Decorating Around a TV
We have a love/hate frienemy situation going on with our TV. After our latest project, I think we’re at least on speaking terms with it though. Which is good news since… we do still sorta love our New Girl and Parks and Rec marathons.
Last time y’all had a glimpse of our TV, it was perched on (nay, hogging) our faux fireplace mantel.
But then Robert one night mid-Netflixathon turned to me and said, “Hey, let’s move the TV to this other wall.” Um… yes please!
And so after stumbling upon the perfect sized media cabinet on Craigslist, our DIY printers cabinet was born. We had bigger plans for it than to just let it sit on this wall though.
So we finally moved our ginormous 60 inch (yes, 60 inch… can you guess who in our house picked out this ginormous screen?), and I got to decorate a pretty TV-free mantel for the first time ever with this $10 mirror I picked up from the thrift store and madeover.
Now, the printers cabinet is TV-watching central, complete with tons of great DVD storage in those doors and drawers.
This spot was really challenging to decorate around since the screen was so massive and I also wanted to carry the gallery wall from our stairway over to the wall behind our TV.
Our gallery wall was one of my first decorating attempts ever, and it’s still one of my favorite places in our house with so many of our best memories collected here. (By the way, you can see my tips for easy gallery wall hanging here.)
For above the TV, I added a little more to the sentimentality with this Lake Wylie sign, which is where I grew up, and this North Main Street sign, which is where Robert’s childhood home is.
I hung up a favorite Bible verse and framed sheet music of my and Robert’s “song” by Jack Johnson called “Better Together”.
And I added more current pictures because that’s a must-do when you get all gussied up once in a blue moon for photos, right?
There’s a little space in the upper left corner that I’m still deciding if it needs something added or not.
It has a lot going on. But the frames and signs seem to distract from the giant black box a little bit. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Hey, I tried.
Since we no longer have the log firebox front though, I feel like I can get away with the eclectic look a little better.
You can’t really see in these pictures, but I was standing right behind one of our sofas to get this shot. It’s so nice not having to crane our necks to watch a movie on a tall mantel anymore.
If you want to know about any of our gallery wall sources, most of them are thrifted, but I’ve dug up some look-a-likes here: (Affiliate links are provided below for convenience. For more information, see my full disclosure here.)
And if you want to know how I painted and distressed the thrift store frames you can find the tutorial here.
Have you come up with a great solution for decorating around your TV? Or feel up to a Netflix marathon party at our house? I’ll pop the popcorn. 😉
Wow! This is actually one of the (very) few gallery walls that I like. 🙂
Maybe an arrow in that space you mentioned?
Have a blessed day!
Thank you, Linda! You read my mind! I just found a metal arrow that I ordered yesterday to go in that space in the top. I’m hoping it works out. 🙂
I like how you placed your television. This actually matches your color scheme–black–and everyone likes to watch TV. I still have a 32″ –it’s not broken and fits in this bookcase size hole next to the fireplace. Lucky for us we’ve found the perfect cabinet from pottery barn that fits. Fifteen years ago this was a big deal as it’s wired for cable there. Times change. My husband put a shelf above the TV and finally I like it with some salvage pieces that are just unique and match my decor. We can’t figure out what they are though!!! I think you’ve done a great job with everything you do. I’m impressed how much you get done!!!! Lovely.
Thank you so much, Gwen! That sounds like a great setup. I wish our TV was small enough to fit into a cabinet. This thing is a MONSTER! It’s the one thing that my husband really wanted though, so can’t really argue with that. He’s the one who makes a lot of what I do possible. 🙂
Hi Lauren!!! great job!!! we all have at least one huge television we try to distract from and believe me, we have one as well!! ours was placed diagonally in the corner to the left our fireplace, which thankfully is hardly noticeable, by prettying up the space around our fireplace no one really notices our t.v. I really love how you’ve done your space, looking at your photos my eyes immediately gazed to your feature wall of your family memories, gotta love that!!! p.s. I used duct tape lolol!!! on the back of the television, to hide our cords, works beautifully!!!
Hey duct tape fixes everything! At least that’s how it is here in the South. 😉 Thank you so much for the love, Pat! I know what you mean. The TV situation is a doozy for a lot of people.
Every time I see the media cabinet that you and your husband “redid”, I fall in love!!!! Such a great DIY!
Thank you, Bonnie! I’m all goo-goo eyed for it too. 🙂
Love the Lake Wylie sign! My son’s name is Wylie and I just heard about the lake last week. Such a kawinky-dink to see it again in your post this week! The link to the etsy store is broken though and I tried searching on etsy but the sign didn’t come up. Can you please tell me the etsy sellers name? Thanks from Traci in South Florida!
Oh so sorry! Thanks for letting me know. The link is all fixed in the post now. Here’s where I got it: http://rstyle.me/n/brzbywb5ky7 You can personalize it to whatever location you’d like. 🙂 I just picked Lake Wylie because it’s the area where I grew up. That is a kawinky-dink! It’s a fun little lake.