Gus says, "Like the rest of flat-screen TV buyers I found out that my old CRT-based entertainment center was inadequate for the new wideness of LCD. Well, I had to look no further than my Ikea Pax wardrobe. This 93" tall utilitarian behemoth is nothing more than shelves where I put my clothes. However, the idea came to me that it might also serve as a good entertainment center, just in need of a little hacking. The Pax unit I purchased in 2006 was $111.28. This included the box itself and six shelves. I figured for that price I would have all of the entertainment center storage I needed plus I would undercut the price of a smaller (inadequate), however, TV specific unit by at least $60, according to what I had seen listed. So I saved my pennies and took my measurements to make sure my 37" television would fit inside my, what happens to be, 39" wide wardrobe and I put caution and shelf strength to the wind and headed down to Ikea. It turns out they have inflation in Sweden. In 2008 my aforementioned Pax configuration cost me $149.80. However, I was still beating the price of some of the smallest TV stands by a nice margin.
Now, you might be saying to yourself, "this entertainment center idea is not a hack, it is a repurposed wardrobe!" However, you would be wrong because the load-bearing composite-board (the integral life force of all Ikea furniture) had to be drilled to make way for wires. These holes are very important as without them my little electronic boxes do not receive power or connectivity.
So, with my Dremel-esque (borrowed) tool, I took bit to flimsy composite and watched many, many particles of dust fly. My cuts were less than precise, how I measured shelves' distance by the screw hole (not to be confused with my drilled holes, these line the interior of the cabinet for shelf hanging purposes) for tight fit and maximum storage and up went my Ikea hacked Pax wardrobe-cum entertainment center."
See more Gus Money's Pax wardrobe turned media center
i also hacked pax to be a media center, because i didn't find anything suitable, payable and closabe (!) for my old 37cm-TV and my very old (but still working) stereo.
ReplyDeletemy pax is lower, though (half the height), and it has lomen doors.
great, because if i don't use the TV i don't see the TV!
and a lot of holes make the backside look like a piece of emmental cheese, but make sure that it's not getting too warm in there.
a second pax attached to the first makes it a pretty sideboard with lots of media and other storage space.
It looks like everything fits nice, but my gosh that is ugly.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way that or any book case shelf is supposed to hold that much weight! This is a shelf meant for clothing and he put a TV on it. And, it is IKEA and uses tiny pegs for support in pine or fiberboard sides! He needs to review the weight limit for those shelves before his expensive TV crashes to the ground.
ReplyDeleteYeah, and it is very ugly and hardly a hack because many people put holes in the back of their bookcases to run light wires through them and many come with notched particleboard for that purpose.
I'm surprised Ikea doesn't have punch-down perforated holes for running wires in any of their stuff. I've had to do the same with Billy bookcases and the like.
ReplyDeleteThe shelf that the TV is on doesn't look like it will last 6 months without some serious bolstering in the center (perhaps even all the way down to the bottom). It's already sagging and it doesn't look safe for the TV.
ReplyDeleteToo overcrowded. Looking at this gives me a headache. The TV is crammed into the shelf. You have a great looking TV it needs a nicer home.
ReplyDeleteFunctional, but ugly. I think a distressed table from a second hand store or some sort of shelving unit would have worked out better...
ReplyDeleteBut it does work...
How do you account for the fact that you have no air circulation? That TV fills up the entire space, so the heat is not going to dissipate. Your TV is going to burn out in a year.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar issue. I had a 40" LCD, and I bought an Expedit TV storage unit. The TV just fits in there, but there was no air circulation. I could feel the storage unit heat up. So, I bought an extendable TV mount, and mounted it inside the Expedit. Now I can extend the TV 18 inches so it is outside of the storage unit when I watch TV, and I can then push it back into the unit when I am not watching. It looks very nice.
Linkimi Ekliyorum Thank You
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A Sega Dreamcast!
ReplyDeleteSorry, I'm being a bit geekish these days.
The blog is great and giving some great ideas.