Hello,

Beginner here. With writing this, I’m increasingly thinking I should hire a carpenter, lol. But I’ve been wanting to post this for months, so here it goes.

What do I want to build?

I want to build a desk/TV sideboard/shelf combo, that takes up the entire length of a 5-meter-long wall in my living room (see image).

  • There’s the ‘lower part’: 60cm deep, 75cm high; two desks on either extremities (i.e. in the corners of the room), flanked by drawers and storage options for all matter of things. The centrepiece is the TV-sideboard, with cupboards for storage and an open solution for A/V devices.
  • Then there’s the ‘upper part’: 40cm deep, 200cm high; this is like a shelf that sits on top of the ‘lower part’, but it is narrower by 20cm. This will be storage for books, records, work stuff, etc… I am not planning on having a back wall on the shelf.

What are the circumstances?

I live in a relatively small apartment (~ 40m²) with my partner. The apartment is a pre-WW1 house, with a room height of 3,2m. The 5m wall is brick, and behind it starts the next house, so it’s plenty thick. The living room itself is about 19m².

My questions to the community

My main question is basically how?

  • Is it smarter to build the ‘lower part’ all in one first, then build the ‘upper part’ on top? Or is it better to build everything around the two L-shaped studs, that separate the desks from the TV? I imagine that the first option is easier to build, whereas the second option provides more stability.
  • What tools, screws, wall plugs and techniques would you use to build this? More specifically: how do I anchor things to the wall?
  • The material should be wood – but which one would be appropriate?
  • I have a couple of other questions, but I’ll leave it at that for now…

Thank you so much for replying and taking an interest.

  • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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    17 hours ago

    You should make sure the TV area can fit the biggest model commonly on the market which I think is 85”.

    This sort of built in furniture can last for decades and todays luxury electronics are tomorrow’s commodity.

    edit: I would make sure the TV space it at least 205cm internally to accommodate todays large TVs.