You’ll need to come up with lots of ideas when it comes to creating your own entertainment centre. What you ultimately decide upon, however, will vary based on your lifestyle and living room needs. Let’s look at some ideas for you to bear in mind when it comes to planning your entertainment centre build.
Lifestyle
Before you begin the design stage of your entertainment centre, spend some time generating ideas pertaining to your living room, decor, and lifestyle. What would your perfect entertainment centre look like, and what would you use it for? Here are a few questions to get you started:
- Will your entertainment centre be located in the living room or bedroom?
- Do you need storage for a console? Will you need a big enough screen for AR and VR games?
- What decor style will you choose? Modern, chic, rusty, or moody?
If you’re planning on building the entertainment centre yourself, just make sure to gather all the right screwdrivers, hammers, and any other tools you need. You don’t want to be struggling with that remaining wood screw when you’re ready to sit back and enjoy your work with pride.
Cabinets
There are two things to bear in mind before you choose your cabinets. Firstly, they aren’t always created equal, and secondly, they have a key role to play in the overall look of your living room. Examine your entertainment budget, as this will have a significant impact on the final product.
You might be wondering what cabinetry options are available to you. There are three popular cabinets you can choose from: prefabricated, which can save you on expenses; custom, which is built for a particular purpose; and semi-custom, which combines custom and prefabricated cabinetry.
Lighting
Do you need more lighting? Maybe you want lighting for underneath your cabinet, for your pictures, for ambience, or for reading. Once you’ve chosen a style of cabinet and know the amount of storage you’ll require, consider how much lighting you’ll need, so you can combine all of these elements together.
Moulding
Do you prefer ornate details or clean lines? Once you’ve decided whether you’re fine with simple moulding or moulding from floor to ceiling or wall to wall, you’ll need to take other design aspects into account, such as board-and-batten or panel detailing.
Then there’s the particular type of moulding to consider. How about crown moulding? If you go with that option, what does that design style look like overall? Just make sure that the moulding fits in with your entertainment centre’s overall design.
Paint or stain
Once you’ve decided on the cabinets, moulding, and other design elements, you’ll need to decide on the overall finish. If you’re upcycling old cabinets, your best option would be paint. If you’re combing the entertainment centre with a new statement piece, a stain that highlights the wood grain might be the way to go.
Hardware
Another often overlooked but important element is hardware. It’s an element that calls for a lot of thought, as it can really help your entertainment centre to shine. Introduce another tie or colour in the overall design of the room with a similar tone to one that already exists in a piece of art or furniture.
Your final decision
Whether or not you ultimately end up DIYing your entertainment centre is, of course, up to you. It may be that you instead decide to work with a design and build team or simply hire a carpenter. Just remember to keep an emergency fund on hand, as you may face some unexpected expenses along the way.
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