Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video….dreamy new ways to binge and binge and binge on our favorite shows. I am in the depths of my second binge of the winter (The Americans and now Ozark) so I have had more screen time than usual. But, with all of that tv viewing, how much time do you spend thinking about how to stage your tv?
Well, I'm hoping that this post helps you to think about your tv and its surroundings in a new and inspired way!
Plus, I have oodles of links to fabulous media cabinets and media cabinet alternatives that I think you will love in the post!
When our team is helping sellers stage their homes to sell or helping our design clients rethink their floorplans, we tend to come across two major issues. The first is where to place the tv in the room and what to put it on or above.
As you know, for selling we focus on creating rooms that both photograph beautifully and that also feel great when someone visits for a real life showing.
In Philadelphia, we loooove our Eagles and we loooove to know where that tv is going. So we make sure to answer that question for our clients in every one of our home staging projects. And, it isn't always easy.
Builders back in the day and even today do not worry about where your tv will go when they design their houses.
So don't feel bad if you are struggling with where to place your tv. It can take a lot of furniture Tetris to figure it out.
And you know what, whether you like it or not, sometimes the only option that the builder has given you is to place it over the mantle.
How To Decide Where The TV Should Go (like a pro!)…
The key to figuring out how to stage your tv or knowing where the tv goes is to think about your space like a Beyonce concert. There's Queen B (and if you are lucky, Jay-Z might show up!), her backup dancers and then her backup singers.
Beyonce is clearly the focal point of the concert (ex. fireplace), the backup dancers are the secondary focal point (ex. windows) and the backup singers sometimes share the spotlight with Beyonce but very often are subtly there in the background (ex. tv).
This has been illustrated beautifully in the room below. The wall with the windows and fireplace is the obvious focal point. The furniture arrangement honors that and the TV plays the role of backup dancers.
So here is what you need to consider:
- How does traffic flow through the room? Avoid having the tv in a spot that people will have to walk past a million times when you are trying to watch your show if you can like below.
- Find the Queen B of your room (fireplace, windows, etc). Hint: your tv might become the focal point like the image above
- **Arrange your furniture to keep the focus on said focal point
- Can your tv share the spotlight with Beyonce or can it recede into the background
**I am going to liberate you here….you can float your furniture in the room, not pushed against every wall like in the room above and below (not a single piece of furniture was placed up against a wall)
How To Stage Your TV with 3 Un-Media Cabinets
Ok, let's start off by talking candidly about this guy….
We see a lot of these when we are staging homes. No judgements (ok, here comes the judgement… ; ). We can do so much better!!!! I get it, they are cheap but…oh man, they are cheap! And all of those cords and cables going from the tv, cable box and gaming system all show through that open back creating so much visual chaos.
And the worst part is that this is usually part of the focal point of your room. Do we really want this to be the Beyonce in your room?
One of our biggest tasks for our team when staging a tv during a Photo Styling is usually contorting all of that electronic clutter into something totally invisible to a camera. Let me tell you, it's Cirque du Soleil level contortion sometimes!
But, if you do have one of these with an open or glass front, we recommend staging this tv stand by taking out all of the light colored items for photos. See how below, your eye gets drawn to the stuff on the lower shelf especially (let's not even talk about the wall color–that's a whole other post!)
Can't we create something like this instead?
Of course we can!!
This is a great way to style your tv whether you are selling or dwelling. But it is especially great when staging your house to sell because in a real estate listing photo, symmetry and simplicity are the best. (and notice, no cords!).
And also notice, that very often these low media units leave miles of empty wall around them and the art fills that space beautifully!
What To Google Besides Media Cabinet
Now I am going to encourage you to think outside the cable box (I know, I am totally corny ;)) when looking for a media cabinet. With today's bluetooth technology you don't need to be limited to open front pieces of furniture. When we do a Vacant Styling or are working with our sellers during a Real Estate Styling Evaluation, these make great substitutes for media cabinets:
- Dresser
- Dining Consule or Buffet
- Bookshelves
So let's look at some amazing pieces of furniture that can do double duty as a media cabinet. (Click on the image to take you to the product information)
There are a lot more to shop through over on this Pinterest Board where you can binge shop to your heart's content!
xo,
Lori
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