Monday Redesign: Vanessa's Entertainment Center

Remember Vanessa's built-in entertainment center? Here's a picture for a refresher.

The built-in shelves are 30" deep and there is also a large open space for the television.   This space is ready for a redesign (or new design, rather, since Vanessa just moved in!)  Here is my redesign of the space.

And now for a break down of the goodies:

1.  First off, I recommend painting the back of the open spaces with a darker color to provide some contrast.  I choose Benjamin Moore's Night Horizonas a great accent color.  By giving the shelves contrast, it will make the depth seem shorter.   I kept the area above the tv open.  This gives the room a modern, sleek look and keeps the focus on the television and the items surrounding it.

2.  Next, I would add a cabinet to the lower, right hand space.  This will make it easy to keep the space clutter free- a great spot for DVDs, remotes, etc.  I would check your local store (i.e. Home Depot or Lowe's) to see what they can offer.  Try to get a standard size, if possible.  The cabinets shown were found at Kitchen Kaboodle.  I went for a darker cabinet to keep everything on the lower half the same shade.  This will anchor the shelves and give us something to build off of.

3.  I would break up the top spaces with a glass shelf that extends the full length and width of the area.  I would place these at about 20" from the bottom of the space.  {When putting in shelves, leave the bottom half slightly taller than the top half- this makes it appear centered}.  Check your local glass distributors for cutting glass, like Jones Paint and Glass.

4. Now for the fun decor.  I love this canister from one of your favorite stores, At West End is perfect.  The red gives the room a little color pop and looks great with the color palette.

5.  I chose a pair of these framesfrom Target- one on each side of the tv.  They are reasonable and already include the matte.  Just place your black and white picture and you are ready to go.

6.  To provide a little balance, I chose this red bamboo pedastal bowl filled with these wonderful green alium flower ballsfor the left side of the tv.  I seriously want to buy a whole bunch of these flower balls.  Are they divine?

7.  In the top left, I thought a fun frame with your family name like this would be a perfect addition to the room.  You could even recreate this yourself by taking pictures of natural things around you that spell your last name.  Then you can put them in a frame like this and viola, you have an interesting art piece.  The kids would have fun with this too.

8.  I love this bike from At West End and thought it would look perfect on top of the ledge near the ceiling.  It is fun and I think will be a favorite among people who stop over to say hello.  I would put books in the basket as shown and a fun plant near the handles too.

9.  An easy to care for plant, like a pothos would be a perfect addition to the corner.  {Just be sure to choose a plant that can be watered every couple weeks- I don't want to you have to break out the ladder all the time.}  It brings in a touch of greenery to the room and also provides a good texture to the room.

A couple additional items that you already have on hand also came in useful to the design, such as the large red round platter- located near the bike near the ceiling, ipod docking station (top right shelf), and the ikea tv stand.

Vanessa, I hope you enjoy your new design.  I loved working on it!  Are you interested in having your space redesigned?  Click here.



P.S.  Don't forget to leave a comment for the giveaway- Christopher Lowell is giving away 3 books!  The giveaway ends on Wednesday.