What do to with the flat screen TV in a midcentury home? Jeff got creative — and designed and built a custom TV cabinet that holds a 32″ LCD TV, BluRay player, and soundbar. Envious? He’s in the Portland/Seattle area can make one for you, too!
Edited a bit for flow given we had some back and forth, Jeff wrote me:
After looking at hundreds of images of vintage cabinet TVs, I designed and built a retro TV cabinet to house a 32″ LCD TV, BluRay player, and soundbar. It matches my teak credenza, McCobb dining set, and surfboard coffee table. I didn’t work from a set of plans, but looked at a ton of pictures of old TVs and had a pretty good idea of what I wanted it to look like.
I thought your readers might like to take a look at them. Thanks!
I took the photos before Christmas (and before I read your suggestions on taking good pictures!). The red ribbon is because the unit was a gift for my wife, and the show on the TV is from “Christmas with Bing and Frank.”
The basic case is just 3/4 birch plywood with edge banding screwed together with a Kreg jig (affiliate link). I sized the top rectangle for the new TV that I bought — a 32″ 1080p LED TV, and tried to adjust the bottom two openings for visual scale. The unit is about 34″ tall and 30″ wide.
The gold panel in the center folds down on cabinet hinges and houses the Bluray/DVD player. I cut a big oval out of a piece of plywood and covered it with fabric for the bottom rectangle/speaker grille. The soundbar sits behind the fabric and a wireless sub sits behind the TV. I put a power strip inside so only one cord comes out. And, there’s a remote repeater inside, so you can run the unit without opening the front panel. The back is tempered hardboard (Masonite) that I custom drilled for a clean look. The legs are Waddell legs and plates (*affiliate link) from Amazon. The gold bezel that frames the TV is spray-painted hardboard.
I’m glad you like the unit and the look. Perhaps people will be inspired by the project, so let me know if you’d like to share it on your awesome website.
Thanks,
Jeff
Awesome, Jeff. I am personally very inspired. So much so that shortly after we started our conversation on line, I went searching and found a week-long woodworking class to take in April. I will learn all the basics about tools, etc., and make a new woodshop project every day. After the basic class, there’s another week on cabinet-making, and I may need to go for that, too. I’ve always been interested in woodworking — my Dad has mad skills — and Kate also inspired me tremendously. Let this be the year of epic DIY — with no sawed-off fingers, though!
Thanks for sharing all these photos! Fantastic!
To contact Jeff:
Want Jeff to make you one of these?
Update: Jeff made a website.
Email him at mcmtvcabinet@gmail.com.
This is GORGEOUS, Jeff! If my living room TV was a reasonable size, I’d be ordering one built in a heartbeat. But I suspect the cool factor loses something on a 50″ set. haha
I loved it! I am amazed at how creative and talented so many Retro readers are. Thanks for sharing!
Just fantastic, Jeff. What a great idea and so well done. You should be very proud of yourself. I bet you could quit your current job and go into producing ‘vintage’, new models of lots of stuff! You’ve got a built-in captive audience here to spread the word!
Good luck with your next project. Hope you share the results here.
You should mass produce these. I am not handy with the carpentry, but I’ve always dreamed of doing this.
ooops. just saw the contact info for Jeff.
I DID this with my 1961 Motorola. Removed the old tv, and the big fat tv fits right in the space. However, i cannot get a flat screen to fit – because they do NOT make square flat screens.
Much like his, my screen at the bottom is removable to hide the DVD player.
I love this so much I have to have one for my guest bedroom. Will definitely be following up with Jeff in the future!