making the “beast” blend in – a rustic tv frame

Several years ago, I mentioned that my husband brought home a very large flat screen tv, and installed it on a swing out arm in our living room.  Forgive the horrible photo, but this is what it looked like when he installed it.

I had just finished papering the walls in antique Bible pages, and having a huge, modern monster attached over the top of them did not make me happy, but of course, our 4 kids wanted to give him the “Dad of the Year” award, so I’ve learned to accept the monster, and even occasionally appreciate it (ssshhh…I’ll deny that if you tell my husband).  I’ve always hated the way it looked though, because having it on an arm that swings out from the wall, so it can be angled in different directions, really made it stand out like a sore thumb.

We had finished all the other projects in our living room, including adding beadboard to a wall that had gotten damaged when our roof leaked, repainting the ceiling, and adding crown moulding, but the room would never feel completely finished to me, until we did something to make that tv blend into the decor.  We batted around a few ideas, including creating some kind of cover for it, but it seemed like it would make watching the tv a pain, if something large had to be moved away from the screen first.  In the end, we decided to use more old wood that was stored in the loft in our barn, to create a tv frame.

He installed beadboard behind the tv , so it looks nicely finished when the tv is pulled away from the wall, and he recessed the wall area several inches,  so the tv is more flush with the wall now.  The cords from the tv used to dangle down the wall to the outlet, but he added an outlet behind the tv, so they are hidden from view.

The screws used to attach the wood to the wall, are hidden behind a few of my antique date nails.  I’m a happy woman now!  I love this old wood, and I dislike the tv a lot less now.

It hangs directly above the antique dresser I turned into an entertainment center, and the two of them look great together.  As soon as I get my whole living room clean, I’ll be taking photos for a living room reveal…hopefully soon!