Whether you aim to create a versatile living space or bring the magic of the cinema home, media walls are increasingly popular, particularly when designed specifically around the space and the needs of the homeowner.
Having a beautiful, integrated storage space tailored around your needs, no matter the size of your television, your physical media collection or your games consoles, lets you see the room at its best and avoid the clutter that can sometimes dominate a media room.
At its best, a media room is social, exciting, welcoming, cosy, modern and fun all in one stylish package. However, with so many moving parts, figuratively and literally, there are some issues that can emerge if you try to go it alone.
Here are five of the most common mistakes you tend to see when designing a media room, and how you can fix them,
Is Your Television In The Right Place In Your Media Room?
Your screen will dominate your media wall and frame everything about it, which makes its positioning vital to adequately design the rest of the shelving, storage and design elements around it.
In this case, practicality is key; make sure your television is positioned where you do not need to crane your neck in order to watch it, make sure your seating layout is taken into consideration and ensure that everyone in the room can watch it without sitting uncomfortably.
Is Your Media Wall Design Future-Proof?
An important consideration to make with your media room is the fact that electronics will eventually need to be replaced, and your media wall design should take into account any changes you may want to make.
There should be room for a bigger TV without ruining the layout of your room and without everything looking too constrained or congested.
Given that your layout and your fixed units are the hardest part of your media room to fix, they are the parts you need to make sure suit your needs now and until you are ready to tear everything out.
Is Your Media Wall Practical?
The design element that separates a rudimentary media wall from a bespoke luxury design is cable management.
Your design should be built around units, facades and elements that allow you to plug in any device you want whilst hiding the tangled mess of cables.
Similarly, your media wall needs to leave enough space for ventilation; televisions, games consoles and AV units can generate a lot of heat and a lack of airflow can generate considerable amounts of dust.
Do You Have Enough Storage?
Media rooms often accumulate considerable amounts of clutter; televisions often have multiple remote controls, games consoles have controllers and physical collections of DVDs and Blu-Ray discs can add up considerably.
The best way to manage this is to know how much you need to store, what you need to prioritise and balance shelving with cabinets.
Is Your Media Room Designed Around Your Needs?
Media rooms have the scope for a considerable number of flourishes, but getting your media room right means focusing on how you actually intend to use your room first.
It is no good having beautiful layered cabinets and shelving units if they are ultimately the wrong size or shape for your needs.