# DIYer Uses Ikea Furniture in Home Theater



## Steve Crowe

*DIYer Uses Ikea Furniture in Home Theater*

By Grant Clauser
*Easy-to-assemble Ikea furniture matched with Pioneer and Definitive Technology electronics.*


The website Ikea Hackers usually shows of examples how people use their Chinese-made Swedish furnishings to organize their closets, stack their kitchen gadgets or create cozy bedrooms for their kids.


This week we found a great example of a design-minded homeowner who did an Ikea furniture mashup to create a very well-done media room complete with a Pioneer Kuro plasma (OK, I guess that's dating this room a bit), Definitive Technology Mythos speakers and a Plex-based media server. All of the above shows he wanted to save on his furnishings so he could splurge on the important stuff.

 


The Ikea furniture performed two functions. First, it fit nicely into the mid-century modern décor of the California home (designed in 1952 by Paul Tay), and it was able to conceal all the wires and components.


The DIY homeowner says the furnishings cost approximately $1,100. He spend about two weeks designing and constructing the media room.

* Click here to continue. *


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## Ralph1950

Chinese-made Swedish furnishings.....


How about Swedish made Swedish furniture?


Looks nice & neat, but any american carpenter could do the same thing! It looks like a local painter finished it all off to match. Walls and cabinets. That was probably extra. I guess my point is, support your local contractors.


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## mhufnagel




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Ralph1950* /forum/post/21184038
> 
> 
> Chinese-made Swedish furnishings.....
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> 
> How about Swedish made Swedish furniture?



Far too expensive!



> Quote:
> Looks nice & neat, but any american carpenter could do the same thing, and probably cheaper!



I've recently had some carpentry done to tear out and rebuild an upstairs hall linen closet. It would probably be close to twice that price. But of much higher quality. The guy did do an excellent job. A cheaper job would probably look cheaper.


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## scsidude2

Can someone explain to me how a living room with a tv has turned into a home theater?


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## dmspen

In our current economy, there are many carpenters AND finishers who are looking for work. They usually do excellent work (caveat emptor!) and have become cheaper than in th last few years. The price of wood is a whole other ball game, but the labor has become cheaper!


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## machavez00




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *scsidude2* /forum/post/21184104
> 
> 
> Can someone explain to me how a living room with a tv has turned into a home theater?



The projector must be hidden.


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## Djoel




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *scsidude2* /forum/post/21184104
> 
> 
> Can someone explain to me how a living room with a tv has turned into a home theater?



Well it made not be HT, but it's definitely Stereophile there's a Turn Table in a corner










Btw way I like the space, look great.



djoel


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## YoMaMa84

Where is the projector? That 'projected' image looks superimposed. I call bs.....


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## fitbrit




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *machavez00* /forum/post/21184162
> 
> 
> The projector must be hidden.



No... the second image is just a close up. The lens used just stretches the perspective to make the plasma look huge. Check out the upper wall paneling to get a sense of the true size in both images.


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## Guygasm

It is not a projector. Same TV just a different view. Look at the cabinet sections relative to the TV.


Edit: That's what I get for leaving a tab open before commenting.


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## bguzman

I cut an Ikea nightstand in half and made a media rack a year ago. By the way the stuff is hollow.


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## PioManiac

I Love IKEA !!!









Made my unfinished basement mancave in my new home very cozy on the cheap, and even scored high WAF in the process

(under a $1000 and a couple weeks work)


4 Bookcases, 4 Lamps, 2 End Tables, a Plasma Stand and a Floating Shelf

painted my concrete floor added a couple area rugs and micro suede curtains

The money I saved was splurged on nice power recliner seating, projector and powered drop down screen.






































16' of chocolate micro suede curtains for $50 had a huge impact, so the walls are next!










instead of drywall and paint I just stapled clearance priced Velvet/Chenille fabric to the studs


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## Djoel

Leave out the plastic and have the installation expose for double duty room acoustic treatment! Color me impress.


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## PioManiac

Yup the room is a Huge Bass trap, and I needed it!

Two 12" Velodyne subs up front, 15" Velo in the rear










Front screen wall is 4" thick Roxul sound insulated under the dark moss green velvet




















My room has excellent light and sound reflection control with the fabric over insulation. (and it was cake to put up as opposed to messy drywall/tape/sand/paint)

The space is not totally dead due to the hard concrete floor and the open ceiling still has exposed I joists ...kind of has a rustic loft feeling.


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## Djoel

Very Kewl, looks like you enjoyed your build, and the final incarnation. One day I'll buy a house and do something crazy..


Thanks for sharing


Djoel


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## trek737




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *PioManiac* /forum/post/21185532
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> Made my unfinished basement mancave in my new home very cozy on the cheap, and even scored high WAF in the process
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> 4 Bookcases, 4 Lamps, 2 End Tables, a Plasma Stand and a Floating Shelf
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> painted my concrete floor added a couple area rugs and micro suede curtains
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> ...and called her Done! The money I saved I splurged on nice power recliner seating, projector and powered drop down screen.
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> instead of drywall and paint I just stapled clearance priced Velvet/Chenille fabric to the studs



Very cool... Every photo seemed to add something new in the room. Reminds me of my theater, I add a little bit at a time.


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## Ralph1950

Looks really nice. I like it. But i would have still installed the Sheetrock. The last one I did, I installed sound board then sheetrock. It worked out well for the audio store to help keep the noise down. ( sound board on both sides, with home made sound panels hung on walls for decor)


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## PioManiac

Thanks guys

I know doing it the "right way" is generally preferred in a perfect world.

The one draw back is there is no sound isolation when I'm running reference level audio, when the movie is on the Whole house hears it

...but that's okay, there's only two of us










Being a "new" home owner with little or no tools, skills or funds allocated to properly finish a basement, I had to make due or wait several years to claim my "space" while my expensive electronics sat in storage collecting dust

...as a responsible new home owner I had landscaping, fencing, deck and building a rear detached garage (current project) priorities, so the basement area got pieced together on a tight budget in a short time frame.

I wandered into IKEA looking for ideas and even found several of their products while using while using Google Sketchup to pre-plan my space.


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## PioManiac

IKEAHacker.com is an entire website devoted to modifying IKEA products/furniture to suit your needs...

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/searc...edia%20storage 

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This build is pretty impressive using mostly IKEA furniture/accessories http://www.minhembio.com/kusen


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