The lowdown on the Expedit TV unit
Tess (and Patrick) share the latest project they undertook to convert a boxy Expedit TV unit into a low slung one.
"My husband Patrick thought we'd share the latest project we undertook a few weeks ago! We bought the Expedit TV Storage Unit in 2007. It did a great job not only holding our TV and book/DVD collection, but hiding an ugly fireplace in our living room. When we moved last year, the tall, boxy TV unit still served it's purpose for our storage needs, but in our new living room, rendered the far corner of the room 'dead space'. We decided a long-and-low TV/bookcase storage unit that stretched the length of the room would be ideal. After searching around for freestanding and built-in options costing $$$$s, the answer was staring us in the face all the time - why not take apart our TV unit and put it back together as two separate bookcases? All we needed to buy was material for the end pieces, and some wooden planks plus MDF board cut-to-size and painted did the job. Granted there was a lot of extra holes drilled and long screws holding it together (and a lot of dowls!) and the top surface does have a few superfluous screw holes exposed. But for under $100 we now have a 'custom built' TV and storage unit that fits perfectly in our living room."
"My husband Patrick thought we'd share the latest project we undertook a few weeks ago! We bought the Expedit TV Storage Unit in 2007. It did a great job not only holding our TV and book/DVD collection, but hiding an ugly fireplace in our living room. When we moved last year, the tall, boxy TV unit still served it's purpose for our storage needs, but in our new living room, rendered the far corner of the room 'dead space'. We decided a long-and-low TV/bookcase storage unit that stretched the length of the room would be ideal. After searching around for freestanding and built-in options costing $$$$s, the answer was staring us in the face all the time - why not take apart our TV unit and put it back together as two separate bookcases? All we needed to buy was material for the end pieces, and some wooden planks plus MDF board cut-to-size and painted did the job. Granted there was a lot of extra holes drilled and long screws holding it together (and a lot of dowls!) and the top surface does have a few superfluous screw holes exposed. But for under $100 we now have a 'custom built' TV and storage unit that fits perfectly in our living room."
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15 comments:
I love this idea! It looks so much better and still practical. Great job!
I actually love the original design better. Personal taste, I guess ..
you did a great job there! I like it! Rick.
Clever reuse, though putting two of the low slung (2x4 cubes) Expedit bookcases together would have achieved nearly exactly the same effect. And I'm not a huge fan of the red painted accents, at least as done here.
It looks less messy now, and the blue wall is nice! Spreading it out opens up your space nicely, and the red is a nice little touch.
Consider hanging the TV now, but not too high. Then hang a few more frames randomly. Mix up your books and things, some vertical and some horizontal. Not all so perfectly placed.
I love this design! It looks so much better and creative. Great!
Love it! The red accents are a beautiful way to play off of the blue wall. Very modern Cape Cod. Me likey.
Also - that guitar wall art cluster is awesome.
I like it. Although I think I might have gone whole hog, bought another Expedit (one that's the same size, but without the TV insert) and put them next to each other. Maybe I'd have even gotten the low slung units and put them above (if they'd fit), making something that reads as a built-in wall unit.
I know this is Ikea hacks (nice job btw) but.. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT TABLE?
Thanks everyone for your comments!
@STV - our coffee table is from Bohemio Furniture on Johnston St in Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia. We love it for it's hidden magazine shelf. Thanks for commenting!
wow. this is a great idea. Thanks for the idea.
Garrett
Air Mattress
I love it--much cleaner and nicer look--great job!
Does any one have any ideas for the Expedit stand if you don't want to put a TV in there?
Thanks!
NG
Great Hack! I never thought of converting a book shelf into TV Rack!
I've got a stock Expedit that I'm really anxious to hack like this - the apartment that I just moved into has some heavily slanted walls to maintain the roof eaves, and I can't fit the whole 5x5 unit against the wall. I've created a model using SketchUp (http://tr.im/DfKk) just to play around with, but I'm not sure I've got the dimensions 100% correct.
Tess/Patrick - do you have any other information on the MDF/wood slats that you used in the build process? I'm going to experiment with some different materials, but I'd love to know how it all came together for you guys :)
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