eclipse23

Well, here's a small update of my living room. I decided to go with a fake electric fireplace but wanted to put in the mantle before I finished the moulding on the wall. When this wall is done, there will be crown moulding and the baseboard will chase around the mantle so the fireplace will look built into the wall.


I decided to finish this wall completely and not just leave it open even though no-one will see it. I also put in an added layer of protection for my plasma by using a 3/32 non coated cable around one of the studs. In the event that the mount should give out the cable will hold the TV (hopefully) until I notice. The wire is rated for 340lbs. so it's 3X stronger than the TV.


I purchased my center channel from Aperion Audio and I am cutting out the center piece of my mantle and mounting it flush with the wood. I will probably use a thick white stocking to mask the speaker so the mantle looks un-modified but puts the center channel at seating level.


Here's a picture of the Cooper aspire light switches. I love the screwless look and the clean look they have.


I replaced all the outlets in the room with the aspire series as well.


The media room is coming along slowly since it's hidden it does not need to be pretty but it has to be good looking when it is done.


The MX 3000 is a great controller but you have to spend ALOT of time programming it to do macros. So far my Lutron Maestro dimmers, fireplace controls, & basic cable/tv functions are working. My goal is to have everything through this thing.


Here is the mantle bare in place for measurements, etc. You can see the drydex drying around the mount.


Couple of things to note in this pic:

The moulding around the door is roughed in, still has to be adjusted and puttied.
The baseboard is not in, although the blue painters tape marks all my studs.
The TV needs to be taken down, the sanding of the drydex + another layer needs to go in. I have to then paint the drydex and put in moulding behind the TV to hide the tilt mount for the TV.
The wires across the top will be covered by the crown moulding. I have everything from my alarm backup power source to the Russ-sound home audio lines in the weave of wires.


Final shot of the night. A few more weeks and I should FINALLY be done w/ that wall.

Sarlacc

I like everything but the fake fireplace.

Whiskers

Very cool. By any chance, are you wiring with Cat 5 for Networking?

eclipse23

Cat6 because I get it from my job I have a 10/100/1000 switch im going to run into my media room and every room has 2 ports. I use wireless but I believe in having a backup or plug for large files.

Whiskers

Especially if you have the walls open already. Looks great.

eclipse23

I was very uneasy about going with it but it blows hot air which is great since it's a bare floor room. Once the room is appointed with all the right decorations (and I use my moulding to build it in better) it will not look as bad as it does in an empty room. I don't like the lines in it which gives it the french country look I am actually considering filling them in with wood putty and repainting the inserts.

Sarlacc

It would be better if it was wider.

You try and find a nice dark persian or oriental carpet for the floor.

fsttyms1

Looks Great!