring an idea like this. although this build is finished there are some upgrades that i would like to introduce over time. in the kickplate there is a knockout for an electrical outlet and i would like to install one of these usb ones. up at the shelves, would like to replace these with bullnose shelves, but to

tide me over until then i can buy channel strips and i would like to go with something silver or chrome. up at the screen they offer tv mounting solutions. if i were to get one i can remove the shelf holding the television and that would give the receiver and the unit overall more breathing room. now looking at the top i could get an extension kit

to make the end cap a little bit taller. this would allow the speaker, cameras, and sensors to be on shelves that are attached to the unit itself. that way when i need to pull the unit out they will move forward with it. currently this is a separate shelf and if i pull the endcap out i run a risk of yanking things down if i'm not careful. i

was fixated on getting these shelves for a couple of years but if you can't wait there may be alternative methods to achieve a similar effect. i think small bookcases, as many as your space allows, can house many systems. or adding a backing material such as plywood to any kind of a standard shelving unit might allow for a method of housing your

consoles while still concealing and managing your cables. thank you for joining me on this journey. i can barely express how pleased i am with how this turned out. i truly hope you had an enjoyable and informative time experiencing this along with me. my hope is to inspire you to solve your

game room problems in your own personal style. please share your ideas and solutions too. enjoy your day and have some fun. that's all for today but i have a few more videos planned that i'm pretty excited about. i have a playlist of all my game room ideas videos, you can check it out by clicking here.

Subscribe to receive free email updates: