entertainment center with space for PC's

mightyjongyo

You'd think it's not difficult to buy entertainment center furniture, but...

My wife and I both play games...so we have two 32" TVs. We also both have PC's.... Thus far I have been unable to find a TV stand or other piece of furniture that can hold 2 TVs and 2 mid-tower PCs. We will probably need to get an actual desk and put the computers underneath, but I wanted to ask people here if they knew of anything or would recommend anything for my use case.

Iruka

http://www.potterybarn.com/products/winslow-long-media-stand/?pkey=cmedia&cm_src=media||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_--_-

You'd have to take out a shelf to get the PC in, but this would probably work? If you can find a rectangular, tall-ish TVs stand you like, just get three and line them up. Ikea has stuff that is modular (also probably crappily built.) I mean, are you trying to couch it the whole time, or are you actually looking for a desk you can pull a chair up to?

Elin

I have an end table that mostly matches my entertainment center. It's a top and bottom platform connected by 4 poles - so it's open. I have it sitting beside the entertainment center (on the side that doesn't show from the door) with my tower inside of it and my modem and router on top. It doesn't look terrible, but I also hide most of my cords by laying a dog bed on them so you may want to take that with a grain of salt. If you want I can take a picture of the set up so you can judge if you think it's hideous or not.

bowen

mightyjongyo wrote: »

You'd think it's not difficult to buy entertainment center furniture, but...

My wife and I both play games...so we have two 32" TVs. We also both have PC's.... Thus far I have been unable to find a TV stand or other piece of furniture that can hold 2 TVs and 2 mid-tower PCs. We will probably need to get an actual desk and put the computers underneath, but I wanted to ask people here if they knew of anything or would recommend anything for my use case.

Something like this is going to run you probably $3000, most furniture stores will carry something like this or make to order.

Got saws and tools that you could make your own? You could probably get it down to $500-1000

illig

have you considered changing the PC cases instead? most folks (wives to be honest ) don't want a big PC smack dab in the middle of the living room, so you often see an HTPC or a living room gaming PC in a nice innocuous case like so:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352028

bowen

Hot damn. $150, just turn your case sideways dog.

Hewn

bowen wrote: »

mightyjongyo wrote: »

You'd think it's not difficult to buy entertainment center furniture, but...

My wife and I both play games...so we have two 32" TVs. We also both have PC's.... Thus far I have been unable to find a TV stand or other piece of furniture that can hold 2 TVs and 2 mid-tower PCs. We will probably need to get an actual desk and put the computers underneath, but I wanted to ask people here if they knew of anything or would recommend anything for my use case.

Something like this is going to run you probably $3000, most furniture stores will carry something like this or make to order.

Got saws and tools that you could make your own? You could probably get it down to $500-1000

This is sort of like how everybody recommends building your own PC. Well, I recommend trying to build some of your own furniture!

I just got into building my own stuff for around the house. I built a similar bed to a Pottery Barn style that runs $1600 for about $300. It's great and was a fun learning experience. If you're feeling handy, give it a try. Even with tools, you'll probably only bump up the cost a few hundred dollars, which is significantly less than what you'd find for this item in stores.

Here's a ~$300 entertainment center project that I'm sure you could modify to your needs. http://ana-white.com/2012/04/plans/rebecca-media-center-center-hutch-piece

Alternatively, Ikea has tons of modular storage you could configure to your needs and would be the most economical of the store bought variety, outside of finding a deal used in garage sales or Craigslist. Take a look at how far you can go down the Ikea rabbit hole: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/living_room/choice/S3R2C1/

bowen

Always pays off to learn this stuff, so if you bust a hole in drywall or your desk breaks, you can repair it without dropping another $1000.

baudattitude

You could put something together out of this stuff from the container store, it's what I did and it - just barely - passed the wife test.

Disadvantages: It looks a bit industrial and cable management is really important if you want to avoid the rat's nest look.
Advantages: Obviously completely adjustable, the TV is at the height you want it

mightyjongyo

The intent is to use the couch all the time. My wife enjoys something called "interior design" and "aesthetics", so my nonexistent carpenting skills will probably not cut it.

I will probably end up finding two pieces, or something that I can take shelves out of.

Thanks for your help guys!

defreak

I recently put together a 7.1 surround system. With the addition of a new amp and a huge center speaker, I had to get new TV furniture. This was the only solution I could find (except for $1000+ custom made furniture). I put this and this together from Ikea, and it worked perefectly.

You can take the shelves out of one side, and that should fit both computers. Just don't add the backing, so there's ventilation. You can add doors, drawers, and other things to further customize it.

Here's my set up