I think the only reason they might be "passé" is that they no longer serve the function they used to, because with all the wireless devices, streaming, etc., people just don't have the same amount of "stuff" to store. You can have your TV mounted on the wall (or sitting on a cabinet), one center-channel speaker (or a sound bar), and your cable box, and that's it. We don't use a dvd/Blu-ray player (Netflix), we don't have a surround sound system (and even if we did, most of it wouldn't be in the entertainment center), we don't play CDs (use iphone for our music or Pandora, etc.). Of course, we're also not gamers, so that might make a difference. Anyway, the point is I'm not sure what we would house in an entertainment center. We do have a "media cabinet", but what's in there are board games, throws, and all manner of electronic gadgets. All those things could be stored elsewhere, but we got the media cabinet because that side of the room needed a piece of furniture, not because we actually needed it to store media.

We have an entertainment center because, for us, we still need all that storage area. The kids have the gaming components, we have the sound bar, the Blu-ray player, and the Boise surround sound components. Plus, there's a couple deep drawers we use to store our hundreds of DVDs. When not in use, we can shut the mess away inside the doors. it's great!

it's only passe if you don't use it.

the entertainment tech changes so fast -- look at all those now-too-small holes for tvs; so the main thing I would say is make sure it has some flexibility built in.

crate and barrel makes a really nice "leaning" system I almost bought. see linky

Here is a link that might be useful: C&B entertainment system

We have a cherry one that acts as the focal point since we don't have a fireplace. It holds a lot of equipment that I can't operate.

May_flowers

I am electronically challenged also. The reason being is that I worked as a computer scientist/software programmer for 20 yrs. I had to know all about how computers, big and small, worked/processed. Enough already. I can use the remote, that's enough. I had my husband write down the instructions for operating the DVD player. I have enough technology stored in my brain. Anymore and I won't have room to remember how to tie my shoes!
Oh yea back on topic: I agree, if you use it, it isn't dated. Just don't let it become a catch all.

My DH is a retired software tech writer, so that's why I don't know electronics. Anything happens to him and I don't use a computer or anything but the TV. Anything happens to me, he doesn't eat!

I was told at furniture store that many people are opting for a low media console, with the TV mounted above or sitting on top. Thus, many lines aren't offering these full-blown wall units. An others are modular, with stacking pieces You might consider one of these consoles for your smaller space. With a large TV and maybe extra speakers, you won't need/want a whole lot more on that wall.

Furniture pieces designed to hold electronics; TVs, stereos, (remember those?) PCs, or even radios, always seem to become obsolete eventually. I'd find a console with storage and mount your TV to the wall. TV armoires or entertainment centers are being given away on CL every day in my area.

If you have a need, then get one, but honestly the smaller the better so it doesnt overtake the room. Something just large enough to hold your DVR, game system, and DVD player. A large wall mounted bookcase works better for DVD and game storage. Also, custom built-in entertainment centers are a bad idea. They pretty much always get torn out by new owners because it was made custom for what used to be there and doesnt work for new owners.

You've all made many good points about the pros and cons. I guess I really need to narrow down just exactly what we would want from a storage piece. I know, at minimum, it will need to hold a receiver, a computer, center channel speaker...one or two video game consoles. It would be nice to have space for storing games as well. DH is going to have to weigh in on what all should be stored. And then find that perfectly balanced/proportioned piece! :-)

If it's practical for you, I'd get one.

"What makes an entertainment center a successful piece?"
I think scale and the appearance of the piece. However, I ignored scale with ours. We bought it off CL and it's the main focal point of an otherwise plain room. It's solid, well made, and I find it quite attractive. However, it would probably look best in a much larger room. Side note - we have two entrances to this room and the couch and loveseat are larger in scale so floating furniture really isn't an option. Our wall is so large I would still take this over a console type stand because of trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the wall.

I honestly think shopping for an entertainment stand is kind of like shopping for bookcases. Many aren't of good quality, even expensive ones, and I feel it shows. Though I haven't searched for a long time now. If it has shelves I feel having well appointed accessories makes a big difference.

Here's a pic of mine. I have two prints stacked on the other side of the wall beside the stand. We have some dvds in the bottom middle as well as some gaming systems. I keep additional books in the one bottom end and a few decorative things in the other. I may clean one of those areas out for toys. Eventually I'd like to replace the stand with a fireplace and built ins.
{{gwi:2140012}}

You can always change things with paint or maybe even beadboard backing. For your room I wouldn't get something as large as mine, but maybe an an armoire style entertainment stand. Your tv is larger though so that style may not work. Check CL and just keep searching until you find something that works for your needs. Since it's something you're planning on keeping a long time I wouldn't rush the decision. It will fall into place.

I do think my DH wouldn't want anything that would restrict the size of his tv...he's already wanting a bigger one! Hey I want a bigger house!!!

I looked online at Scandinavian Designs and Costco last night, saw a few media consoles I liked. I just am afraid that if I don't get exactly matching shelves, my attempt at "eclectic" will end up being mish-mash clutter look instead :-/ Generally my DH doesn't like glass anything because he assumes our kids will break the glass, and that is a definite possibility!

"Costco unit"

"SD unit"

This one I LOVE -- no glass either! But it would take up almost the whole wall, not leaving much except a little breathing room on either end :-)

"Burke 4-drawer"

This post was edited by melle_sacto on Tue, Feb 3, 15 at 15:20

The Scandinavian design TV stand looks very nice. I have my TV on a shelving unit so that I can have space for the BluRay player, non-code DVD player (for playing foreign DVDs), DVD burner, and cable box. I also have an "X" box that I thought I was going to need until we got the BluRay player that plays streaming video. We rarely stream anything, but it is hooked up. We take DVDs out of their boxes and store them in books. We might cut the cord with the cable service fairly soon, however, and we have a good antenna for 150+ local TV stations, at least a third of which broadcast in English.

I think they've always been passé and not attractive furniture! Built-ins, or eclectic pieces of furniture. But the unit thing has never been to my liking.

I actually liked the Burke unit so much I emailed it to my DH. I'm probably going to even try a digital mock-up to try and get a feel for how it wold look in the room. He seemed okay with it, but, again, until other projects are finished he doesn't even want to think about the living room. But I think finding the right media piece is one of our biggest issues since we have so many electronics (and he doesn't want glass doors, components -- mainly the computer I think -- should be able to have adequate air circulation, need some hidden storage etc).

I like the way entertainment units look, but I just can't imagine it in our room. I'm afraid it would dominate too much, maybe because the room is so open I'll always see it. Or maybe because it's just a small room to begin with.

IMHO, yes. The product cycle for electronics is so short, that they just don't make sense. Plus, I think in many cases people don't feel the need to hide TVs anymore now that they are not bulbous monstrosities. And now that your TV is really a monitor you don't need a bunch of boxes.

If you still want one for some reason, they are always on CL, at least in my area.

What's passe for one may not be for another. I think Shee shows a perfect example of how an entertainment center can work in a room. Particularly a large wall space.

We have antique armoires housing the tv in our great room and in our master bedroom. Hubby removed some of the compartments/shelves/drawers,etc. and reworked the space to hold the tv's. The one in the great room is a larger tv so of course the armoire is larger also. What's great is I have the area for the tv, stereo and other electronic components and below that there is additional space for books and some other items, and everything looks neat and organized when the doors are open. Doors are closed when not in use and you have an attractive piece of equipment and the tv is not out in plain sight, which we like.

The scale of the burke console may make it look too wide relative to the size of your room and the size of your tv (assuming this is the same tv that was over the red chest in your earlier thread). To visualize, you could get some inexpensive moving boxes and cut them down to the right depth then place them along the wall to fill in the space that is currently open, and see how that looks.

If you can fit the components in a console that is closer to the scale of your tv, that might look better in the room. One other thing to check is the height/width of the interior shelves, and whether they're adjustable. Some of your DH's equipment looked quite tall, and might not fit on a short shelf.

Our old one was just too nice a piece of furniture to get rid of when we moved to the old house, so we put it downstairs in the guest room. The TV inside is small given the size of the cavity for the old fashioned TVs, but for the little time our guests spend there, it works.

I have a large media center that is also low. I was attempting to balance the fireplace. We opted for not spending the money on the apparatus to hang the TV. Add to that the holes and permanence of such a mess our TV sits on top of the council. To each his own as already stated!! I designed ours to hide the machinery and show off my collections. DH did a fabulous job on the tambor door!! I had to go with a custom piece. The bottom part of a china cabinet that would have been the proper size, they would not see me with out the top. Sometimes to get what you want you have to build it yourself.

Wow I LOVE all these perspectives! My DH just wants 1 - keep it for a Long Time, 2 - must hold ALL components with plenty of air circulations and no glass, 3 - I do not complain once we have whatever solution we decide ;-)

As much as I like the IDEA of upcycling/re-purposing some cool item from CL -- and I do love much of what I see people create -- my DH is not really interested and I do not have the stick-with-it-ness to do the work in a timely manner (we have a 5 and 9 yo, very busy boys) OR the VISION to hone in on exactly the right item and create the perfect solution.

The red wicker dresser we currently use WAS an attempt at re-purposing a CL item. I painted the dresser and bought a custom glass top. I thought a dresser would be great because of all the storage. I thought red would be great to add fun color/eclectic-ness to the room It just really isn't working (for me, DH doesn't love it but it generally meets his criteria). And before that, we had bought a CL oak stereo component cabinet that I tried to stain (fail), then paint (better) but then it had smoked glass doors and DH didn't want to use the doors...and, honestly, it was fugly and unbalanced since we only had the one.

In fact, the only CL furniture I've been truly happy with are our bed, my kids' beds, and a very small buffet that is perfect for our small house. BUT -- the buffet was a project piece that I never even started, just use it as-is. I bet I bought it about 10 years ago now. I even posted about it here on the Decorating Forum and got some amazing ideas for how to fix it up! I love it because the back is finished so it doesn't have to sit against a wall (though right now it is). We started to take off the door hinges, and that's it. I believe one door has only one, instead of two, hinges. It's so crazy...I couldn't get started on the project and then decided we needed the storage so put things into it "temporarily" but never did anything beyond clean it. I just start more and more and more and more...anyway I digress (oh I hope my DH doesn't tell me I have to do that buffet project before we can do the living room, but he might!!!)

Tibbrix -- Built-ins would be cool, but we've poured too much money into permanent things for this house when I really hope to move. I do not see this place as a forever-home. I just want the room to feel a bit more spacious, look more balanced, and have less clutter and less in-your-face components.

mtnrdredux -- I do see them on CL -- a LOT -- but generally they look like they would be kind of dominating. After looking more carefully at the examples I've seen on Houzz that I like...I do not think they are standard entertainment centers. The space for tv is large. Here are some examples of what I thought looked nice:

[{{gwi:2140013}}[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/ocean-club-sliding-door-point-break-entertainment-chest-contemporary-living-room-miami-phvw-vp~21520095)

[Contemporary Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by Pompano Beach Furniture & Accessories Baer's Furniture

[{{gwi:2140014}}[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/entertainment-paint-grade-traditional-family-room-dc-metro-phvw-vp~448127)

[Traditional Family Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-family-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_720~s_2107) by Church Hill Cabinets & Cabinetry Kent Cabinetry and Millwork Inc

I suspect these are all either custom and/or built-in.

tinam61 -- In comparison to the rest of the room, the wall that I'd want to put an entertainment center or media console IS a big space...it's the largest open wall space in our house. But the room is pretty narrow, so I worry that a large unit will just make the room feel even narrower. We're planning to remove the carpet and install wood or bamboo flooring, and I want the direction to be oriented to make the room feel a little wider :-) (this will all be part of re-doing the whole room).

robin_dc -- the open shelf space is tall enough for everything (assuming the Wii can lay on it's side, maybe it can't). I think DH wants to replace the Wii with something else in the future, guess we'll have to make sure it can also lay on it's side!

I love your suggestion of a mock-up...I'm going to start hanging onto boxes to make a mock-up. I've made so many poor furniture choices for that room (the dresser, the couch and chair that are too big for the space...other things that aren't in there any more). The coffee table DH hates, says it's a piece of trash (it was sort of trash)...not sure if it's going to stay or go, but right now it's taken the place of the piano because it needs to hold some of the electronics :-P I'm the kind of person who can't really know if something works or not unless it's actually in the space. That's pretty much a detriment to interior decorating!

Do you have any advice on how I can decide if the scale is okay?

AnnieDeighnaugh -- That's a pretty nice guest room! I do feel like the EC dominates the wall, though, and I could see that being an issue if we go that route. I'm definitely leaning toward a console type solution at this point (since I'm ruling out built-in/custom).

arcy -- sounds like a really nice piece!

I started a s/o thread, really leaning toward the long/low media console idea and now I want to be sure I get the correctly proportioned piece :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: s/o thread

This post was edited by melle_sacto on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 13:25

They certainly aren't as popular as they once were but I just bought one last year, it's the Brighton Heights from Rooms to Go. I was looking for one online and came across it and liked it instantly.

Not my favorite furniture store but it looks great on a big wall I have. It holds my 65 inch TV, books, decorative items plus it's got wonderful storage. I live in a smaller house and it's helpful.

I've gotten lots of compliments on it.

Oh, fwiw, I have one in our MBR. It is a Baker, crotch Mahogany, second empire style. It was a gift from my mother to us. It was delivered with a receipt and IIRC it was something like $8500 15 yrs ago, discounted from the furniture store she had always shopped at. I know some are squeamish about numbers but it is relevant. I bet it would be hard to sell today for $1000.

Ours is an armoire. The bottom has drawers that my DH uses, the top has two doors that open and slide back; we have a flat screen there.

I think it is passe but I also think it's very pretty and I would find it very silly to get rid of it.

This post was edited by mtnrdredux on Wed, Feb 4, 15 at 17:46

m-s, has your DH checked out components lately? In the house we lived in 10 years ago, we had to keep the bookcase door ajar so air could circulate and cool the components (having that door ajar all the time nearly drove me around the bend!).

The new house we are in has all of the components in an enclosed bookcase and we have not had a bit of trouble in the year we've lived here. The new routers, subwoofers, etc., do not generate as much heat as the old ones.

DH wanted a bunch of speakers too. My sweet DSIL convinced him that a sound bar would give him the sound quality that he wanted.