Lifestyle: House Hacks – Build Your Own Furniture
This week we’re going to look at something different: home-made furniture! Now we’re not asking you to get your saw and chisel out just yet; this is one that even the creativity-challenged can pull off.
Admittedly this will not work in everyone’s home, but it is something different that’s worth sharing.
I love my gadgets and my state-of-the-art home theatre system is proudly displayed in my home as one of my prized possessions. I did however have trouble finding the right unit to display a large Ambilight television, alongside its peripheral equipment: satellite box, Blu-ray player, surround sound theatre system and PC. Most of the units available in stores only allow certain sized equipment on their shelves, so if you have anything larger than a standard DVD/Blu-ray player, you can forget being able to house them properly in a shop-bought unit.
I had a large blank wall in my sitting room and wanted to make a feature out of my TV and TV unit, so I came up with this simple solution. I wanted to go for the industrial look.
I checked out the various styles of brick available in B&Q’s garden department; as you would imagine, there is every colour and shape and size imaginable. I settled on standard grey bricks. Having already worked out roughly in my head how I wanted the unit to work and look (I suggest you do the same before your visit to the DIY store), I was able to calculate the amount of brick I would need and at a 60 cent per brick, sure it’s cheap as chips!
I then got some shelving from Atlantic Homecare. These are pre-prepared shelves you can buy in various sizes; all I needed was a rough idea of the size I wanted for the length of the unit, and then a slightly smaller piece to sit the telly on.
The whole unit cost me €60.
What I like about this idea is if my equipment changes, or I add additional stuff, I can change the shape, height, etc of each of the shelves, so it is completely adaptable. It’s a remarkably strong unit and if you change the brick colour or shape along with the wood, you can have a unit that will match whatever style you’re trying to achieve and have complete adaptability going forward.
Coming up next week, we will look at how you can get a home theatre set-up in your very own home and browse all your movies on-screen for free!
