Bespoke Media Walls in Leicester

A media wall replaces a scattering of separate furniture, a wall-mounted television and a run of loose cables with one considered piece built into the room. In Leicester living rooms this usually means working around an existing chimney breast, a bay window or a stud wall shared with a hallway, each of which changes how the design needs to be set out. We start with a measured survey that records the exact position of sockets, aerial points and any existing fireplace opening, since these largely decide where the television, storage and any fire can realistically sit.

Many of the city's semis and terraces still have a chimney breast in the main living room, sometimes with an existing fireplace and sometimes with the opening blocked or removed at some point in the property's history. Where a chimney breast is present, we typically design cabinetry into the alcoves either side, using the breast itself as the natural home for a television or an electric fire, with the flanking storage detailed to match. In newer open-plan living spaces without a chimney breast, the media wall instead becomes a freestanding feature within the room, and its proportions need more careful thought since there is no existing architecture to anchor it visually.

Storage within a media wall is planned around what actually needs to be kept near the television, from games consoles and set-top boxes to media, books or ornaments, rather than a fixed split of open shelving and closed cupboards. Cable management is considered from the outset, with routes built into the cabinetry so leads for power, aerial and any soundbar or speaker system are hidden rather than left visible along a skirting board. Ventilation is also checked for any enclosed equipment housing, since av equipment generates heat that needs somewhere to escape.

Where an electric fire is included, its position, clearances and any required hearth are agreed before manufacture, since fire regulations and manufacturer guidance dictate minimum clearances around the appliance that the cabinetry design must respect. Lighting is planned alongside the rest of the wall, whether that is a feature strip behind a television, shelf lighting for display items, or ambient lighting built into a recess.

Every media wall is built in our Derbyshire workshop and installed by the same team who designed it, with final scribing to the room's actual walls and any chimney breast carried out on site. Our full approach, from initial visit through to completion, is set out at the process page.